PAUL O'NEILL & MISSING THE POINT

It truly baffles me! I’m so damn tired of it! The whole nation needs a check up from the neck up! Am I mad? You bet your ass I am!

Recently, former Yankee Great and current YES Network broadcaster Paul O’Neill endorsed Donald Trump. Social media went ape shit! 

“Oh no, Paulie! Why?! SO Disappointing.” 
“O’NEILL? Welp, so much for wearing that jersey.” 
“Used to be my guy, now I wish he’d stayed in Cincy his whole career!”

Actual quotes folks. It is simply ridiculous, and what’s more, totally Un-American! It seems more and more we are the country that believes everyone deserves a voice and an opinion…that is, of course, unless your opinion differs from someone else. So Paulie likes Trump. So what?! No, he is not my cup of tea, and I don’t believe he’d make a very good President, but it’s fine with me if O’Neill feels differently. It's America.

When did we start rooting for people or making friends because of who they vote for? That is a road I won't go down! I want people of differing opinions and backgrounds around me! They expand my view on everything. They make me a better person! Paul O’Neill’s political leanings don’t change what he did as a player or the person he is. 

IT’S THE SAME PAULIE!! #21! THE WARRIOR! I have never pulled for a player or rooted against him/her because of who they voted for.

If you do…grow up. That offends you? Toughen up.

This country was built on compromise. We are a people hailing from different places and walks of life working together. No, we don’t always see eye to eye and that is the very point of our democracy. We are supposed to push and pull, but at the end of the day the name on the front of the jersey makes us who we are. We play on the same team.

Social media has succeeded only in making us anti-social on a whole. We no longer talk to each other. We assume from a Facebook post or tweet that we understand everything about people we don’t know. Gone are the days of what I call the “Pub Culture”. The times we met face to face and civilly discussed the goings on in the United States of America. We are now a nation of “Time Outs”, “That Offends Me”, “I boycott” and “I can't like you because of who you vote for.” 

We’ve lost the plot. We aren’t one nation. There is no “team chemistry” in our clubhouse. We are the Yankees in the mid 1980’s. We are expensive, overly sensitive, prima-donnas. We don’t like to look out for someone else, we’re too busy taking a selfie. We don’t want to hustle, it should just come easy. We don’t respect those who disagree with us, we just shun them and think of a snarky tweet. 

 Billy Martin should pull us out of the game for dogging it…BECAUSE WE ARE.

Hey Paulie, I don’t back your candidate, but you are still my guy. I’ll wear #21 at the Stadium and tell my son that you played the game the right way. Nothing will ever change that.
 

I love this country. We’re better than this…I hope. 

** One of my favorite singers. Tell ‘em, Ray **

 
--Mike O'Hara Senior "Features" Writer
Twitter: @mikeyoh21















Thank you for your loyalty to Bleeding Yankee Blue. 
Please shop at the BYB store!  
On Twitter: @BleednYankeeBlu 
On Facebook, LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue!
Don't forget to check out the BYB Hub.