Red dawn

Joe Morgan sucks.

I mean he’s really, really terrible. Insufferable. The ESPN baseball color analyst has become almost a caricature of himself. Tim McCarver is witty and insightful lined up to the pompous Morgan. I can only imagine if New England were subjected to this fool this week when the Reds come to town in lieu of Don and Jerry, how intolerable the commentary would be, endlessly reminding everyone how great he was in the 1975 World Series for Cincinnati.

It would be fun, however, to witness him burn at the re-naming of the left field foul pole in honor of Carlton Fisk’s home run, since we all know how much he loves talking about that moment in time, the most memorable play in a series that, as Morgan reminds partner Jon Miller seemingly on a weekly basis, the Reds won.

He’s not the only former Red who feels that way, as many of them feel that one highlight, played endlessly over the past 30 years, has taken away from their achievement. Reds Hall of Famer Jack Billingham, who started Game 2 in Boston, tells the Cincinnati Enquirer, “Our two batboys from ’75 – Scott Teepe and Jeff Schachleiter – and a group of 24 other Reds fans are going up to Boston for these games,” Billingham said. “They’ll be wearing T-shirts that say, ‘You got the highlight, we got the trophy.’ “

Neat. Any wonder why everyone hated these guys?

Fisk will be at the park for tonight’s 6:45 ceremony, and Billingam probably won’t take too kindly to that either.

“They can let him jump up and down on home plate (like he did motioning the ball fair on his 12th-inning home run in Game 6) and then we can show him our (World Championship) rings,” Billingham told the Enquirer.

And then Red Sox fans can show Billingham the standings, where the Reds are a pathetic 26-36, second only to Colorado for the worst record in the National League. But as long as Reds fans live 30 years in the past, I guess all is well.