Monday, July 5, 2010

Ronan Tynan switches sides, sings "God Bless America" for the Red Sox at Fenway Park

I've been busy with real-life issues, so I haven't had much time to squawk lately. But I did want to vent outrage over this - Ronan Tynan sang "God Bless America" for the Fourth of July over at Fenway Park yesterday! On George Steinbrenner's 80th birthday, yet! Good grief.

I'm not happy about this turn of events, but neither is at least one Red Sox blogger, Jere of A Red Sox Fan From Pinstripe Territory. "Bad job, Red Sox!, says the writer, calling the singer an "anti-semitic, Dumbo-eared, legless, shit-voiced bum." Ouch!


"As long as we're honoring Yankee legends," Jere wonders, " why not have a Joe DiMaggio Day? Bucky Dent Day! The Red Sox could wear pinstripes and the scoreboard could tell us when to clap!"

I wouldn't call Tynan a Yankee legend, but he is dead to me now. He could have done his penance for his offensive joke last year, and eventually been allowed back into Yankeeland. But no - he switched sides awfully quickly, didn't he?

Let him stay in Boston. Maybe he can sing "Sweet Caroline," too. Enjoy life in Boston, Ronan, you Yankee traitor.


What do you think? Tell us about it!

17 comments:

Uncle Mike said...

I just saw that on Respect Jeter's Gangster. I guess Boston's reputation lives on.

All those Townies in the Sixties, packing the Gahden to see the pathetic all-white Bruins (guess they didn't realize none of them were Americans, all Canadians then), while leaving the place half-empty for the enormously successful but largely-black Celtics, then packing the place in the Seventies when the Celts' oncourt leader became the white John Havlicek and posters of the white Dave Cowens went up all over New England, next to the Bruins' Bobby Orr and the Sox' Carl Yastrzesmki.

Then there was the backlash against busing in 1974, culminating in Ted Kennedy getting pelted with eggs and tomatoes and getting called "a disgrace to the Irish" just because he thought black kids should have access to better public schools.

Even in the 1980s, when coach Tommy Harper had to sue the Red Sox and Larry Bird was more beloved than Russell had ever been, compare how popular New Edition was with the New Kids On the Block.

If Bill Buckner COULD get down on his knees, he should thank God that he's white. If he'd been black and done that...

And that's just race. The controversy around Tynan is about religion, which has been the source of more bigotry than anything else in the history of this planet.

No wonder so many people prefer, as Susan Sarandon said, to "believe in the Church of Baseball."

Dale Sams said...

"the pathetic all-white Bruins"

As opposed to those other black-dominated Hockey teams.

Quick Uncle Mike, who was the first NHL team to feature a black Hockey player? What NBA team featured the first all-black lineup? And for attendance...average attendance was about 6,000. So it wasn't just the Celtics.

You wanna lay shit on the Sox, fine. But lay off the crackpipe.

Besides if you'd look into the matter, you'd find that Ronan was largely exonerated but the Yanks didn't want to wait until all the facts were in.

Alvaro Fernandez Ravelo said...

Good riddance Ronan Tynan! He must feel at home at Fenway Park!

Alvaro Fernandez Ravelo said...

And who got a glance at Willie Mays but didn't sign him! The Red Sox!

Dale Sams said...

Who had the racist GM and manager go on record about their feelings about African Americans? The Yanks! Whoot!

Y'all should be on your knees thanking Yawkey didn't promote Pumpsie 5 years earlier or this conversation would be about the Yanks.

Uncle Mike said...

And why DIDN'T Yawkey promote Pumpsie 5 years earlier? Probably because he was so drunk he didn't know the guy existed.

Speaking of Yawkey, how come nobody mentions that he spent 43 years trying to buy a World Championship, and didn't do it? Probably because he passed on Jackie Robinson and Sam Jethroe in 1945 and, as mentioned, Mays in 1949. Meanwhile, Elston Howard helped the Yankees win 9 Pennants and 4 World Series. The Sox? They didn't win a Pennant from 1946, the last year of all-white baseball, until 1967, and then just barely, when they acquired... Elston Howard. Coincidence?

It wasn't the Babe, it was The Curse of Jackie Robinson.

Dale Sams said...

