God Bless America: Now And Always

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• Des December 19, 2009 at 7:42 am

  ESPN’s Rob Neyer and SNY’s Ted Berg are out of touch. They are part of what’s wrong with our press, and although I don’t want to needlessly get into politics, I can be almost certain I know how they vote when the curtains are drawn.

  If they try to end the singing, fans like me will start an impromptu God Bless America.
  • Cynthia T. December 19, 2009 at 9:47 am

    Amen to that Des. As the daughter of a life long Marine I was shocked to wake up and read this post and the other posts this referred to. How can people be so shallow and so inconsiderate? It breaks my heart to see people born in this country so quick to denounce the singing of such a beautiful song that means so much to the troops and to their families. SNY and ESPN should be ashamed of themselves for promoting such an un-American idea. I’m even more mad that the network that is owned by the Wilpons who owns the team I love, allow people like Berg to spew their dribble. With Christmas less than a week away, what a fine time they chose to rail against a few seconds of silence for our fallen heroes and a tribute to those who still fight. Shameful.
    • Shamik December 19, 2009 at 1:48 pm

      Oh, get off your high horse. There’s a time and place for patriotism and love of one’s country. Baseball games (in my opinion) are not one of them. I’d rather see more baseball related songs played then. We already kick off the game with SSB anyway.
      • Mike Vail December 19, 2009 at 5:32 pm

        So if someone had a different opinion then yours they are on a “high horse”.
• Bob L December 19, 2009 at 7:54 am

  i love this country for the freedom, opportunities, liberty, and system of law, it has extended to its citizens and the freedom it restored to half the world through the dark days of WWII and the Cold War. Truly, the USA is the best nation on the planet and a beacon of light, during its best chapters, for the world to follow.
  i fought for this country in Nam. i’d fight for it now, but lucky for the country, they wouldn’t have me. i love our patriotic songs.
  This is going to get complicated, but my issue with the songs sung during the 7th Inning Stretch is that, like the yellow ribbons on scores of cars, they are too-easy, knee-jerk, and false symbols of our patriotism.
  ‘Honor our troops’? Damn straight, yes! But how about we ‘honor’ them by equipping them properly with armored vehicles and body armor (that we did not do for up to 4 years since the debacle of Iraq); how about we ‘honor’ them by riding rough-shod on our stupid politicians to figure out the ‘right’ war to put them into; how about we ‘honor’ them by NOT compelling these beautiful young men and women to undergo the stress of repeated (3 – 5) tours of combat, many lacking even proper ‘time’ between tours; how about we truly ‘honor’ the sacrifice and bravery of our troops by NOT sending them into foolish diversions with limited troop levels and resources when the ENEMY is on another battle front; how about we ‘honor’ our brave troops by changing our volunteer military system that is no longer capable of handling our commitments to a selective service system that requires all able-body Americans to serve active duty in the military, if called, whether they are bound for Harlem or Harvard; how about we ‘honor’ our troops by kicking the rear-ends of our politicians to stand courageously for the best interests of our troops and country and NOT selfish party interests and political reasons?
  How about that? Otherwise, indeed, i have NO PROBLEM with these songs, or those yellow or pink ribbons, but man-o-man, they do not absolve any of us of the elementary requirement of good citizenship: to KNOW the issues, and to truly care about our troop by making sure we fight in the damn, right, wars with proper equipment, and proper troop levels, and NO RESTRICTIONS on who or when or where we fight.
  Amen.
• Mike B. December 19, 2009 at 8:12 am

  We honor the country with the National Anthem before the game. That’s enough. My brother’s in Iraq, singing “God Bless America” doesn’t do shit for him.
• William H. December 19, 2009 at 9:27 am

  Tha Star Spangled Banner is sung to honor the country, yes. But God Bless America was sung to honor the victims of 9/11 and the troops. One has nothing to do with the other.

  All those bumper stickers and posters that say 9-11 Never Forget, and people like Neyer and Berg already want everyone to forget even before the ten year anniversary.

  I dont blame them though, they are just part of this counter culture that is sweeping the nation. You see it everywhere. In my generation honor and pride meant a lot more than it does today. I see it even with my own grandchildren despite our best efforts.

  I would bet that Berg, Neyer and millions of others who feel the way they do, never served their country or even considered the possibility. They want their freedoms but care little about what countless others have suffered to give them that freedom.
• Kay December 19, 2009 at 9:33 am

  I’m all for it – the song has deep personal meaning for me and every time I hear it, my heart skips a beat.

