The Curse of John Henry

OK - I'll say it! Yesterday Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe had an extensive piece on the epic fail of of the 2011 Red Sox. Among the "revelations" was the fact that Terry Francona had separated from his wife and was living in a hotel. Hohler missed or refused to see the big picture though - a fish always stinks from the head down. How come there wasn't any talk about principal owner John Henry's personal life? If marital issues are fair game at the Boston Globe - why no mention of John Henry's divorce and remarriage?

Think of it this way - the Red Sox last tasted post-season success in 2007 when they swept the Colorado Rockies in the World Series. That was also the year that owner John Henry got divorced and you can argue when things started going downhill with the hometown nine. The divorce coincided with the creation of Roush-Fenway Racing. But of course that wouldn't diminish the attention and focus of John Henry on the Red Sox. Then John Henry married a woman who was almost half his age, Linda Pizzuti, in 2009. She got pregnant and had a baby girl with Henry in 2009. That will obviously change a person's priorities and focus. A man of Henry's age - would it be OK to ask him about any Viagra usage? I mean if Francona's marital situation and prescription pill use can be put on the table by the Boston Globe - shouldn't they also be asking the team owner if chemically induced tumescence and fatherhood made his ability to oversee the company slip?

Then we have the purchase of the Liverpool Football Club. At the time of the purchase Henry said that it would in no way take away any resources or attention to the Red Sox. But bringing that up - doesn't that show it was in ownership's thinking? And giving the player $300 headsets and a night on John Henry's yacht - doesn't that show he was out of touch with the team? I mean how many players do you think just gave those headsets away? And were these the Dr. Dre headsets the team was pimping the year before? How gauche if there were.

Ownership is now on recod of saying they didn't know things were that bad in the clubhouse. If that is the case - then when did they start to lose touch of what was happening in the clubhouse? Couldn't this be traced back to John Henry's divorce as easily as it could to Terry Francona's marital issues?

I guess the real point is that John Henry, Tom Werner and especially Larry Lucchino should spend more time getting the beams out of their own eyes before sending their anonymous sources to complain about the mote in their ex-manager's eyes.