Having an all-white team didn't stop the Yanks from winning some WS between 1947 and when they fielded Elston....s'why that 'failure to integrate' stuff falls flat.

You're dead on about Yawkey being drunk though.

MONDOAS said...

Wow, the 3 things I never touch on any venue because everyone seems to get ugly...
Religion, Race and Politics!!

Jonmouk71 said...

Interesting that Boston bigot Yawkey (who employed racist Pinky Higgins as both manager and GM) and Yankee bigot George Weiss (also first GM of the Mets)....are both in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and elected with very little opposition. Yet when Steinbrenner is suggested for the HOF, he is downgraded as one who shouldn't get in at all.

Uncle Mike said...

Gussie Busch actually bought a hotel in St. Petersburg, so he could get around discrimination laws, and fired manager Solly Hemus in favor of the more racially sensitive Johnny Keane, and built the Cardinals of 1964-68, one of the most successful and diverse teams ever, and sold baseball (and beer) to millions, and was no less moral than a lot of other owners, and was quite popular with his fellow owners (especially since he stuck up for the reserve clause to the end).

Yet he's not in the Hall of Fame, either. Can it be that he's being punished for telling Curt Flood, when it was too late, he was wrong and Flood was right, and the owners should've worked out a new system before the courts forced them to?

I mean, if O'Malley can be in the Hall, why not Steinbrenner and Busch? Come to think of it, why not Joan Payson? As far as I know, she lived a blameless life, and definitely an unprejudiced team.

Anonymous said...

There is no way in hell that Steinbrenner belongs in the HOF. Not after all the evil that man has brought to baseball. Next to Steinbrenner, Hitler was just "a little confused".

Uncle Mike said...

Yeah, well, if Lord Waltermort can get in, I suppose anyone can get in, morals be tossed out the window.

After all, he was the scum that they scrape off of scum even before he considered moving the Dodgers. Just ask Branch Rickey, Red Barber and Jackie Robinson.

But you should thank George Steinbrenner, Urinalfresh. After all, he allowed Shea Stadium to host a World Championship celebration in 2000.

And I did say Mrs. Payson belongs in the Hall as well. Do you even know who she was, or did you suddenly become a Met fan in 1984?

Anonymous said...

What happened in 2000? That embarrassing display of corruption and largess that you losers call a chumpionship? Trust me, the Mets were embarrassed not for themselves, but rather for the game of baseball. Talk about massive corruption, spending, extortion, etc. - that series (and the ones that preceded it) were HUGE black eyes on the face of baseball. All thanks to Adolf Steinbrenner, yeah he belongs in the HOF. NOT!

Uncle Mike said...

Well, seeing as how we were the team that won, and you were the team that lost, you have no place to call us "losers," and we called it a "championship." Something we're quite familiar with. You, in the words of the great Yankee Fan Paul Reiser, "Not so much."

Massive corruption? Extortion? Both were involved in the Mets' very creation, if you read Michael Shapiro's book "Bottom of the Ninth." Massive spending? That's what the Mets have done since 1986, with but one Pennant to show for it.

And get it right: It's "General Von Steingrabber," as the great Daily News cartoonist Bill Gallo called him.

Anonymous said...

Mikey, I do believe you are gay. In the other post from today, you are talking about poles and strokes, and now you're talking about "Von Steingrabber" - phew, very gay! Are you sure you didn't mean "Stein Von Crotchgrabber"? Or "Stein Von Jocksniffer"? HA HA HA HA HA

Anonymous said...

I guess that's what happens when you watch too many Yanker games. "Avon Lady" Jeter, Gay-rod, "Twinkle Toes" Rivera, and Jor-gay Posada should just lead this year's gay pride parade and come out of the closet. Jerry Seinfeld said it best - "there's nothing wrong with that"! HA HA HA HA HA

Uncle Mike said...

Okay, refresh my memory: When has any Yankee ever publicly had to deny that he was gay? Never. But a Met did, Mike Piazza.

I was trying to make jokes about how Santana cheated on his wife. And, to be fair, I noted that A-Rod had as well. Shows what I get for being fair. Next time, I'll presume that all Yankees are faithful and no Mets are.

I suppose Jose Reyes could take a girl to bed, but he'd probably drop her. And David Wright could, but she'd go looking for him in September and never find him again.

Search This Blog