By Marc Thaler
Managing Sports Editor

He roamed center field at Fenway Park for four years, often with little regard for his well-being. There’s no disputing he played hard. He also played hurt.

He was a care-free spirit with a knack for doing naked pull-ups in the clubhouse.

His pop star personality certainly made it easy for Fenway’s faithful to care about him.

He’s the only player in franchise history to have a loyal legion of followers known as The Disciples.

However, upon signing with the New York Yankees last winter, everything – even the length of his locks – drastically changed.

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Johnny Damon, though prepared to be the Hub’s most hated visitor when the sons of George Steinbrenner came to town more than a week ago, deserved better.

The blame rests completely at the feet of Red Sox fans, and not just the pseudo-Sox supporters.

The suits in the $200 seats and the people who think it’s cute to sport a pink Boston baseball hat aren’t the only individuals at fault.

Plenty of opportunities existed to toy with Boston’s former center fielder when the Yankees arrived at 4 Yawkey Way on May 1. Fans had nine innings to taunt, boo and jeer while throwing back outrageously overpriced beer.

Yet when Damon dug in for his first at-bat, folks figured rather than thank the longtime fan favorite, a better use of energy involved spitting venom.

I’m not naive. I expected Damon to receive an earful for becoming a Bronx Bomber. My mistake was believing Boston fans would briefly acknowledge Damon for four splendid years of service.

Red Sox Nation is supposedly filled with knowledgeable fans. The perfect example involves one of the most recognizable members of the Pinstripes.

Flash back to player introductions during 2005 Opening Day at Fenway. New York’s Mariano Rivera received a mock cheer from the sellout crowd.

The gesture, a sarcastic “thank you” to the closer who couldn’t end Boston’s postseason run in Game 4 of the ’04 American League Championship Series, proved Sox fans can appreciate greatness – even if the talent totes a different cap.

Where were those fans this time around? Apparently, the supremely stupid scooped all the tickets for Damon’s return.

An interesting date – Nov. 5, 2006 – is already marked on my calendar. On this particular Sunday evening, in front of a national television audience, former Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri returns to Gillette Stadium as a member of the archrival Indianapolis Colts.

Fans will have four quarters to treat Vinatieri like a member of the vaunted visitors, especially if he’s asked to split the uprights in the game’s final seconds. But something tells me when Vinatieri initially steps onto the field, he’ll receive a thunderous ovation for his contributions made while wearing a Pats uniform.

It’s the classy – and correct – course of action for fans to take.

Other than the sport he plays, Adam Vinatieri isn’t any different from Johnny Damon. The scenarios involving these two stars are the same, too.

Like Damon, Vinatieri was a free agent at the end of last season. Like Damon, Vinatieri said publicly that he wanted to return to the hometown team. Like Damon, Vinatieri wasn’t pleased with the offer made by his longtime employer.

And like Damon, Vinatieri went to the one foe capable of working local fans into a froth.

This fall, unless Vinatieri’s greeting is a Damon Duplicate, fans who consider themselves educated members of both Red Sox and Patriots Nation are simply hypocrites of the highest order.

Though the ’04 world champion Red Sox disbanded, maybe the true Idiots are alive and well – and still packing Boston’s ballpark.