Tony DeAngelo picked apart by selectively outraged Twitter vultures

Sadly, some sportswriters recently took cheap shots on Twitter at the New York Rangers’ Tony DeAngelo over politics.

Tony DeAngelo could score the Cup-winner, donate a year’s salary to charity, and pay for hundreds of kids to play hockey, and none of it would be good enough for the hockey pundits and social media vultures who ripped apart the New York Rangers defenseman on Twitter following last week’s presidential election.

As most of you know, DeAngelo is the Rangers’ most active participant on Twitter and a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump. The 25-year-old blueliner regularly tweets his support for the 45th United States President and is ripped for doing so more often than not. His tweets last week sent the vultures into a ravenous mode.

In case you missed the piece by Blue Line Station‘s Chris Hanold, DeAngelo published two tweets that essentially made him a dead man skating to the vultures, who couldn’t pounce on his carcass fast enough.

Here’s the first:

Here’s the second:

Soon after the tweets appeared, DeAngelo’s Twitter account was temporarily deactivated. In less than a day, the account was reactivated minus the tweets. (To his credit, and unlike many other players who prefer to avoid the social media spotlight, DeAngelo has resumed tweeting and remains very open to responding to fans about his opinion.)

Before his account was reactivated, the vultures had gone into full attack mode. DeAngelo, who last month signed a two-year deal worth $9.6 million to remain on Broadway through the 2021-22 season, was picked apart faster than he was by Sebastian Aho last August.

Fans, particularly those opposed to President Trump, took their bites. Which is fine. Fans can say whatever they want. Doesn’t make them right or wrong.  I’m not sure how Troy Westwood (in the tweet above) voted, but he clearly doesn’t agree with DeAngelo’s point of view. Which is fine. No worries there.

Some in sports media devoured the young man. Which isn’t fine. When pundits take political sides and put down those who disagree with them, I’m overwhelmed by the urge to cross-check them in the throat. First, you’re in sports media; it’s pompous to think you need to let everybody know your political opinion and that anybody will care. Second, if you must do it, then please stop with the selective outrage.

This brings us to a vulture from the sportswriters’ nest: ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. The New Jersey-native was quick to devour DeAngelo last week, tweeting:

And:

However, when it was reported this week that baseball Hall of Famer Tony La Russa tried to talk his way out of his arrest for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) last February, Wyshynski wasn’t nearly as outraged and even used humor in addressing the situation. And this was La Russa’s second known arrest for DUI.

Now aside from the astonishment in learning that ESPN still covers the NHL, I was amazed by Wyshynski’s selective outrage against DeAngelo.

I reached out to Wyshynski on Twitter asking him to explain why he called DeAngelo a liar. No response. After he tweeted another shot at the Rangers defenseman, I called him a “Sean McIndoe wannabe” (McIndoe is his podcast partner) which elicited a humorous reply but still didn’t answer my previous question. (Oh, well, I tried.)

Sean Hartnett is another vulture. He’s a WFAN reporter who has authored numerous anti-Trump/pro-Biden tweets and taken cheap shots at DeAngelo. See for yourself:

There was also this exchange between Hartnett and CBS Sports Radio’s Shaun Morash (Morash deleted his tweets because he was “tired of arguing politics”):

If nothing else, Wyshynski and Hartnett are at least consistent with their political views. But sports is supposed to be a reprieve from the “real” world. There’s enough strife in society without sports writers taking it upon themselves to impose their political views. But if they feel they must, they should at least do so without chastising players who express their feelings through the lens of selective outrage.