FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Johnny Damon and his new wife, Michelle, rolled into Red Sox camp yesterday afternoon, and when they did, the ring stole the show. The stunning piece of jewelry was a gold band encircled by diamonds.
And that was his ring.
"Johnny bleeping Damon," announced the Red Sox center fielder. "Or blinging Damon. Bling-bling. I was going to go simple, but because I wanted to make it look good next to the World Series ring, I had to spend a little more money."
Damon has had quite the offseason, writing a book, honeymooning, vacationing, and most recently, partaking in prerace ceremonies at Sunday's Daytona 500. Despite the fever pitch, he claimed to be in excellent shape.
Wearing a chest-gripping shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, Damon appeared toned and lighter than last season. The hair? That remains shoulder-length, accented by golden highlights. The beard, while still there, is neatly trimmed.
"Mentally, I'm stronger than I've ever been," said Damon, 31. "Physically, I feel very strong. I've trimmed up a lot. I've been running the hills in Jamaica over the past week. I've been doing a lot of pushups, with and without Michelle on my back. I've been swimming a lot, doing a lot of things to make sure that I'm ready for this year.
"Some strenuous things, but also some things I like to do, which is have fun. Trying to swim after the alligators. I didn't get a chance to race after cars this year. No. 1, there weren't as many drunken nights as there were last year, with trying to cure the migraines I had from the year before."
At that point, a bewildered reporter piped up. Had any other player made the alligator comment, the writer said, he would have assumed it was a joke, but with Damon, he just didn't know.
"There are gators in the lake," Damon said. "I had my boat on the lake late at night looking for them because it gets a little chillier in Orlando. They normally embed themselves for a couple of months."
Damon, who evidently has an unusual offseason conditioning program, was asked about another player who claims to have an unmatched routine: Alex Rodriguez, whose 6 a.m. workouts have taken on legendary status.
"Well," Damon said, "there's been many nights where I haven't been to bed at 6 in the morning. You know, if that's what it takes to be him, he's a heck of a player. If it takes getting up at 6 in the morning for him, that's great. But like Trot [Nixon], I enjoy taking my kids to school and trying to shake them at 7:45 in the morning, saying, `Get up, you've got school.'
"They're just like me, they don't want to go. I take them, and after that I get to get my work done."
Damon, the living, breathing mascot of the 2004 Red Sox, was asked if he relishes his cascading celebrity.
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