God Bless America — pinheads included

I always thought Ronan Tynan’s head — and by extension his brain — was too small for his body. This seems to bear out that judgment.

Tynan is famous for singing God Bless America during the seventh inning of Yankee’s games. What started out as a patriotic gesture in the wake of 9/11 has turned into a questionable practice. Players (and fans) complain it takes too long –especially the way Tynan renders the tune — and interrupts the flow of the game.

According to the item from NBCNewYork.com,

The trouble began on Thursday when the 49-year-old Tynan bumped into a Halstead Property real estate agent showing an apartment on his floor to a potential buyer, a pediatrician from NYU Medical Center.

The real estate agent said to the tenor, famous for his association with Yankees, “Don’t worry they are not Red Sox fans,” according to the apartment-hunter, Dr. Gabrielle Gold-von Simson.

To which Tynan replied, “I don’t care about that, as long as they are not Jewish,” Gabrielle Gold-von Simson told NBC New York.
“Why is that?” asked a flabbergasted Gold-von Simson of the singer.

And Tynan responded that Jewish ladies had been looking at the apartment before and they were “scary,” according to Gold-von Simson.

The singer now claims he was joking, but the good doctor didn’t see it that way.

“I didn’t know him at all so how could I take it as a joke,” said Gold-von Simson.

Tynan for his part said it was just a “big misunderstanding.”

“I’m not anti-Semitic and I have never been in my life,” Tynan told NBC New York. “There are three members of my band that are Jewish.  And I love them like brothers.  I call them my brothers from another mother.”

Oh, please. The next thing you know, he’ll offer the old saw, “Some of my best friends are Jewish.”

Sure enough, a little bit farther down the article:

“A lot of my friends are Jewish,” said Tynan. “It’s something misfortunate, I was too stupid with my mouth.”

Close enough for opera.

Thanks to Andy Silow-Carroll for the heads-up.

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Kaplan’s Korner on Jews and Sports © 2009 New Jersey Jewish News

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