baseball and politics

[rone]

Carlos Delgado, a baseball player from Puerto Rico who plays for Toronto, has been protesting the Iraq war by not coming out of the dugout during the 7th inning stretch when "God Bless America" is sung.  American crowds have predictably given him crap when he comes to the plate since they figured out that he was doing this.  One brave Yankees fan decided to show his support for Delgado by unfurling a "Delgado For President" banner from the upper deck in Yankees Stadium; his brother wrote an article about the experience.  It's a bit heavy on the "courage" and "hero" angle, but it's good reading nonetheless.

Comments

[vspope.livejournal.com]

Remind me to buy a Carlos Delgado jersey.

The song is "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." Not "God Bless America," not "God Bless The U.S.A.," and certainly not fucking "Cotton-Eyed Joe." End of story.

[vspope.livejournal.com]

Addendum: there is only one place where "God Bless America" was acceptable at a sporting event -- critical Philadelphia Flyers games, sung by Kate Smith, and then only on rare occasions (http://www.philadelphiaflyers.com/history/katesmith.asp).

[schwa242.livejournal.com]

"Cotton-Eyed Joe?" Must have missed that game. Thankfully.

-- Schwa ---

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I think they play both TMOTTBG and GBA at Yankees Stadium. I'm pretty sure they only played TMOTTBG when i went to a game in Seattle recently; i did go take a leak, but i wasn't in there long enough for two songs.