Ack! "God Bless America" at the seventh inning stretch again

[MaineDem]

I was hoping the Red Sox would drop that hokey bit this year but no.

Yuck! I am really coming to hate that song.

[phaseolus]

1. I can't hear that song without thinking of...

Yeah, I'm kinda old.

Hokey is right -- why not "America the Beautiful" which is a wonderful song?

[Twillig]

4. I remember reading,in his bio, that Pappy

Boyington almost (perhaps he did, given his temperment) got in a fight at a ball game after he returned to the USA from service in the Flying Tigers where they played that goddam song.

He didn't stand up for it.

[pnorman]

8. During the late Thirties,

many of the so-called American Firsters took strong objection to that song. They had no problem with the lyrics but with the fact that it was written by a JEW; Irving Berlin. The level of mainstream anti-Semitism displayed in those days is almost beyond belief. I don't know enough about "Pappy" Boyington's politics, but others who "remained sitting" when that song was sung, did so for explicit (and sometimes vociferous) anti-Semitic reasons.

pnorman

[jdsmith]

2. Ask them for "This Land is Your Land"

[dawn]

3. I never liked that song, but that's just my opinion.

It always made me think that we should only want God to bless America, and not the rest of the world.

I really don't see its place at baseball games, especially at the seventh-inning stretch. I mean, we already have the national anthem at the beginning of the game.

I agree with the phaseolus....I prefer 'America the Beautiful,' myself.

[jdsmith]

5. Remember Michael Moore's suggestion in _The Big One_?

New national anthem: "We Will Rock You"

[camero]

6. You're right

I prefer "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" for the 7th inning stretch.

[jdsmith]

7. Cubs fans?!

Would Harry By-God Carey have sung "God Bless America" in the stretch?