  No, it doesn’t DO anything for our troops, but it is symbolic of how we (IMO) should feel about our country.

  Bob L hit it out of the park (if you will) that there is SO much more we should be doing for the troops, but I think thats an entire different subject.

  I’d rather sing God Bless America then freaking Dominic the Donkey
• Mikey December 19, 2009 at 9:50 am

  God Bless America? I have no problem with it. But SWEET CAROLINE HAS GOT TO GO!!!!

  Didn’t they promise us a couple of years ago that we were going to get a new 8th inning song? Was it not going to be “I’m A Beliver”, which is a better song, and far more team appropriate?

  I’m ready to start boo-ing when “Sweet Caroline” starts. We ain’t the Red Sox.
• Cynthia T. December 19, 2009 at 9:57 am

  I apologize for the double posting, but I was so upset that I rambled on without remembering to say thank you to the author of this post for being on the right side of this issue. You’ll find plenty in the media so quick to put down their contry’s finest traditions and institutions, and it was nice to see that some writers are still not afraid to stand up for what is right and good.
• Shamsky December 19, 2009 at 9:59 am

  If Berg and Neyer have a problem with GBA, they can both kiss my ass. We should all have a problem with them.
• theonlymaskman December 19, 2009 at 10:23 am

  We need to retain a remembrance whether it be God Bless America or America the Beautiful. It will continue the recognition of those who need always to be recognized. It will also be instructive for the youth who attend baseball games. They are used to saying the National Anthem from school and it can become routine for them. Having an additional remembrance at the 7th inning lets them know that there are values in our country which are not forgotten. There needs to be 3 tributes at baseball games: The National Anthem, God Bless America or America the Beautiful, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Baseball is our true national sport and recreation and it should be the occasion for those 3 symbolic rememberances. All the other garbage songs can be eliminated as they are irrelevant.
• METS62FAN December 19, 2009 at 11:18 am

  JOE, I’VE REINSTATED MY USE OF CAPSLOCK TO EMPHASIZE THE AMOUNT OF PRIDE I TAKE IN CONTRIBUTING TO A SITE’S DIALOGUE THAT BELIEVES AS I DO! IN A SINGLE WORD FROM ONE OF THE MORE VERBOSE PARTICIPANTS:

  AMEN!
  • Bob L December 19, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    yeah, i do get verbose and mighty emotional when i believe our troops are being taken advantage of by politicians, the media, and delusional people that mistake words in a song for ‘patriotism’ and singing a song ‘for our troops’ as ‘honoring our troops’.
    It’s actions that speak: sending them into ‘right’ wars, with the proper equipment and full resources, building a system that allows them proper rest between combat tours, and does not compel them to do 3 – 5 tours of combat EVER, giving them educational and medical benefits, and deserved pensions, and NOT chintzing (denying our troops body armor and armored vehicles) to balance a freaking budget that would have been balanced but for a series of irresponsible tax cuts DURING WAR TIME. Someone look it up: the first time in recorded history that ANY GOVERNMENT ever CUT taxes in war time.
    THAT would be HONORING OUR TROOPS. The rest of it are mere words in admittedly beautiful songs, hypocritical pomp and circumstance to convince the convinced.
    Yeah, i get real verbose.
    • Des December 20, 2009 at 4:13 pm

      I agree with some of what you are claiming but you’re off base about the tax cuts. Wealth is NOT a zero sum game as you apparently believe. Cutting taxes INCREASES wealth and prosperity, including the government’s share. It has time after time.

      Some politicians demagogue the tax cutting but reducing taxes is helpful and swells the government coffers. By comparison, the current administration is raising taxes and the financial returns are declining and keeping people out of work.
      • Bob L December 21, 2009 at 1:26 pm

        let’s not digress into political warfare, Des. i like tax cuts just NOT when we’re at war. That said, i do not buy into the supply-side economics thang; you seem to. That’s fine. Regarding the current Administration, they are increasing spending to combat the recession, tactics i agree with, although they did not go far enough to accelerate jobs, compel the frkn banks to lend as a quid pro quo for the bailout, and, again, the tax cut piece was silly in terms of timing, because (aka the CBO), taxcuts are NOT stimulative.
• The Stache December 19, 2009 at 11:44 am

