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• WILLIAMSON: Nasty habit scares a fan out of her Sox 

Terry Francona's SPIT (Spit Per Inning Tally) will break a World Series record.

Allow me to offer another sage observation: YECH. This man is on national television, for goodness' sake. Every shot shows him head down, lips pursed, engaged in the highly paid managerial task of ejecting spittle from his mouth like a spigot. Can't he chomp on some Nicorette? How can he focus on the pitcher's mound when he's creating his own mound of goo in the dugout? No wonder Coco Crisp lasted as long as he did, despite not having had a hit since the Clinton administration -- his manager was too preoccupied with snuff to yank him. . . .

My prediction that Francona will break a SPIT record is not made entirely in jest. In 2006, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health actually studied this topic and reported that Sox players and coaches chewed and spit more smokeless tobacco than either the St. Louis Cardinals, their rivals in 2004, or the teams in the 2005 World Series. . . ..

"This year we'll see more chewing than we have for a long time," Dr. Connolly predicted. "It seems like more players are using smokeless tobacco than before. ... I think everyone is appalled this year. No one wants to watch an entertaining athletic event where someone is constantly coating the floor with brown spit. Pity the poor person who has to clean it." . . .

I'm no tobacco Nazi, but these players and managers have an obligation to act as role models, at least during game time. God knows Francona is paid enough -- hire a hypnotist. Try harder. Do something, please, because your habit is just plain gross.

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