Yankees legend David Wells appeared at Yankees Stadium over the weekend alongside a slew of other former players for Old Timers’ Day. Rather than just saying “play ball” and making jolly with his former teammates and fans, however, Wells took the opportunity to bash Bud Light and Nike for their wokeness.
Snapping about sportswear company Nike, which makes the jerseys for the Yankees and the symbol for which Wells had covered up with medical tape, he said, “I hate Nike! They’re woke!” Further, when asked if he would ever drink it again, Mr. Wells said, “Nope!”
For whatever reason, likely the political connotations of his comments, Wells’ remark about Bud Light infuriated former MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann, who posted, on X (formerly Twitter), “Bullshit. @BoomerWells33 would drink wood alcohol. Another fucking fraud.”
That unhinged tweet from Olbermann came in response to a tweet saying, “David Wells just ripped MLB, Bud Light, Nike and “woke” culture at Yankees’ Old-Timer’s Day. ‘We’re in a different world. It sucks. That’s why everyone should carry a gun.‘”
Bullshit. @BoomerWells33 would drink wood alcohol. Another fucking fraud. https://t.co/9NEjzueQTu pic.twitter.com/PFWla2KAll
— Keith Olbermann⌚️ (@KeithOlbermann) September 10, 2023
Well, Wells wasn’t going to take Olbermann’s dismissive, snide comment sitting down. He fired back in a devastating reply, saying, “Keith shut the fuck up. Just because you never played the game and all you did was work for espn and talk shit on all of us players because you have a degree in journalism makes you an expert on putting Athletes down. And thats if you even have a degree. Stick to your politics.“
Haha 😂 👏👏
Keith is angry every day and always putting people down. To be fair he really sucks at politics to. He really should just zip his mouth— Sara (@skb_sara) September 11, 2023
Wells didn’t just talk about Bud Light and Nike at the event. He also hammered the modern MLB as being too soft on players, saying, “It always seems that the [general managers], the managers and all of that are getting fired, and getting blamed for it, and it’s the players’ [fault]. If you’re not doing the job out on the field, and if I was a GM, I would start sending a message.”
Giving an example of what the managers were like in his day, which is when he twice led the Yankees to World Series victories, Wells said, “He slammed me against the pillar and got in my face, but I respected it,” Wells said. “He was like, ‘You gave up.’ And that pissed me off, because I never gave up, you just get your ass kicked once in a while. But to me, that’s what you don’t see anymore. You don’t see the guys getting in each other’s face. And it’s not a personal thing. You’re here to win, and that’s what they try to do, and I think from seeing my perspective, looking in, they don’t have that kind of camaraderie anymore.”
Emphasizing his point yet again, he said, “They tell [players] certain things. To me, personally, it’s ruining the game because these guys don’t have free will to be themselves and go out there and find their own identity. Because they’re having an identity brought to them. There’s a game plan. Our game plan was go out there and win, how are we going to do it? The best nine guys are going to play.”
Olbermann image credit: By kirstenlovesputi from Elk Grove, US – Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3635598; Wells image credit: By pvsbond – TBS Analyst David Wells, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10624605
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