Reminder that it’s still OK to cheer for Sergio Romo

They’ve arrived. All the pictures of Sergio Romo in a Dodgers uniform, all the pictures you could ever want. Look at that one up there. It’s so spectacularly gross. They uniforms are so blue and ... gross. And icky. And gross. I knew this was going to make me roll my eyes and/or leak stomach bile from my ears. I knew it was coming, and I still looked.

The proper response when Romo rolls into town on April 24 is the ol’ boo-clap. Boo with the mouth, clap with the hands. Do it at the same time, respecting a great Giant at the same time you’re expressing displeasure with the decision. Or, if you prefer, you can do the cheer-finger, but that might get you kicked out. A hearty thumbs-down while cheering just doesn’t have the same oomph.

If you need help with the cheering part, though, you should read Ken Rosenthal’s feature on Romo, which reminds you that he’s a real person and not just a fuzzy figment of your imagination. There are parts about his mental struggles when he became the full-time closer ...

Life, Romo said, started going, “really, really fast.”

Anecdotes that make you appreciate Javier Lopez even more, which is hard to do ...

“He literally ‘big-brothered’ me,” Romo said of Lopez. “I can’t really express the gratitude I have for that man, the respect I have for that man.”

And anecdotes that make you remember that, well, Romo was always on loan to us in the first place.

Romo recalls the section where he would sit with father at Dodger Stadium as a boy and watching players such as Raul Mondesi, Todd Hollandsworth, Eric Karros and Darren Dreifort.

Jason Schmidt going to the Dodgers? Kind of bunk, and even though he was an All-Star for the Giants, it’s not like we got to see him make the transition from rookie to superstar. When he bolted, leaving a lousy team and joining a contender, it felt like a money-driven betrayal.

Jeff Kent going to the Dodgers? Kind of bunk, and it really reinforced that he was a putz the whole time. He was just our putz, which was fun while it lasted.

Brian Wilson going to the Dodgers? Understandable, but super-icky. Also, that part about putzes up there applies here, too.

Juan Uribe going to the Dodgers? Understandable, considering the Giants didn’t want to pay him as much as he got. But he was leaving a contender to join a contender, which made it a little more palatable than the Schmidt signing, for some reason. Your mileage may vary.

Romo, though? It’s the most understandable of all four, considering his hometown and family, not to mention the Giants making it very, very, very clear that there wasn’t any room. They preferred George Kontos and Cory Gearrin when they thought Romo was going to make closer to $10 million, and it was too hard to undo that when his price dropped.

At the same time, this is the most uncomfortable of all the defections. Wilson was close, but, well, it was almost as if we were already getting tired of him?

Huh, that’s weird, but, yeah, we were already getting tired of him before he joined our mortal enemies.

Romo on the Dodgers stings the most, which is why I urge you to read Rosenthal’s feature. Even the parts about him returning to his hometown team are almost endearing. Almost. Romo was a human being who went through wild ups and downs, under scrutiny that is unfathomable to most of us, and it seems like he’s at peace with this unpopular life-altering decision. I can respect that.

Booo (clap clap clap) boooo (clap clap clap).

I can respect it a little bit, at least.