One guesstimate of the date of the Red Sox's visit is Thursday, May 9, which is an off-day after a three-game series in Baltimore.
Sam Kennedy, Red Sox President: "We've accepted and we're going to go ... Like in the past, it's an invitation. It's not a mandatory command performance. It's a great opportunity for the players ... to go to the White House and get a behind-the-scenes tour and get the recognition they deserve for a world championship."
Perhaps I'm old and in the way, but I fail to grasp how a visit to the White House will grant the Red Sox players "the recognition they deserve" for winning the World Series. Didn't winning the trophy in front of a world-wide television audience and being written up in newspapers and magazines and websites and having a huge parade through the streets of Boston, and receiving generous World Series shares and World Series rings give them the proper "recognition"? Do they really need to be thanked or congratulated or blessed or knighted by a racist blowhard moron to feel they are truly the champions of baseball?
Manager Alex Cora has criticized Donald Trump in the past:
I'm going to use my platform that right way. I'm not going to embarrass anybody. Actually, I'm going to represent probably four million people from back home the right way when we go there.Right after Boston beat the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series, Peter Dreier and Kelly Candaele of The Nation wrote that the Red Sox should stay far away from the White House:
Do the Red Sox want to allow Trump—whose presidency is rooted in appeals to racism, sexism, and immigrant bashing—to bask in the glow of their victory?Red Sox management may try to distance itself from Trump's inhumane policies, but accepting this invitation and then meeting and posing for pictures with him constitutes a measure of acceptance or tolerance of (or agreement with) what he has done during his time in the White House. Despite the team's possible denials, the Red Sox's participation in the ceremony will represent a stamp of validity for what Trump has done.
Does it really make sense for the Red Sox—who this year had nine players from five different countries (Hector Velázquez from Mexico, Eduardo Rodríguez, William Cuevas, and Sandy León from Venezuela, Xander Bogaerts from Aruba, Eduardo Núñez and Rafael Devers from the Dominican Republic, and Tzu Wei-Lin from Taiwan) as well as four African Americans (David Price, Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Brandon Phillips), two American-born Latinos (J.D. Martinez and Christian Vázquez), and one Jew (Ian Kinsler) on their 40-man roster—to ask those players to ignore Trump's divisive comments and policies that degrade immigrants, people of color, and Jews?
Gee, I wonder what your political persuasion might be.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's a real head scratcher.
ReplyDeleteI’ll just delete this trip from my memory bank like Curt Schilling.
ReplyDeleteWhat so you expect from someone who voted for Warren.....
ReplyDeletevoted for Warren
ReplyDeleteZevon?
Beatty?
Spahn?
Harding?
Hey douchebag reporter, just leave leave your own damn personal political views out of your work of sports reporting. Or risk being linked to the fake news establishment
ReplyDeleteAllan's political and social views, and his life experience, are woven throughout this blog and part of its charm. If you see the world differently, just move on. You don't need to pee in the punch bowl.
ReplyDeletethat is so a problem... and little donny trump is a new yorker skankee AH too...
ReplyDeletelike to see the players laugh at his idiocy when he talks .. best punishment for a bully ever !!
Cora should give little donny a history lesson about his home !!! remember donny's knowledge is that of a 5th grader ... most of his knowledge is just his fantasy ...
With Trump's genius for degrading, disgracing, and humiliating everyone and everything coming within his orbit, I imagine him with the team in Rose Garden as the Marine Band plays the National Anthem. The Red Sox stand there and afterwards, Trump says, "See! These guys are the real champions. They don't take a knee! They have respect! They love their country! Hey, I played ball when I was younger and bet I'd fit right in with these boys!"
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if, whatever invitation the team as team chooses to accept, some (or many!) individual players decided to avoid the affair and play video games, have a drink, sit by a pool, make love, etc etc.
Did you go and vote for Warren, Allan??? No wonder you guys had to hightail it out of Ontario so fast and with nary a word of farewell!
ReplyDeleterisk being linked to the fake news establishment
ReplyDeleteI'll take that risk.
But will you keep reading this blog and risk being linked to the open mind establishment?
Yeah Allan, leave your personal views out of your personal blog.
ReplyDeleteHey are you getting famous? Nice one, buddy.
Red Sox president Sam Kennedy shovels a large pile of bullshit:
ReplyDelete"We don't see it as a political event. ... It has never been, from our perspective, an endorsement of a politician, or policy, or procedures. ... We understand some may disagree with this decision. We completely respect that. ... [T]his is one of those moments where you try to put personal opinions aside and do what's best for the organization. ... We talked a lot about it, but there was no disagreement –– quite the opposite. ... It's no secret we try to take a strong stance on what we feel are important issues facing the team. ... [B]ut we do try to stay away from politics whenever possible."
John Tomase, WEEI:
"I can't say I'm surprised. Baseball remains the most vanilla sport when it comes to politics. ... That makes baseball the perfect sport for the 45th president, whom they'll be honoring with their presence, and not the other way around. ... It would've been nice to see the Red Sox take a tiny stand for decency, but that's a tall ask. ... Ostracization would've been my choice, but I guess it's a free country."
I love when Allan let's some of these type of comments through. I suspect there may be more that he doesn't let through. I wonder which players are MAGAts, I find it hard to guess actually. Anyway, won't likely see the Unknown Snowflake anymore on the blog.
ReplyDeleteBTW, thanks for the blog Allan, I look forward to your own unique journalistic perspective.
Allan, you voted in a US election and you didn't tell me?! And you voted in a state you have never lived in! How did you manage that?! Do you have a secret life as a Democrat??!! Do I even know you anymore?!
ReplyDeleteRed Sox players better have something else to do that day. Especially those from Latino backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be amazing if the whole team declined to go?
Hey douchebag reporter, just leave leave your own damn personal political views out of your work of sports reporting.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm guessing you don't know what a blog is.
Or risk being linked to the fake news establishment
Please explain.
I know this guy won't come back, but I'd love to hear what he thinks this means.
L: He might come back, but I doubt you'll hear from him.
ReplyDeleteNick: He sent in three comments at first, but I approved only one. I think I zapped one other one later on - or maybe it was a duplicate. (No real trolls these days, though.)
SoSH:
HurstSoGood: "Are the Sox going to present POTUS with an honorary 45 jersey ...?"
JohntheBaptist: "I need to go lie down."
Pablo's TB Lover: "If they present the #45 I hope Pedro then runs out from the side and throws #45 down a la Zimmer. Then the camera cuts to Tim McCarver who is somehow in the media crowd, clutching his pearls with a quivering upper lip."
Smiling Joe Hesketh: "Strange decision from a team that specifically cited their diversity as a strength in their championship season. ... Given that the Sox ownership has taken steps to distance themselves from a terrible past legacy of racism from Tom Yawkey's tenure, including getting rid of the Yawkey Way name, going to the WH seems bafflingly inept of them since Trump's main agenda these days is painting brown people as evil. ... The Philadelphia Eagles essentially told Trump to get stuffed. That's what I would have liked to see here."
Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat: "Most people who come from shithole countries never get a chance to go to the White House"
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