Critics of current Red Sox - Boston Globe connections will go apoplectic over this nugget:

Separately on Tuesday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that hedge fund manager John Henry was looking at taking control of the Globe as part of a deal to buy the Times Co’s stake in New England Sports Ventures.

And in regard to the inevitable “17 percenter” sniping — I don’t care one bit if the Globe plays favorites with the Red Sox. It’s the equivalent to the Globe investing in — and covering — Boston-based theater productions. It’s entertainment, not news.

If Henry sees value in the Globe, and wants to use entertainment revenue to subsidize its newsgathering efforts (notice I didn’t say “newspaper efforts”), then more power to him. Slap a big “for entertainment purposes only” disclaimer on the Globe’s sports coverage and be done with it.

Without The Steal, nothing good happens. It was the catalyst. The turnaround. The blast of gamma radiation that turned a team of beat-down dudes into the Ultimate Machine of Torment and Alleged Jack Daniels Slurping. If it doesn’t happen, we get no parade, no sunshine, no expulsion of the deeply held belief that God really wants to see us cry. Tito would probably be working the aisles at Ace Hardware.