Fan ejected from Yankee Stadium for trying to leave during 7th inning

[santo=dorf]

What a load of crap. I hate "God Bless America." It shouldn't be treated like our National Anthem

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/pop...70&src=news

http://deadspin.com/5042588/so-yankee-stad...ather-seriously

 

As soon as the latter came out of my mouth, my right arm was twisted violenty behind my back and I was informed that I was being escorted out of the stadium. A second officer then joined in and twisted my left arm, also in an excessively forceful manner, behind my back. I informed them they were violating my First Amendment rights and that I had done nothing wrong, with no response from them.

 

I was sitting in the Tier Level, and of course this is the highest level of the stadium and I was escorted in this painful manner down the entire length of the stadium. About halfway down, I informed them that they were hurting me, repeated that I had done nothing wrong, and that I was not resisting nor talking back to them. One of them said something to the effect that if I continued to speak, he would find a way to hurt me more.

 

When we reached the exit of the stadium, they confiscated my ticket and the first officer shoved me through the turnstiles, saying "Get the hell out of my country if you don't like it."

 

Nowhere on the Yankee Stadium ticket policy nor on any posted sign does it say that forced patriotism is a required element to attend a baseball game. Nowhere in the laws of this country would that begin to be defensible.

 

Furthermore, when the two officers returned to their section, Steve who was still in the stadium overhead one of the officers say "We got to watch ourselves. One day we're really gonna get in trouble." They were also spreading rumors with a fan with whom they were friendly that I had said "This country sucks."

 

I do not believe in God, nor am in support of this country to a degree of patriotic fanaticism. The fact that I wanted to use the restroom instead of standing through God Bless America should not be grounds for a forcible ejection from a baseball game.

[lostfan]

What a load of crap. I hate "God Bless America." It shouldn't be treated like our National Anthem

I am TOTALLY with you on that. I hate hearing God Bless America substituted for the National Anthem... when I hear it, I stand so that people don't think I'm an asshole, but I won't put my hand over my heart, because we only have one National Anthem, Star-Spangled Banner. For that, I stand rigidly upright with my hand over my heart. So anyone who thinks I'm unpatriotic can kiss my ass.

[DABearSoX]

I hope the yankees get a nice lawsuit on their hands

[YASNY]

Personally, I think "America, the Beautiful" should be the national anthem. "The Star Spangled Banner" while being inspirational in it's own way, is still about about war when it comes down to it. "God Bless America", which I have personally have no problem with, still has the religous connotations to it. "America, the Beautiful" has nothing controvesial within its lyrics and highlights some of the finer points about this great land of ours.

 

However, this person should not have been escorted out of the Stadium. That's bulls***.

[YASNY]

Well, after thinking about it, there is that line "God shed his grace on thee" with the song. So there is that. But, it's not quite so upfront as God Bless America is.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Personally, I think "America, the Beautiful" should be the national anthem. "The Star Spangled Banner" while being inspirational in it's own way, is still about about war when it comes down to it. "God Bless America", which I have personally have no problem with, still has the religous connotations to it. "America, the Beautiful" has nothing controvesial within its lyrics and highlights some of the finer points about this great land of ours.

 

Great song, but could you imagine the shrill sound of a stadium full of bad singers straining to hit the "AH-bove the FRUIT-ed PLAAIinnne" parts of the song?

 

Ouch.

 

[Texsox]

Of course I may be singing

 

Oh beautiful, for smoggy skies, insecticided grain

For strip-mined mountain's majesty above the asphalt plain.

America, America, man sheds his waste on thee

And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea!

 

 

 

I have that feeling that there is more, no a lot more, to the story.

 

A couple things that jumped out at me:

(and, yes, he's a Red Sox fan)

 

Would we not laugh at some Cub fan that gets ejected?

 

But even more telling

I have contacted Normal Siegel (public advocate - http://normansiegel.com/) and the New York chapter of the ACLU. I have not discussed my options with them and I don't know my long term plans at this time. I want people to be aware of the forced patriotism that is happening here, a clear violation of First Amendment rights and something that should be kept wholly separate from attending a baseball game. To my knowledge, Yankee Stadium is the only stadium in the major leagues with this policy, let alone still playing God Bless America in the 7th inning stretch.

 

You would not think that this was a set up and perhaps he was trying to get ejected? Nah, not in America.

[lostfan]

Personally, I think "America, the Beautiful" should be the national anthem. "The Star Spangled Banner" while being inspirational in it's own way, is still about about war when it comes down to it. "God Bless America", which I have personally have no problem with, still has the religous connotations to it. "America, the Beautiful" has nothing controvesial within its lyrics and highlights some of the finer points about this great land of ours.

 

However, this person should not have been escorted out of the Stadium. That's bulls***.

I'm a stubborn traditionalist and personally would never want to change the national anthem, although I never considered the fact that is basically a song about war, and off the top of my head I can't think of any other country that makes direct references to war in their national anthem (although their could be). The old Soviet national anthem used to before they changed the lyrics to be more about the motherland (the newer one sounds a lot like America the Beautiful actually).

 

Also I don't have a problem with God Bless America, or religious references for that matter, for me it's just the fact that it's simply not the national anthem.

[kapkomet]

I'm a stubborn traditionalist and personally would never want to change the national anthem, although I never considered the fact that is basically a song about war, and off the top of my head I can't think of any other country that makes direct references to war in their national anthem (although their could be). The old Soviet national anthem used to before they changed the lyrics to be more about the motherland (the newer one sounds a lot like America the Beautiful actually).

 

Also I don't have a problem with God Bless America, or religious references for that matter, for me it's just the fact that it's simply not the national anthem.

The "Star Spangled Banner" is actually an old "drinking song" in a time of war.

 

[Texsox]

The "Star Spangled Banner" is actually an old "drinking song" in a time of war.

The melody was sampled from a British drinking song IIRC.

 

BTW, the "tradition" only started in 1931, so it isn't like this was ordained from above a couple hundred years ago.

[lostfan]

The "Star Spangled Banner" is actually an old "drinking song" in a time of war.

The melody is, not the lyrics though.

 

I was watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics and I saw them singing God Save the Queen, and I realized I'd never heard it before, but if I had I would've known that the melody of "My Country 'tis of Thee" comes straight from the British national anthem.

Edited August 29, 2008 by lostfan

[kapkomet]

The melody is, not the lyrics though.

 

I was watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics and I saw them singing God Save the Queen, and I realized I'd never heard it before, but if I had I would've known that the melody of "My Country 'tis of Thee" comes straight from the British national anthem.

Right, sorry... I was unclear.

[Texsox]

Right, sorry... I was unclear.

Yeah, that would be one f***ed up drinking song. Well, maybe at Soxtalk's favorite patriot, Nuke Cleveland's Party . . .