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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBaltimore Orioles play Woody's "This Land is Our Land" for 7th Inning stretch (Friday home games)
Orioles Deliver a Seventh-Inning Message: This Song Is Their Song
New York Times
BALTIMORE In the middle of the seventh inning of the Baltimore Orioles game against the Arizona Diamondbacks two Friday nights ago, the public-address announcer asked the crowd at Camden Yards to stand and celebrate Americas diversity. Three singers then stood on the first-base dugout and did a rendition of This Land Is Your Land, the famous folk song written by Woody Guthrie.
In a tradition that dates to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, God Bless America is played in major league ballparks around the country, including in Baltimore, during the seventh-inning stretch of Sunday games. The song can also be heard during assorted holiday games, and the Yankees play the song during the seventh inning of every home game.
But Baltimore is the only major league franchise to regularly play This Land Is Your Land, which it does at Friday home games. And the song, long considered an anthem of the left because of its populist themes, is meant to be more than a Camden Yards singalong. It is a subtle, yet intentional, message from the Orioles management that at the intersection of sports and patriotism, one size does not have to fit all.
God Bless America speaks to a lot of people, said John Angelos, the Orioles chief operating officer and the son of the teams owner, Peter Angelos. But, he added, there is a strain of progressivism in American life, and if we can reflect it, I think thats a good thing.
BeyondGeography
(39,276 posts)saltpoint
(50,986 posts)malaise
(267,784 posts)Rec
Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)And I was born in Baltimore. (Not that that has anything to do with it, but still...)
Stellar
(5,644 posts)marybourg
(12,540 posts)verse about the "No Trespassing" sign:
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me
Or the one about the welfare office:
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)jalan48
(13,797 posts)ailsagirl
(22,837 posts)Gman
(24,780 posts)And Old Man Trump.
shenmue
(38,501 posts)allan01
(1,950 posts)mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)Duppers
(28,094 posts)lupinella
(365 posts)This makes me so happy - it's nice to see inclusion where you don't necessarily expect it.
I'm not a sport person, but it is great to see.