The Inside Tv Tome

Johnny Damon made up his mind to divorce his first wife, Angie Vannice, at the beginning of the 2002 baseball season - right after he bought his family a new house in Needham and they were preparing to move in.

" `There's no love with you,' I told her. `There's nothing,' " Damon writes in his upcoming book "Idiot: Beating The Curse and Enjoying the Game of Life."

After that pronouncement, Vannice went home to Orlando for a week, Damon writes, then she came back.

" `There's no reason for you to be here,' I said. Just to push her buttons I added `I was with three more girls while you were gone.' When you're feeling these raw emotions, you say things you wish you could take back."

After they split for good, Damon writes, he became a real player.

"If you're good-looking and a ballplayer, girls want a piece of you," he spills. "For the rest of the season, I met some women, some good, some bad. I had some one-nighters that I had never gotten to experience before. It was fun. I ended up having to carry around a separate cell phone for the women to call me. I didn't want them to have my main mumber because my phone would have been ringing off the hook and it just got tiring."

Yesterday, Damon continued to defend his decision to dish the details on his first marriage, telling WEEI's Michael Holley and Dale Arnold, "I actually think I talked really decent."

Vannice has lashed out at Damon's dissing of her and their life together in the book and fans have ripped the centerfielder for airing his dirty laundry without regard to his ex's feelings or their almost-6-year-old twins.

"If this stuff is true, he comes off as a very self-centered, moronic jackass. I love him as a ballplayer, but as a person, the jury's still out," wrote one Damon disciple on the Sons of Sam Horn Web site.

Added another: "Man, the guy really is an idiot. I thought it was just an act. I can't believe he put that stuff in a book."

But wait, there's more. According to his tome, after he and Vannice split, Damon went on a regular sex bender.

"After I broke it off with one woman, she told me, `I don't mind if you see other girls too.' Most women weren't so flexible," he writes. "I remember one who was clearly a one-night stand who'd call me up and tell me she'd told all her friends we were dating. . . .

"One time, I was propositioned by two girls at once, but I passed. Two girls might be able to handcuff me and kill me," he writes of one moment of non-Idiocy. "Mostly, they just want more of your life than you can give them. I'm sure some of them wanted to get pregnant. I'm sure others wanted something else. I hoped I was always smart enough to know. I love women and as much of a dog that I can be, I do have respect for them."

Which doesn't exactly square with the three-women comment, but Johnny had an explanation for that.

"Things get heated in an unhappy situation," he told the 'EEI guys.

Johnny's book hits the stores Monday.

Keep the day job

And speaking of Damon, his post-baseball acting career may be a stretch. Peter and Bobby Farrelly, who directed Damon and some of the other players during the making of "Fever Pitch," say Johnny Damon is no Matt Damon!

"I must say that (Jason) Varitek was an excellent actor," Peter tells Sports Illustrated. "Trot Nixon was pretty good, too. And Johnny Damon . . . is one helluva nice guy.

Amber's Hub gift

Cameras rolled in the North End the other night as "Survivor" sweetie Amber Brkich and a galpal drove up to a Salem Street hardware store to ship off a large painting.

Our spies report the footage - which was shot in such a stealthy way even Boston's film queen, Patte Pappa, wasn't aware of it - will be used as part of Amber and "Boston" Rob Mariano's CBS wedding special in May.

Apparently, the future Mrs. Boston Rob - and reviled "Amazing Race" contestant - was sending the painting off to Florida to get it signed, we're told.

And during her "testimonial" shot outside the store, Amber was heard to say something like "she realizes this is the beginning of a journey" and "she hopes Rob appreciates all the trouble she went through."

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Eavesdropping

WE HEAR:

** That WGBH veep Chris Pullman will say hey to first lady Laura Bush at the White House today at a "thank-you luncheon" for jury members who selected the National Design Award winners last fall. Pullman, BTW, and his wife, Esther, designed a booklet of U.S. Postage Stamps called, "Spring Flowers."

** That Hub attorney Amy Ernst and a bunch of her pals are convening at the Belvedere in the North End tonight to catch her stylish debut on TLC's "What Not To Wear."

** That today's "People Court" episode will feature a dispute over Red Sox-Yankees playoff tickets between Toucan Entertainment of Natick and Braintree dentist Dr. Nicholas Pellegrino. The ticket broker won.

** That ex-New Kid on the Block Jordan Knight had his wheels towed in Manchester by the Sea the other night for non- registration. The vintage boy-bander's Yukon is registered now.

Tracked down

New England Patriots players Rosevelt Colvin and Daniel Graham taking in the Celtics-Mavericks debacle at the FleetCenter . . . Darryl McDaniel, late of Run DMC, discussing the AIDS situation in Botswana at Harvard with Dr. Mark Essex, chairman of Harvard AIDS Initiative, then heading off to WAAF-FM to promote his new single . . . CN8 entertainment chick Sara Edwards playing - true to form - a TV reporter in the new superhero flick, "The Fantastic Four" . . . Co-star Michael Chiklis telling Sara, who was paid $75 for the gig, that she could be "a star" . . . and New England Patriot Larry Izzo departing on his USO tour to help open the Pat Tillman USO Center in Afghanistan. . . .

Listen to the Inside Track at 8:20 a.m. today on Star 93.7.

Drop dimes to the Inside Track at trackgals@bostonherald.com or call 617-619-6488.Caption: CUT-OUT CUT-UP: Just what a gal needs right now - a Johnny Damon that doesn't speak! But that hasn't stopped the Idiotic Red Sox slugger's female fans - including Nicole Cloutier at iParty in Brighton - from hitting their local iParty to pick up their very own life-size cardboard cut-out of the under- fire author. STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL FEIN

Caption: FASHIONABLE DUO: Deborah White of Milton, right, and Shirley Seals of Ashland strutted their stuff at Gucci last night at a spring fashion show to raise some dough for Behind the Bench, the NBA Wives Association's charity. Deborah is the spouse of vintage Celtic JoJo White and Shirley is married to former Seattle Supersonic Bruce Seals. STAFF PHOTO BY MATT STONE

Copyright 2005
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