Barack Obama – a Chicago White Sox fan – stood in front of a huge crowd at George M. Steinbrenner Field – the Spring Training home of the New York Yankees – with the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays.
“I’ve said from the beginning that I am a unity candidate,” Obama explained yesterday. “When you see a White Sox fan showing some love to the Rays, and the Rays showing some love back, you know we’re on to something right here.”
David Price, who closed out Boston on Sunday night, introduced Obama as: “The next President of the United States.” He later said that Obama is: “Definitely an icon right now and probably will be for a long time.”
Price was joined by Fernando Perez, Jonny Gomes, Carl Crawford, Edwin Jackson and Cliff Floyd.
Ballplayers don’t often take sides outside the game. Michael Jordan declined to weigh in on the racially-charged 1990 North Carolina Senate race between Jesse Helms and Harvey Gantt. Jordan explained that: “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
Jordan certainly had a point and no one blamed him for staying out of the fight back then.
But historian and activist Howard Zinn likes to say: “You can’t be neutral on a moving train.”
It was nice to see some baseball players on the same train with the rest of us yesterday.
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4 comments:
I love it that these guys took a stand. I hope they don’t feel any backlash because everyone should have the right to stand up and be heard.
This whole country is looking at some major changes in how we live. It is nice to see that MLB players see that too and realize this is a pivotal time in American history.
Change? Obama offers the same interventionist foreign policy as do Bush and McCain. Let's not forget that he has voted to fund the Iraq war. He has stated that he would not hesitate to invade Pakistan. He promises more saber rattling and war mongering just as the major candidates of both parties have for decades. Obama also has little respect for our civil liberties. He voted to reauthorize the unPatriot Act and he will certainly continue to centralize power in the hands of the few in Washington. No, Obama is more of the same. I didn't have a team to root for until now. Unless the Phillies decide to stage a rally for war criminal McCain, I'm pulling hard for the Phillies.
Danny,
I did this post because I thought it was nice that some baseball players stood up for something. I hope that Michael Jordan was wrong and that it’s safe for everyone to use their voice in an open exchange of ideas that will make this a better society. There are probably no perfect candidates in this race, but everyone needs to choose a side and pull the lever. David Price, Fernando Perez, Jonny Gomes, Carl Crawford, Edwin Jackson and Cliff Floyd have as much right to choose a side and use their voice as you and I. It’s certainly fine that people disagree with them, but I hope that the ridicule doesn’t get so great that they take the same stance that Jordan was forced into in 1990.
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