I'm going to push back on this in a big way.
Sports are an emotional connection and construct. Yes, we root for the teams, but the teams are made of players, not faceless automatons. It's much easier to root for a team with fun, likable, good players with sound moral compasses than otherwise. David Ortiz was a great player because of his on-field exploits, but he was beloved because of his personality, his burning desire to win, and his strong connection with the Boston area. Curt Schilling was a great on-field player, but is almost universally loathed because of his personal beliefs and comments. On a more mundane level, Trevor Bauer is an excellent pitcher but he'd be tough to love because he's such an edgelord.
My point being it's not JUST the laundry. The players, who they are, matter, and they matter a lot. Mookie Betts was BELOVED in Boston. Not only was he a great player, one that we saw come up through the minors and establish himself as a top 5 player in baseball, but he's also by all accounts an amazing man. He's likable, he plays with enthusiasm, he burns to win, he's good-looking, he engaged in chairty work in the local community. He was in many ways Superman. He was our best player AND our best human.
To lose him, to trade him away for what the ownership described as financial reasons, hurt like hell. Rooting for the Red Sox has been a joy and a privilege over the last 20 years or so, but honestly the ownership asks more from fans than a lot of other teams do. Prices at the park are very, very high. NESN is expensive. Following the team is fun but it does require a commitment. The unspoken agreement between ownership and fans is that fans will support the team in this way and then ownership will spend the proceeds on the players to put a winner on the field. This spring, many fans, including myself, felt that that social contract had been breached because we traded away our best and most likable player in his prime over money.
So no, no one should root JUST for the name on the front. If the team brings in a bunch of assholes to play for them, there should be push back on that. If the team stinks on the field, there should be push back on that as well. If the team rolls in money and then claims poverty, there should be push back on that as well.
If there emerges proof that Mookie wanted out at all costs, then my lingering anger at the trade will subside. But a claim from Felger, noted shit-stirrer and radio prick, isn't proof. It's a rating grab.
A good friend of mine, a life long Patriots fan, is now a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan because Brady left and signed with them.
He told me he no longer is a Patriots fan, he's done.
Sorry, that line of thinking makes zero sense to me.
Players come, players go, he's more a fan of Brady than the Patriots? What's he going to do when Brady retires, still be a Bucs fan?
I'm not saying you or anyone else shouldn't take a shine to certain players and become fans of THAT particular player and no, nobody wants to root for a team full of assholes, I'm not advocating that at all.
I am saying it's a case of misdirected anger to blame Red Sox ownership/management on this one IF in fact Betts did not want to sign here.
I've lived in Massachusetts all my life, I love it here, traveled all around the country, been to many cities and states; I love it here, THIS is home to me, I have zero desire to live anywhere else, period; if Betts wanted to play in California, then that's his right.
It's wrong to blame management for a player not wanting to play here.
As fans, we're all free to do what we want; if there are those who root for certain players above the entirety of the team, that's their right as a fan.
I don't fall in love with any player; they're leaving one way or another eventually, whether it be free agency, trade or retirement.
I think people would be a lot less upset if Betts wasn't front and center for the past few weeks, now playing in the World Series.
If the Red Sox had somehow gone on to win another World Series this year and the Dodgers had a bad year and didn't even make the playoffs, would we be having this discussion?
I'd venture to guess the answer would be no.
Just like I'm sure if the Patriots don't make the playoffs this year and Tampa Bay goes on to win a Super Bowl, fans will be screaming about how the Patriots/Belichick screwed up by letting Brady go.
The same organization that brought this city 6 Super Bowl wins.
People want to live in the moment and forget about the past pretty easily.
Just like the four World Series titles the current Red Sox management has brought to this city.
The same city that hadn't had one for 86 years prior to.