#tom werner

Dombrowski:

On 25 July 1990, Roseanne Barr sang the national anthem in front of 27,000 people in San Diego before the Padres played the visiting Cincinnati Reds.

As The Washington Post reported, “From the start, she’s racing and slipping out of tune. When she gets to ‘ramparts,’ we hear the first screech. There is a nervous chuckle.” Then the booing began, and became louder as Barr stuck her fingers in her ears and her screeching continued. She ended the song, grabbed her crotch, spat on the ground, and headed for the Padres private plane to take her away. She was first interviewed by KFMB-TV on the field before departing. “I think I did great and people wanted more,” Barr said.

Some have argued that since Barr was a comedian, her act was intended to be funny, with her ending a parody of ballplayer’s behavior. Others have argued that she was deliberately disrespectful.

Barr’s story has changed over the years.

“I’m a good singer,” she stated in 2015. “I started too high. I knew about six notes in that I couldn’t hit the big note. So I just tried to get through it, but I couldn’t hear anything with 50,000 drunk assholes booing, screaming ‘you fat [expletive],’ giving me the finger and throwing bottles at me during the song they ‘respect’ so much.”

Padres owner Tom Werner (whose company produced “Roseanne” and who had only owned the team for about 6 weeks) is blamed for inviting Barr to sing. Werner blames Andy Strasberg, then the Padre’s vice president of marketing. Whoever was responsible, escaped the brunt of the media storm, which was directed almost entirely at Barr.

She held a press conference 2 days later. “They must have known I’m not the best singer,” she told reporters. “I’m not going to apologize for doing it, because I feel like it was the wrong choice for all of us to make. But not anybody anticipated (the reaction) would be this negative . . . You can all take this as fun or you can act like this is the worst thing committed by an American. I went down there with the best intentions. We thought it would be a fun, positive thing . . . I’m sorry I didn’t sing so good. How much more can I say?”

Matt Vensel has a one-on-one interview with Tom Werner of Fenway Sports Group.

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Takeaways:

Werner: John [Henry] and I were in Halifax for the preseason game that honored Sidney [Crosby] and the Penguins. You know, we don’t hang out in the locker room. But when it’s important, we do text with various players on the team. And I think I’ve got a very strong relationship with Sid and Pat Brisson, his agent.

Vensel: You mentioned Sidney Crosby. He will be a free agent in 2025. The team can offer him a contract extension this summer. It goes without saying the Penguins want him to retire in black and gold. Are you confident it will happen?

Werner: We have an enormous respect for Sid. And I have a very close, personal relationship with Pat. I probably speak to him at least once a week. I don’t want to say too much about the future. But it would be our fervent desire to have Sid retire as a Penguin.

Liverpool chairman Werner eyes ‘sustained success’ for champions

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has backed the newly-crowned Premier League champions to enjoy a period of “sustained success” underboss Jurgen Klopp.

Liverpool won the English title for the first time in 30 years on Thursday after Manchester City’s defeat at Chelsea sealed the title for the Reds.

Werner, part of the US-based Fenway Sports Group that owns Liverpool, believes the winning mentality…

Red Sox Owner Tom Werner & Bill Cosby

DATELINE:  #MeToo! Once again, the Boston sports media has fallen down on the job. Over the past year or so, there have been ample opportunities to ask owner Tom Warner, the media expert of the Red Sox and co-owner of the largest share with John Henry, about his dubious association with Bill Cosby. You might better remember Werner as the man who decided to fire Voice of the Red Sox for years, Don…