Baseball peer pressure

[Cartoonist]

At the San Francisco ballpark, the seventh inning features a singing of God Bless America. I like Ray Charles' version, but I have yet to hear anyone else do it with such emotion. What bugs me is that the announcer asks everyone to please stand and remove your hat. WTF? This is like that pledge BS. I wouldn't stand for any song with God in the title, verse, or chorus. How about letting people choose to stand or sit? How about using a different song?

[SheilaT]

1. I'm with you here.

I am totally against enforced crap like that. I do not do the Pledge anymore, and often remain seated, depending on exactly where I am and how much I'm willing to piss people off.

Which is among the reasons I tend not to got to huge crowd things.

The one time I went to a professional baseball game (Kansas City Royals, btw, although I have no recollection as to who they were playing, since this would have been in 1990 or so) I found doing The Wave to be stupid and annoying and wouldn't do it. Like I say, I hate forced group participation.

[villager]

2. When did we add a show tune as an adjunct national anthem?

If we're removing our caps for Irving Berlin songs now, shall I take it off when I hear the Young Frankenstein version of "Puttin' on the Ritz," too?

[AtheistCrusader]

3. It's like the assholes that decided E Pluribus Unum wasn't enough. Not enough gawd.

They're quite happy to substitute God Bless America for the National Anthem.
Fortunately there aren't enough of them for now.

[villager]

4. "For now."

Alas.

[Cartoonist]

5. Anthem

Actually, I think they still do the anthem at the start of the game, but I've been missing it. You're right though that God Bless America is a new thing. They used to sing Take me out to the Ball Game during the seventh inning stretch, but I think they replaced it with GBA after 9/11.


Apologies to Ray. I got it wrong. I don't think he sang GBA. His version of America the Beautiful is what I was thinking of. That has God in the lyrics too.

[AtheistCrusader]

6. AtB is sometimes used as well.

I agree, the swap for 'Take me out to the ballgame' came around 9/11, to the best of my recollection.

[bvf]

8. I would pay good money to hear that played

at public events, provided it were prefaced by a request to stand and remove my hat!

[Warren Stupidity]

9. 9-11

It began with that shitfest on the capital steps. There was at least one ballpark doing this prior to 9-11 but after it became mandatory fun everywhere. It is a tribal demonstration that our god is more powerful than their god, ignoring the obvious problem that it is apparently the same god.

[villager]

17. Well, yes, it was kind of rhetorical, in that I knew it was 9/11 -- but when did we sign off

...on it being permanent? At every ballpark?

When did announcers start telling us to take off our fucking caps -- which presumably everyone already did for the actual Anthem, at the beginning of the game?

When is any team, anywhere, ever, going to go back to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame?"

[pinto]

7. You don't have to stand. It's your choice.

Those few times I can get to a major league game I literally take a 7th inning stretch (walk).

[Warren Stupidity]

10. right, it is not like peer pressure to conform to public demonstrations of tribal

religiosity tinged with bellicose nationalism is anything we should be concerned about.

[cbayer]

11. No one is going to arrest you or throw you out if you don't stand

or remove your hat.

[edhopper]

13. Have you been to a baseball game

by the seventh inning there has been a lot of drinking, and depending on the game and the team, you could be facing serious harm by pissing off the fans around you.

[cbayer]

14. I've been to 100's of baseball games and I generally stand

when asked to unless I have a compelling reason not to. I do not, however, put my hand on my heart and I don't sing or say the phrases that I don't believe in.

The word "god" in the song is not a compelling reason for me to not stand.

But if there were something that I really objected to, I would stay seated and deal with those around me if they objected.

I've seen people not stand and not remove their hats and the worst that has happened is that they might get glared at.

One has to choose their battles and the places one wants to fight them.

[edhopper]

15. Have you ever been a Yankees fan at a Sox game?

I agree, not a fight I would take. I would just stand and not sing.

Not the time or place for a stand over foolish ceremony.

[cbayer]

16. LOL, no! But I have been a Red Sox fan in Yankee stadium.

And I would absolutely stand in that situation.

[edhopper]

18. I treat this the way i do when I go to a religious service

I go through the motions and don't actually say or sing anything.

[pinto]

19. Ha! I went to a Sox/Yankees game with my uncle once at Yankee Stadium.

He was a starving NY actor, Sox fan, so we sat in the cheap seats. On our way in he winked and said, "OK, so do as I do..."

[cbayer]

20. It's generally not a problem if the Yankees win, but…..

when the Sox win, it might be time to take the cap off.

So, what did your uncle do to avoid trouble?

[pinto]

22. Said hello to everyone around our seats. Shared some comments on players. Joined in a "let's play!".

After the seventh was low key as the Sox pulled out an 8-5 win. A fun bit was the cab ride back to his apartment - the cabbie was bemoaning a Yankee collapse in the late innings. They went back and forth a bit, good naturedly, how it all played out. Some very specific stuff - he should have taken that 2-1 pitch, why make the play at second when the game was at the plate, and so on.

[cbayer]

23. Great technique on his part.

I also found that making friends with your neighbors is a critical part of creating harmony when you are the visitor.

Very few people are actually hostile.

[Jim__]

21. We used to sit in the cheap seats at the old Yankee Stadium.

It was 75 cents admission and all the sun you could take. But, at least you were sitting right behind where Mickey Mantle was fielding.

[center][/center]

[cbayer]

24. I used to sit in the bleachers at Fenway.

It was unbelievable hot during day games and could get pretty crazy before they enacted the rules that cut off beer sales.

But I still have wonderful memories.

[Fix The Stupid]

12. Imagine this...

Turn on NBC, CNN or some other propaganda outlet and see this commercial...

It starts showing a full stadium somewhere in the middle east...it looks like a soccer game is being played between two nations, say Iraq and Iran are having a friendly...

Action is good, some exciting plays get shown on the screen... and then half time comes...

All the players and crowds stand up and a song begins to play...

A song that glorifies allah is booming from the speakers and all the players and spectators have their heads bowed in worship and reverence and singing along...

Imagine the propaganda effect on the right wing in the US...I can see certain right wing radio/TV shows playing a clip like that non-stop to show us westerners what evil allah loving savages 'those' people are...

Propaganda is propaganda.