# Pitting "God Bless America" at baseball games (lame) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947 "2004-10-13T02:51:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/1 "2004-10-13T02:51:34Z")
Will this egregious new trend ever end? It’s a horrible song which has no place in a baseball game. Does MLB intend to continue with this ungodly new tradition forever? Please, god why? I always forget about it and then there it is during the 7th inning stretch, hurting my ears, forcing me to change the channel. No one actually _like_ that song, do they? Please, god, make it stop. It sucks, sucks, it sucks! Make the sucking stop, I implore you. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/2 "2004-10-13T02:54:34Z")
There’s an IMHO thread about this gawdawaful fascist anthem, too. Yeah, it’s truly a retch-inducing song. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/3 "2004-10-13T03:15:31Z")
You’d rather they played Cotton Eyed Joe? The Yankees do it to try and ice the pitcher before they come up to bat. They extend the stretch by several minutes this way, and nobody can really argue with it, because it’s for the troops. Supposedly. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/4 "2004-10-13T03:16:08Z")
I don’t really understand why they play anthems before sporting events, either. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/5 "2004-10-13T03:19:35Z")
I guess you’d rather hear Jane Fonda singing the Iraqi national anthem, ya America-haters! ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/6 "2004-10-13T03:21:13Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t really understand why they play anthems before sporting events, either. Started in WWI, then nobody really stopped it. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/7 "2004-10-13T03:21:34Z")
Is there any team other than the Yankees that plays it in the seventh inning stretch anymore? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/8 "2004-10-13T03:30:31Z")
> [@minty green](#): > > Is there any team other than the Yankees that plays it in the seventh inning stretch anymore? I think it depends on the day. IIRC, here in Baltimore they play it on Sundays, or onthe weekends, or something. On other days, we get John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” during the seventh inning stretch. A bit of foot-stompin’ goes over real well here in Charm City. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/9 "2004-10-13T03:37:55Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > You’d rather they played Cotton Eyed Joe? YES! > [@Revtim](#): > > I guess you’d rather hear Jane Fonda singing the Iraqi national anthem Yes, yes! Anything! Well anything but that stinking Leo Greenwood song. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/10 "2004-10-13T03:39:24Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > You’d rather they played Cotton Eyed Joe? > > The Yankees do it to try and ice the pitcher before they come up to bat. They extend the stretch by several minutes this way, and nobody can really argue with it, because it’s for the troops. Supposedly. I happen to like Cotton Eyed Joe during my seventh inning stretch thanks. A local less-than-minor league team plays it during their seventh inning stretch and it is a lot of fun to get up and stomp around the aluminum bleachers up in the cheap seats to. Said fun being much enhanced by the fact that the bleachers have absolutely no sun and they are right next to where the beer vendors are. Still, that’s not the majors. In the minors you get all kinds of wacky stuff happening in response to the games. A good sound man can make or break a game with good timing and duration of various clips. Love it when they play “I fought the law and the law won” when someone gets ejected for arguing with a ref. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/11 "2004-10-13T03:44:45Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > YES! > > Yes, yes! Anything! > > Well anything but that stinking Leo Greenwood song. Wait, what song are we talking about here? “God Bless America” or “God Bless the USA”? ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/12 "2004-10-13T03:45:51Z")
> [@LilyoftheValley](#): > > Wait, what song are we talking about here? “God Bless America” or “God Bless the USA”? Wait, I get it now. :smack: I was thrown by the reference to the IMHO thread (which I think is about “God Bless the USA”). ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/13 "2004-10-13T05:19:07Z")
“God Bless America” sucks too! ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/14 "2004-10-13T05:23:21Z")
God Bless America needs a second verse. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/15 "2004-10-13T05:53:38Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > God Bless America needs a second verse. Maybe just finish the idiom with a question mark, to make all the skeptics and atheists happy 😛 God bless america? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/16 "2004-10-13T06:10:53Z")
Aw, the song’s not that bad. Irving Berlin wasn’t known as a composer for nothing. As a national anthem, it beats the shit out of The Star-Spangled Banner. It’s true, it does need a second verse, though. Mondegreen fans: I’ll forever hear “Through the night, with a light from a bulb.” ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/17 "2004-10-13T06:24:18Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > YES! > > Yes, yes! Anything! > > Well anything but that stinking Leo Greenwood song. I agree. BLECH ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/18 "2004-10-13T06:49:40Z")
I agree… I doubt the ‘icing the pitcher’ theory, but the song is a downer and I don’t need an extended musical interlude at the fucking baseball game. If I wanted to waste my time listening to jingoistic crap, I’d go see Toby Keith! Okay, I just said that so I could take a shot at Toby Keith. And I’ve actually gotten chills from the Yankee singer doing the “to the oceans white with foam” line - so there’s one good line in the song. But even putting my atheism aside, I’m hoping we ditch this tradition soon and let the seventh-inning stretch be just a stretch instead of a streeeeeeeeetch. ---
**Author:** ![thursday\_next](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@thursday\_next](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thursday_next)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/19 "2004-10-13T11:04:45Z")
My family recently went to see the Astros play on a Sunday, before the regular season ended. With all of the patriotic brouhaha, I found myself asking my dad if he was that upset by who I was choosing to vote for that he felt the need to take me to a some kind of patriotic retraining camp. Even Mr. Patriot (who I love dearly, we just don’t discuss politics) thought the whole display was a bit over the top. They played “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the 7th inning stretch, and then one of the Yea America! songs mentioned above, but at the moment I can’t remember which one. Let’s just stick to fun at baseball people, I came to get away from politics and such. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947/20 "2004-10-13T12:41:45Z")
> [@minty green](#): > > Is there any team other than the Yankees that plays it in the seventh inning stretch anymore? The Rockies do it on Sundays. When I went to see the Orioles here, I got dirty looks because I was going for a beer instead of standing with my hand over my heart. It’s not the fucking national anthem, twerps. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-god-bless-america-at-baseball-games-lame/268947.md?page=2)