  There is also another blog that agrees with Ted Berg and the other guy by Howard Medgal. I dont know what your comments policy is regarding links, but it’s at NYBD. I believe him and Ted are co-workers so this might be an SNY aka: Wilpon philosophy. It seems they have sent out their minions to do their dirty deeds to set the stage for no more God Bless America in Flushing. However the Macarena and Dominic the Donkey will continue to blare. Here’s another thing you would never see anyone associated with the Yankees do through their network.
  • Shamik December 19, 2009 at 12:17 pm

    I don’t think Silva works for SNY either. From what I understand NYBD is a side project in his real job of being a lunatic.
• Tomterif December 19, 2009 at 11:46 am

  Joe, I love ya buddy, but have to disagree on this one. Singing God Bless America after 9/11 was fine, but it’s been overkill since 2003. This over the top patriotism at sporting events has always made me uncomfortable (I agreed with Delgado on that one). It’s kind of like religion–observe on your own when you feel it’s appropriate. Why does it have to be some mass demonstration, especially when we already do the Star Spangled Banner? (And, frankly, America the Beautiful should replace the SSB, too.) If we want to honor our troops we can do that with a short announcement and moment of silence before the game when we find out a soldier has died in combat. Other than that, let’s stick with Take Me Out to the Ballgame and have fun!
• Shamik December 19, 2009 at 12:16 pm

  When I’m at a baseball game, I’m there to get away from country and politics. Play take me out to the ballgame, its as much a classic as GBA and far more relevant to the game. Good thing this isnt an issue for the Blue Jays.
• Lisa P. December 19, 2009 at 1:09 pm

  As long as soldiers keep dying overseas, we should continue this very short tribute to their sacrifice for us. That said, I do believe they will ultimately do away with it thanks to the efforts of Berg who is like the fakest personality out there. It’s bad enough SNY employs a host of non Mets fans who continuously knock the team and its players, but now they’re going to knock the soldiers too and take away what little we do for them. What a disgrace.
• sarge December 19, 2009 at 1:58 pm

  What does singing GBA have to do with politics? Great post Joe. As a retired Air Force SGT. I see no problem with singing GBA. Delgado and his refusal just shows his ungratefullness for what this country has allowed him to prosper in. He has citizenship cause of the good ole USA. He can always align himself with the independent thinkers in PR and renounce his citizenship but he won’t cause he makes too much money. Politics has nothing to do with it unless someone, Delgado, makes it an issue. When he came to Mets I had issues with his stance on singing or standing during games.
  I will not denegrate Berg or Neyer for just suggesting this and start calling them names and bringing up some conspiracy plot. Just as they make their opinions known on players, trades, etc then whether or not to sing GBA at the game is just their opinion and not a reason to consider them un-American, come on people.
  We have to remember what happened on 9-11 and not get apathetic and allow ourselves to get caught un-awares again. I am glad that it continues and I think that pitchers stepping on and off, playing with the ball, batters stepping in and out, players coming to mound take more time. Cut back on the commercials if you want to quicken the game.
  This is why baseball is so special; there is no time limit like other sports and each team gets 9 innings and 27 outs. This is what makes baseball special.
  • METS62FAN December 20, 2009 at 9:56 am

    SARGE, I wouldn’t dream of denouncing the “spirit of uyour post; but feel obligsted to challenge it’s inaccuracies: #1) most of Delgado’s career was spent toiling under a foreign flag, Canada’s #2) Delgado, DID NOT make a SHOUTING STATEMENT or a big deal. rather he chose to show his constitutionally guaranteed right to disagree by staying out of sight, off the field, in the tunnel whilst GBA was played. some hack, “i need a controversy” reporter, noticed his absence & investigated it, Carlos honestly answered his inquiies instead of dodging them(a mistake?) possibly. From my understanding the US Navy has, for years, chosen to use a Puerto Rican beach, habitat for wildlife, for live gunnery practice & has refused to comply with local demands for cesation of the practice, Delgado objects & chose his own rather personal & quiet means to do so. Truthfully, isn’t that what u served to protect & guarantee? The greatest thing about the USA is there can be multiple sides to every issue tolerated, unlike a dictatorship’s one sided perspective! While i choose to disagree with Carlos’ choice of protest, I respect his right to do so in a personal, quiet method, unfortunatly another one of those protected rights(Freedom of Press), got in the way needing to color the article with a tinge of bright YELLOW! I there any wonder why Carlos doesn’t bow to every Press dictum?
• D.C. December 19, 2009 at 2:51 pm

  Out of Bounds for both guys. It stays.