Sometimes it's as simple as it looks. 

When 17 Red Sox players wanted Bobby Valentine fired, they were happy to spend part of an off-day (and, don't forget, they only get 18 of them) at a hotel in New York complaining about their brutal lot in life to John Henry and Larry Lucchino.

When the funeral for Johnny Pesky -- and is there really any need to describe what Pesky meant to the Red Sox organization? -- was held on another off-day, Monday afternoon in Swampscott, four players decided to show up. 

Seventeen and four. 

That's all you really need to know about the 2012 Red Sox.

We all heard the spin on Wednesday following the Boston Herald report that David Ortiz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Clay Buchholz and Vicente Padilla (naturally) were the four players who represented the 2012 Red Sox, who are making a hell of a push for Most Unlikeable Team in Boston Sports History, at Johnny Pesky's funeral.

Larry Lucchino pointed to the total turnout from the organization, noted that the players honored Pesky on the field before the game Tuesday (a defense that is every bit as ludicrous as it sounds) and mentioned how the players got in at 4 on Monday morning after a Sunday night loss to the Yankees. Bobby Valentine -- who, to his credit, was at the funeral -- wasn't insulted that only four of his players attended -- some might view that as an obvious slap in the face to the organization -- but rather that people might believe "an organization that loved him so much did anything other than the right thing. That's my answer to that."

We keep waiting for that thing to happen, the thing that will make Lucchino or Henry or Ben Cherington or Valentine blast these players, finally call them out for what they've been for very nearly a full year. It seemed to me that Monday's pathetic, embarrassing, insulting showing at Pesky's funeral would finally be the time for some honesty. You can't tell me that, at some point, Lucchino and Henry noticed the paltry showing and had a "What the hell?" moment. Why not make those feelings public, just this one time? People want to hear that, they really do.

Nope. Spin and move on.

And that's a huge part of the problem, of course. There's zero fear of repercussion, so these guys do whatever they want whenever they want. The reality of what happened Monday was probably this: A couple of players had legitimate reasons to not attend and the rest of them just didn't feel like it.

Didn't want to waste an off day. Wanted to sleep in. Wanted to go to the beach or take care of errands or spend some time with the family. Wanted to go see "The Dark Knight Rises" or play video games or get lunch with friends or just watch TV all day. They just didn't want to go, so they didn't go. It's as simple as that. 

And I get it. We've all been there. Going to a funeral isn't pleasant for a million reasons. And, yes, I'd guess many if not most of the current players didn't have a relationship with Pesky that guys even five years ago had.

Look, there are plenty of times we don't know what right or wrong is, but plenty of times we do, and this is one of the times when the right thing to do is jumping up and down and screaming about an inch from your face. If you are a player on the 2012 Red Sox and you can go to Johnny Pesky's funeral, you go to Johnny Pesky's funeral. Even if you don't want to honor the life he lived -- which is plenty telling -- you suck it up and go. Put on a suit, spend a couple of hours in Swampscott and leave. How many times have you gone to a funeral if only because you knew it was the right thing to do?

David Ortiz understood. Clay Buchholz got it. Padilla and Saltalamacchia, too. Good for them.

The other guys -- nearly all of whom weren't too busy to show up for Josh Beckett's charity bowling event the same night -- made a choice. I'm speculating, but I'll bet there was a reason the funeral was held in the afternoon on an off-day for the Red Sox. There is no way anyone thought only four players would attend Johnny Pesky's funeral. For all the terrible stuff we've read (and seen) with this team, I have to admit I was stunned to read the Herald story on Wednesday. 

God forbid this happens anytime soon, but how many players on the Patriots would be in attendance for Gino Cappelletti's funeral? How about Celtics players for Tommy Heinsohn? In season, on an off-day, that would be as close to mandatory as you can get without violating CBA rules. 

But that's not how the Red Sox do things. I have no idea if that's part of the reason they are 59-66, but it sure doesn't help. In the end, it's on the individual person to do the right thing, but we have enough evidence to know that's not going to happen. And that's where ownership is supposed to step in and make sure the right things are being done. But guess what? We have enough evidence to know that's not going to happen.

And maybe that's part of the reason we have arrived at 59-66, but I know it's why we have arrived at 17 and four.