Sports

People Aren’t Buying Team USA Manager Mark DeRosa’s ‘Dumb’ Explanation For Having Robert O’Neil Detail Killing Osama Bin Laden In The Locker Room

#World Baseball Classic
by Last Updated

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images


The vibes with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic have been a bit off. From Bryce Harper dismissing the important of the tournament to a video of the locker room seemingly weirdly stilted, the WBC hasn’t necessarily been the best PR exercise for America’s best baseball players.

Perhaps the oddest moment yet, however, came ahead of Team USA’s matchup against Team Canada, which they prepared for by having U.S. military veteran Robert J. O’Neill, the man who famously shot terrorist Osama Bin Laden, visit the locker room to detail the harrowing experience (while the video went viral ahead of the Canada matchup, Team USA’s manager clarified it was actually earlier in the tournament).

The moment was widely derided on social media as underlying America’s culture of war, especially with O’Neill becoming a bit of a controversial figure in recent years (such as telling a group of young men he would have turned them into sex slaves in a past life).

“American war culture is so strange. Dominican team are in there dancing & blasting music & the US have the guy that shot Osama Bin Laden 15 years ago giving a speech. Why!?” one viral tweet read.

“American culture and identity is war and violence. it’s not joy. it’s not community. it’s not music. it’s perceived power. Team USA’s celly is a military salute. It’s so weird. nothing has been clearer this entire tournament when compared to other countries,” another added.

“Not a fan of this thing where international sporting events are more and more being seen as like a manifest destiny opportunity for Team USA to assert their culture dominance over foreigners instead of just, like, something fun,” a third summarized.

Team USA manager Mark DeRosa attempted to explain why he had military veteran Robert O’Neill speak to the team in the locker room

Ahead of Tuesday’s World Baseball Classic final, in which Team USA will take on either Italy or Venezuela, manager Mark DeRosa explained his decision to bring O’Neill in.

“That was my decision to bring him in,” DeRosa said. “He was brought in, actually, a couple of days in Houston. It wasn’t before the Canada game. I think for me there has to be … you never want it to get lost why you’re doing this. Whatever that ‘why’ is and a lot of people, like Paul Skenes said to me when he signed up for this, ‘I want to do this for every service man and woman that protects our freedom. That’s why we wear USA across our chest.’”

“’We do it to honor our military’ has fully entered Epic Bacon territory. An entire genre of guy — who this year’s U.S. WBC team is full of — uses it as a personality type. Dig past ‘But the troops!’ and you will find a void. Nothing interesting to say about their metier,” one viral reaction read.

“Guy is stupid as s—,” another baseball fan replied. “Awe inspiring how dumb this guy is,” a third concurred.

“Im playing in the WBC for the troops” is an insane statement/thought process,” was another viral reaction to DeRosa’s comments.

One baseball fan even recapped DeRosa hectic management of Team USA during the WBC:

“It’s been 5 games and DeRo has: very publicly made the incorrect assumption that the US had advanced when they hadn’t; brought in a right-wing extremist to motivate the team to face a far inferior opponent; declined to add Joe Ryan to the roster for some reason.”

Eric Italiano BroBIble avatar
Eric Italiano is a NYC-based writer who spearheads BroBible's Pop Culture and Entertainment content. He covers topics such as Movies, TV, and Video Games, while interviewing actors, directors, and writers.
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