Boston.com – So, Nomar’s back in a Red Sox uniform for no more than five minutes and lo and behold he’s already whining about the media. Classic. In case you missed it, the former Red Sox shortstop, after retiring with the team Wednesday, appeared on 98.5 The Sports Hub with Gary Tanguay and Andy Gresh, who dared to proceed with the interview by not coddling Garciaparra like every other member of the electronic media…. [Gresh stated that] Nomar shouldn’t consider himself a part of the 2004 World Series champs… It’s a great interview, but of course, Garciaparra didn’t take kindly to the lines of questioning. Apparently, he promptly whined to the Sox media relations staff, who, according to 98.5 afternoon host Mike Felger, then threatened that no more Red Sox players would be allowed to appear on the station’s “Tanguay and Zolak” show.

[click here for the audio, the interview starts 7:46 in]

I’ve laid in the weeds for the last couple of days on this whole Nomar story, just because El Pres has said everything I would’ve said better than I could’ve said it.  But the reaction by the Boston press over the last 72 hours has forced me to step out into the clearing.  Because as vicious, petty and vindictive as they can be sometimes, their reaction to the simple act of Nomar retiring has become nothing less than a jihad.

The battle for the Nomar-Bashing Championship belt has become a free-for-all.  A Wrestlemania of media bomb throwers vying for supremacy.  Shank bashes him over the back with a chair.  My man Mike Adams slams him into the turnbuckle.  Eric Wilbur here throws chalk in his eyes.  But the King of the Ring thus far is Gresh, who, five minutes after Nomar’s press conference in which he announced his retirement, looked back at his career,  spoke fondly of his time with the Sox and thanked the fans for their support, decided it was the appropriate time to settle old personal grudges.  Gresh, this self-important gasbag, using his typical Loud Cellphone Talker voice and his perpetually angry “I’m now going to tell you a question manner, asked the following:

I think, and some think, a part of your legacy, ah as a Red Sock, will be “losing” or “loser” because there was no championship and they won one in ’04.

So at the culmination of his career, the undisputed best shortstop in team history, a ridiculous post season performer (.321 Avg., .975 SLG% in 7 postseason series), gets called a loser by this bloviating, pedantic blowhard.  And on the air he takes the high road, saying that he stayed in constant contact with his former teammates throughout ’04 and they made him feel like he earned the ring they gave him.  Afterward, the Sox PR department go behind the scenes to 98.5 and complain about this obvious lack of class and professionalism.  So now Nomar is being called a whiney bitch and this is proves the press was right about him all along because when someone calls you a loser you’re supposed to… what?  Agree with him?  Thank him for his kindness?  Geez, I can’t imagine why Nomar ever wanted that red line painted on the floor of the Sox clubhouse.  I mean why wouldn’t he want to get cozier with the Andy Gresh’s of the world?