Red Sox Nation Corrupts Tim Russert

When my brother and I were mere tykes taken by elaborate touchdown dances we formed an Ickey Woods fan club. It wasn't a big organization, just the two of us actually, but we had a hard time figuring out which of us would be in charge of it. Our parents humored us and listened to our respective pitches and I got to be President because I was older while my brother held the important dual titles of secretary and treasurer. We sent a football card off to Woods, it came back with a somewhat dubious signature and we were quite thrilled with ourselves. A few months later Ickey blew out his knee, we lost interest and I've never joined another fan club since.
All of that brings me to the ongoing President of Red Sox Nation lunacy. What the title means, why people are actively campaigning for it and why anyone cares is beyond me. After all it's not the President of the United States and no serious newsman would be interested in who ends up winning. A serious newsman like Tim Russert, say, but thanks to Red Sox Monster and Deadspin, I find out that he played the role of my parents this morning.

NBC's Tim Russert, host of "Meet the Press," will make a guest appearance on NESN as he moderates a discussion among the candidates for the President of Red Sox Nation. He will be joined by NESN's Red Sox field reporter Tina Cervasio serving as co-moderator.

The show, "Red Sox Nation: The Presidential Debate," will be videotaped at Boston University 's George Sherman Union this Thursday, September 27 at 11:30 a.m. It will air on NESN at 10:30 p.m. or immediately following NESN's post-game coverage of the Red Sox-Twins game on Friday, September 28.

The debate is sure to be even less consequential than the one Russert moderated between the immense field of Democratic Presidential candidates in Hanover, New Hampshire last night. The field is just as big, though, and includes luminaries like Peter Gammons, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Rich Garces, Sam Horn and a dog named "Big Pupi," who is running on a platform of building a section for dogs at Fenway Park. It beats Hillary's health care proposal, I guess, but what's the point?

Oh yeah, the point is adding to the revenue of the Boston Red Sox. For just $14.95 you too can join Red Sox Nation and get a shiny membership card that lets anyone who sees it know that you're a sucker. You can be safe in the knowledge that you're less of a sucker than the people who have bought so many of the $99.95 and $199 packages that they are no longer available. And here I thought buying tickets to games, wearing a cap or shirt of your favorite squad and caring about a team's fortunes was enough to document one's fandom.

The only saving grace could be if Russert pulls a clip of Jerry Remy saying something bad about Tom Yawkey four years ago and grills him about why he's changed his views. That or Garces coming up with a solution to our dependence on foreign oil.