Hail to the Idiot.

Johnny Damon is gone. In a move that took most of Red Sox Nation by surprise (including, apparently, Larry Lucchino, Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherington), the Evil Empire signed Damon to a four year, $52 million contract. The Sox brain trust was under the impression they were still negotiating with Johnny as late as 7:00 last night, when Hoyer had spoken with Scott Boras. They didn't even know about Damon coming to an agreement with the Yankees until they heard about it from the media late yesterday.

It sounds to me like the Red Sox weren't pursuing Damon aggressively enough. Based on what I heard at the press conference, it sounds like they got a bit complacent on signing him and the Yankees swooped in and grabbed him. Apparently, Damon even called Terry Francona and said that the Red Sox better get down to business. Whatever happened, it sounds like the new chain of command on Yawkey Way didn't get it done.

In the short term at least, this is a bad thing for the Sox. Damon is a huge upgrade for the Yankees in the leadoff spot. This deal weakens the Red Sox and strengthens New York next season, which is never a good thing. Long term, you have to wonder what kind of shape Johnny will be in by the fourth year of the contract.

This now leaves the Sox with a huge hole to fill in center field, adding to the needs that already exist at first and shortstop. The new co-GMs have a lot of work to do.

Paling in comparison to this news, but interesting nonetheless, was the signing of Nomah by the Dodgers. People have been speculating for years that the Garciaparra would end up in LA, and it finally happened. I think Nomar will be much happier playing in LA. He's going to be a small fish in a very large pond celebritywise there. He was obviously never comfortable being a superstar in Boston. The keys for him being successful will be how well he adapts to playing first base and whether he can stay healthy. I think he can still hit if he has his health.

I have to say that I'm very tempted to take a road trip to Shea Stadium or Citizens Bank Park when the Dodgers play there next season. With Nomah, Derek Lowe, Bill Mueller and He Who Must Not Be Named, the Dodgers are starting to look like Red Sox West.

From the new toy department, I picked up a pair of noise cancelling headphones from Cambridge Soundworks. While I would have preferred the Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones, the fact that they cost about 8 times as much as the Creative headphones made me try the cheaper pair first. I got them for the plane trip, since it is very difficult for the kids to hear the DVD player with standard headphones over the engine noise.

I tested them out on the train (another noisy environment) this week and they worked remarkably well. They probably cut out about 75% of the background noise as compared to regular headphones, and I was able to play my iPod at a lower volume level. They sound pretty good as well. I'll be really interested to see how they work on the plane, but from my initial tests if you're looking for a pair of noise cancelling headphones and don't want to drop the $300 on the state-of-the-art Bose set, these are a pretty good alternative.

We're off to Florida tomorrow! I'll try to post once or twice from there, but if not I'll put up a complete report when we return.