Oh say can you see

1) Since when did the anthem become about honoring the players? If the game is held on American soil, operated by American businesses and as an American venture, guided by American laws (or antitrust exemptions, as the case may be) -- then any accepted American customs would seem to apply. Playing the American national anthem before the start of a ballgame has been an accepted American custom since the end of World War I. Try again.

2) If "moran" fans were the reason to get rid of anything at a ballgame, then there'd be nothing left. Try try again.

3) Kill all the oversized-checks-to-local-charity ceremonies, and ceremonial first pitches by oversized CEOs, and you'll kill 10 minutes too. Every game starts at the exact minute it's supposed to start -- and if it's early, the umpire will wait until it's exactly 7:05 before signaling "Play Ball!" The anthem has nothing at all to do with the length of games.

 

I guess my issue is this: why is it still a custom? What purpose does it serve? In a world where the destructive force that is nationalism is constantly demonstrated, why do we continue to promote it?

 

Woodrow Wilson would be proud. Seriously.

Honestly, I don't know why it's still done. Like I said, if there were any good reasons for eliminating a tradition that very few people still alive can remember the days when it wasn't, maybe there would be support for it.

But I like a little pomp and circumstance before a game. It makes a game feel like something special, which it is. No two games -- in any sport, at any level -- are exactly alike. Never have, never will.

 

I guess I didn't mean for it to come off that strong. I apologize for it. Got a little carried away.

 

I wasn't trying to insinuate that at all (I apologize if I'm missing the sarcasm font). I just got a little peeved at the previous post, and I wrote without thinking.

 

I have a pet peeve about standing and taking my hat off for God Bless America. It's not the national anthem; you don't have to stand at attention for whatever patriotic song they decide to play. Seems like a post-9/11 thing, but maybe I've just noticed it more since then.

 

Suggesting that nationalism is a bad thing is not anti-American. Nor was the suggestion exclusively directed at America either.

America is a wonderful dream that will not collapse if they stop playing the national anthem before Upper Armpit High's football games.

 

With the longer TV breaks after innings, MLB added 18 minutes to each game without throwing a pitch. Eighteen minutes, more in the postseason.

 

From what I recall, in at least the last few times this has happened, the first shot in those pissing matches comes when the Canadian yahoos boo the American anthem. That big anti-American chip on their shoulders gets heavy sometimes.

I don't care if they play it or don't, but I don't understand why some people are so viscerally opposed to it. It's two minutes in length, max. And you know what? For all this country's faults, it's still a better place to live than almost anywhere else, and I'm pretty proud of it.

 

touche coffee, touche.

i'll be the first to admit when i speak out of my ass: i spoke out of my ass.

 

Same danger in letting a private play revellie (sp?), too. As a young lad at Caserma Ederle (Vicenza, Italy) the cassette player which we used to play the daily songs had a funny play/fast-forward button.

So, obviously, Pvt. three_bags fucked it up one day. When I hit the play/ff button, it decided to fast forward. By the time I realized it and hit the button again (to engage the play function), the song was nearly over. Only the last four notes of revellie were played that day.

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