Riveting drama at Fenway theater

Henry spoke of the “media riot’’ that has ensued since those fateful three minutes in the midnight hour in Baltimore.

He should feel good about his impassioned defense of all things Red Sox. He should also be mindful of one great takeaway from all this noise: The Red Sox rule. Even in chaos.

I’m told there is a pretty big football game going on at Gillette Stadium this afternoon. Indeed, this is the best part of the Patriots schedule. They had the Jets here last week, the Cowboys are here today, and after a bye week Bill Belichick & Co. will be in Pittsburgh.

As ever, football television ratings will be boffo, millions of fantasy players will bore fellow Americans, ESPN will furnish hundreds of hours of analysis, and all the data will support the obvious truth that the NFL is our national pastime. Football is king.

Everywhere except Boston.

Think about it; is there any football-, basketball-, or hockey-related event that could saturate our region the way the Sox just took over our lives for the last 18 days?

No. Spygate wasn’t this big. Parcells vs. Kraft wasn’t this big.

It’s baseball in Boston. Even when it’s bad, it’s good.

And it’s pretty bad right now, is it not?

The Sox still don’t have a manager and they won’t have a manager until their general manager leaves. Waiting for Theo Epstein to leave for Chicago has become like waiting for Albert Haynesworth to make a play; it seems inevitable, but it never happens.

I love the notion that the Sox are in their offices working furiously to correct the problems of 2011 and make things better for 2012 … all while Epstein is still running baseball ops.

Don’t they usually change the locks and walk you to your car when you take a job at a competitor?

Really, how is Esptein supposed to be fixing things at Fenway Park when his head, his heart, and his wallet are out the door, bound for Chicago? When will the Sox and Cubs make announcements so that both franchises can get on with their lives?

Tomorrow, I hope. Then we can proceed to the business of thinking about the 2012 Red Sox instead of more bloody autopsies on the frenzied freefall of 2011.