Did anyone else see this story? This fellow got ejected from Yankee Stadium the other day for trying to use the bathroom during the playing of "God Bless America". Apparently, the stadium has a little known rule that says that people must stay at their seats while the song is playing. NYPD claims the guy was drunk and belligerent, but witnesses say he wasn’t. The ACLU is involved.
I’m a lifelong Yankee fan but that rule is not only ridiculous, it’s moronic. Yankee Stadium and Camden Yards seem to be the only two baseball stadiums that play "God Bless America" at the 7th inning stretch, instead of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame". I hate the song. Set aside the fact that it’s designed to instill one’s heart with patriotic fervor; the writing is terrible. The entire song is one big cliche. At Camden Yards, the announcer comes on and says, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please rise and help us honor our nation by singing God Bless America."
Honor our nation with a god-awful song?
I don’t think that most people realize that "God Bless America" is not our national anthem, it’s merely a (bad) song that someone wrote. The fact that a guy wanted to get up and use the bathroom while the song was playing doesn’t represent unpatriotic behavior. To treat God Bless America as if it were the Star-Spangled Banner is to dishonor the latter. And as far as patriotism goes, I’d like to ask those self-righteous NYPD officers: How many of you know all four verses of the Star Spangled Banner?
This was simply a dumb-ass move and I don’t see how the Yankees will get anything other than bad publicity from this.
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