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.


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Why is Ronan Tynan shipping up to Boston?

I was watching a PBS special this weekend called "The Music of Ireland - Welcome Home," which featured Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, among other artists, talking about the history of Irish music. Anyhow, I wondered what Tynan was doing these days, ever since he got the heave-ho from Yankeeland due to reportedly making an anti-Semitic remark last fall.

I didn't have to wonder long about Tynan. The next day's New York Times had a big story on the singer, in which he revealed that he's moving to Boston!

Of course, now there's all sorts of speculation that the Irish Tenor member might switch sides and sing "God Bless America" at Fenway Park.

Not so surprisingly, Red Sox Nation is not exactly happy that he's coming to town. "No Tynan. Please," say the guys from Surviving Grady. And Mighty Quinn Media Machine is even more adamant about not having Tynan switch sides:

I hope the Red Sox don't get some kind of crazy ideas about letting him sing at Fenway Park. The Sox have had plenty of fine musicians at Fenway, like James Taylor and Dropkick Murphys, belting out the tunes. There are plenty of ways the Sox can stick it to the Yankees, but I hope they don't think that bringing in Tynan for "God Bless America" is a good idea. Is Tynan truly a bigot? I don't know for sure, but he's gotten too much bad publicity recently for this to be anything but a silly publicity stunt should he be invited to sing at Fenway.

Anything that would bring Red Sox Nation angst is fine with me. So part of me would like to see Tynan sing at Fenway, just to make Boston fans uncomfortable. Sing it, Ronan!

I just don't want anybody in Boston to talk about trading musicians. I have zero interest in hearing the creepy "Sweet Caroline" at Yankee Stadium, that's for sure!

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Ronan Tynan calls Joe Torre a 'clown'

Joe Torre had all sorts of catty things to say in "The Yankee Years" about way too many people. Now one of his targets is fighting back.

In "The Yankee Years," Torre griped about George Steinbrenner not giving Yankee scouts rings after the 2000 World Series. The book claims that scouts were angry when "they heard or saw Steinbrenner cronies such as actor Billy Crystal and singer Ronan Tynan wearing World Series rings."

The new web site Irish Central.com asked Tynan about this tidbit. And the Irish tenor wasn't exactly pleased. He called Torre a "clown" and said he was "surprised" that his name was brought up in this dispute.

Tynan also defended Steinbrenner, saying that The Boss "is passionate" and "loved to win." "If you were part of it he included you," Tynan said, "if he thought you were part of the win." Click here to read more about what the singer had to say.

I don't know why Torre felt the need to dis Tynan, who has helped contribute to Yankee pride and tradition over the years with his seventh-inning rendition of "God Bless America." Not to mention that opponents complained that the version was so long, that it messed up their team's groove!

However, I do know that to call Billy Crystal just a Steinbrenner crony is laughable, especially given that it was Torre, not The Boss, who asked Crystal to do a video for the team before the 2007 playoffs.

Besides, if Joe was so bent out of shape over the ring issue, why didn't he threaten to quit, or take it to the press, or do something about it himself at the time, instead of sniping in his book eight years later. Not exactly a profile in courage.

On another note, Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

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