'The chance that Theo would trash Larry': Reading Brett's articles (here and here), I have this sinking feeling we could end up without both Theo and John while stuck with Larry through 2011. We're talking about full worst-case scenario here if Henry doesn't get his act together soon. ... Bob is still asking 'why' after yesterday's Theo press conference, even though you know that he knows why. Tony also asks 'why' but then answers the question: "Ultimately, when all the nonsense is chopped away from an internal issue that exploded into a newspaper war, the bottom line is that Theo Epstein left the Red Sox because he felt like he could not trust Larry Lucchino, no matter what anybody else said, wrote or believed. Along the way, we learned that most of the media in Boston does not trust Lucchino, either, a reality that should prompt the highest levels of Sox ownership and management to do some serious soul-searching."

Mike takes the old tried-and-true Kremlin-Wall-reading approach, i.e. who's there and not there, etc. And Larry wasn't there yesterday. Yes, it's come to this. ...

Reader No. 1 ain't surprised at all by yesterday's dog-and-pony press conference:

"After the Shaughnessy-Schilling appearances on WEEI yesterday morning (check 'em out while you can), yesterday's press conference was a huge if inevitable letdown. Theo's farewell faceoff with the vaunted Boston media was a virtual replay of his last game as Red Sox GM -- particularly, the team's futility with the bases loaded in the sixth inning and down one run in ALDS Game 3. Instead of Varitek popping up, we got 'Do you have a good relationship with Larry?' Instead of Graffanino fouling off high pitches, we got Bob Ryan asking 'Theo, so far we've got: it wasn't a power struggle, it wasn't personal privacy, it wasn't a feeling of satisfaction (after) winning the World Series, it wasn't? what was it?'

"As she does so well, Jackie MacMullan called it before the press conference: 'Theo will speak today at a news conference and no doubt will take the high road, as he always has.' Face it: the chance that Theo would trash Larry on local TV and national sports press was about the same as Kelly Shoppach's 2005 Red Sox batting average."

Update -- Hub Blog officially declares that this phase of the Theo story has run its course. It's a good thing. I've run out of popcorn. Mark, who was quick last week to pronounce Tony's original column as seeming 'pretty thin,' will be sweeping up the stands next week and, I assume, addressing how Peter Lucas botched the mayoral-election coverage more than two decades ago. He adds: "The reaction of the blogosphere is part of the story I will ultimately be writing." Can't wait!

Update II -- OK, now this phase of the Theo story is done. (Can't end it without Bill Simmons' thoughts. Don't know how I missed it. Via Dan Kennedy.)



We love wolves: As we all know, we all love the thought of blood-thirsty wolves returning to New England. The French love them too. ...



Unpleasant election year news, Part II: Does this shootings story sound familiar? Yes it does. ... And I still don't think it matters at this late-stage in the campaign.  ¶ 6:43 AM