Sharp Joan Vennochi piece in Sunday’s Boston Globe headlined “Bronx cheer? Boston’s harsher.”

Lede:

GO TO New York for affirmation; come to Boston for boos.

Every city has its psyche, as Johnny Damon knows.

Damon, former hero of the Boston Red Sox, was treated like a zero after he left the Olde Towne Team:

Whenever Damon returned to Fenway Park as a member of the New York Yankees, Boston fans booed him. Blinded by the pinstripes, they saw a traitor. They could not see — or at least refused to honor — the athlete wearing them. It hurt.

So it was no surprise when, faced with the possibility of returning to Boston and jumping into a pennant race, Damon chose to remain with his current team, the going-nowhere-fast Detroit Tigers.

As Vennochi notes, Boston has always been one cold town:

Boston is no longer the simple parochial city on a hill that is easily defined by chowder and Kennedys. But the heart of classic Boston is still driven by politics, sports and revenge. And classic Boston still delights in kicking people when they’re up — like Damon was after 2004 — and especially when they’re down — like Matt Amorello, the former Turnpike Authority chief who was recently arrested for drunk driving.

One thing Joan didn’t mention, though: When Damon returned to Yankee Stadium as a member of the Detroit Tigers, the Bronx cheered.

Raucously.

Think Damon would have gone back to the Yankees?

Me too.