The other day, in my National League favorites post, I had this tangent while talking about Roberto Clemente:
And speaking of Clemente and jerseys, I just gotta say how dumb I think Yankee fans are. LaTroy Hawkins wanted to wear number 21 to honor Clemente, but he met a huge backlash from Yankee fans because number 21 was Paul O’Neill’s number. Paul freaking O’Neill! Yes, he was a great Yankee, but not great enough to have his number retired (as evidenced by the fact that, you know, they haven’t retired it). Only Yankee fans could be so self-involved to think that Paul O’Neill is more important than a guy wanting to honor a great ballplayer and humanitarian like Roberto Clemente.
Well today, Joe Posnanski blogged about the same thing. My only regret: that I didn’t think of “Paul O’FreakingNeill,” which is much more creative than the “Paul freaking O’Neill” that I said. But I will do Joe one better and say it should have been “Paul O’Freaking’Neill.”
Anyway, as with most things Joe writes, this is worth a read.