Chicago Cubs’ Matt Shaw speaks at TPUSA Event

46 comments

  2. Let’s just say I prefer the attitude of the guy immediately under “WELCOME” at the top and leave it at that.

  3. If he wants to start his career as a maga influencer, I think his other career should go to someone who wants it more.

    If he believes in tpusa’s messaging, why would he step foot in super scary Chicago?

  8. I subscribe to “I don’t fight with family” as a philosophy. I have a big family and we’re all very close. We all come from the same place and I know their heart, even if I don’t understand their vote. I’ve found often I get to use this philosophy somewhat loosely with people I don’t know very well and generally, I still keep finding people that seem good. So when it comes to this, he’s on my favorite team and so I’m trying. Shit like this makes it hard but we’re never gonna get out of this mess defaulting to hate.

  9. Who gives a shit it’s December he can do whatever he wants.

    Promise you that the locker room don’t think it’s as big of a deal as Reddit thinks it is

  11. Its disappointing to see him go down this path. Hopefully the Cubs make improvements to the roster so he is expendable. Plenty of conservative MLB players that do not support the types of things this organization does. Anyone who fails to see the difference is being misled or don’t care.

  13. I posted this in the daily discussion, but for anyone who didn’t watch it:

    The speech was essentially “believe in Jesus and love your enemy. My wife and I get hateful messages and we’re trying to love our enemies, because that’s what Jesus said to do”. Pretty innocuous stuff. Basically Tim Tebow. I hope Shaw actually listens to the feedback that people are giving him. Maybe someday he’ll understand why TP is a rotten organization.

    Also, the goofiest Cub fan I’ve ever seen was in the audience and asked him a question about how he has “courage” or some shit. Hilarious. Anyway, I wouldn’t characterize it as a MAGA speech. It does beg the question though, does Shaw listen to how hateful his fellow speakers at the conference are?

    This backlash is not about him being Christian by the way. Dansby Swanson is Christian AF and I don’t see anyone giving him grief. Turning Point USA is a cancer on society. It’s not about Christianity.

    And by the way, if you have any doubt about the kinds of people that attend these events and watch them online, go look at the live chat on Rumble where it’s live streaming. Every other comment is literally “I hate Jewish people” or something like that. People wonder why we call these people Nazis. They usually call themselves Nazis, actually.

    Sincerely hope this is the last time that Matt does anything like this.

  14. My attitude at this point is “who cares?”

    This is not because I don’t have a personal opinion on this — of course I do (I think it’s questionable optics AT BEST), but because I’ve been in enough locker rooms to know that at least half of the guys in that locker room agree with him, guys like Steele openly called Charlie Kirk a friend.

    People saying that he’s no longer worth the hassle are missing a key element:

    Who is this a hassle for? Because it sure as shit isn’t a hassle for the organization unless it impacts the team’s ability to put asses in seats. Fans of this team are not going to boycott the team over a second-year third baseman being an evangelical republican. Want to know how I know? This team actively employed Daniel Murphy — who is openly and brazenly homophobic, justifying it with his faith — and it did not impact the revenue stream at all.

    It doesn’t really matter what fans think about this unless it results in some mass boycott (it won’t) and the Cubs fanbase is large and politically diverse enough that I’m sure large swaths of the fanbase like the fact that he did this.

    I just don’t think these types of posts are productive. We already know he’s a hardline conservative evangelical from rural Massachusetts. All posts like this serve to do is rage bait people.

  20. My feelings on the holey dude (pun intended) and his elitist organization aside, I don’t know what some of you Shaw proponents are watching

    2 weeks of hot streaks sandwiched between 6 weeks of droughts is not the talent I want at the corner. One more year of .226 and I’d trade him for some Skittles

  27. I would have thought his agent would have worked hard to talk him out of doing *anything* political to avoid alienating approx half his fans.

  28. Don’t forget everyone to sort by controversial so you can see who you should actually block lol

  30. So I actually listened to what he said. 

    Here’s a TL;DW: he talks a lot about Jesus. Slightly Tiptoes around talking about MAGA or conservative politics directly, trying to reframe everything around God.

    Longer summary:

    he basically just talked about his love for Jesus the entire time. Talks about how becoming a professional baseball player has been great but didn’t bring fulfillment like God. Encourages others reaching for a goal to remember this. It’s pretty standard Christian stuff, think Tim Tebow, etc. He doesn’t talk about politics beyond calling for more “understanding” and “love” in the way we have conversations to avoid things like Charlie Kirk’s murderer. Even says he saw an argument at the conference shortly before his speech and says one guy was literally red in the face even though he “bets he didn’t even understand what the other guy was talking about,” which I found (probably unintentionally) hilarious.

    In the Q&A
    He was asked about how he deals with the “hate for being a Christian and conservative”. He talks about his faith and saying all he can do is show love.

    He gets a question about first Corinthians 13 and if that’s the greatest representation of love. He says he can’t remember what is in that scripture off the top of his head (this is a very famous chapter referred to as the “love chapter,” so a bit of a surprise he didn’t get the reference). He goes on about how we need to show grace to others.

    Dodgers fan comes up and gets booed (lol) and asks if he can be dodgers and a maga fan. Shaw says he should be a fan of Jesus first, and then you can be a dodgers fan. Doesn’t mention MAGA. 

    Little kid asks how he shares his faith with teammates. He basically says rather than talking about Jesus directly, he tries to live his values in his life to set an example for what he believes.

  33. I’m totally fine if we move on from him. I really don’t care about his level of talent. I have plenty of questions about where his mind is. And, for a developing player with a lot to prove still … it doesn’t seem like he has good judgment. He left the team in the final stretch of the season to attend the funeral. Nah, I’m out on Shaw. He belongs elsewhere. Not here.

  37. Everyone has a right to their private lives and political opinions, but I think mainstream Cubs coverage greatly underestimates how much of a hot button issue and distraction this is going to be this season.

  38. I don’t really care what each player’s beliefs are or what they do off the field for the most part.

    But when you bail on your team during a playoff hunt because your favorite podcaster you had a parasocial relationship with died, then I have a problem with you as a teammate and competitor.

  39. I’m not gonna root for him but I don’t really care what the Cubs do at third. If they can improve with a signing he still makes a great almost everyday utility man.

  40. Shut up and dribble.

    It used to be career suicide as an athlete to get involved with politics or any other possibly heated subject. Now it seems to be the only way to ~~earn~~ grift in the off-season.

  44. Other things that happened at the Turning Point event: Steve Bannon made fun of Rob Reiner’s son killing him and got the crowd to Boo Rob Reiner. Matt Shaw could have been talking about how much he loves ponies and it wouldn’t matter. This crowd and organization are DISGUSTING and immoral.

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