SFist Rants: We Want Our 7th Inning Back
One of our favorite things about baseball is the 7th Inning Stretch. There's something about a stadium full of people standing up and singing a completely quaint, nearly 100 year-old-song in our jaded, post-post punk, post-post modern, post-post-ironic age that gives us the warm fuzzies. But at last Sunday's Giants game, the Giants continued on with a new tradition that is slowly and quickly ruining the 7th Inning Stretch-- the playing of "God Bless America" right before "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
And yes, we do hate America, why do you ask?
The main reason we don't like it? Hello, overkill. Seriously, we already play the National Anthem. Do we really need to hear two patriotic songs? What's next, playing John Ashcroft's Greatest Hits between innings? "God Bless the USA" every time a home run is hit? We really hate throwing down Godwin, but the playing of the song is a tad Nuremburg-ish. We also hasten to add that it's a little oft putting because the sport is more and more played by people with surnames like Ramirez, Martinez, and Suzuki. Wasn't that the point of the whole WBC?
Then there's the aesthetics of it, what it does to the viewing of the game. What is the mythology of baseball? That it moves to it's own pace, that it doesn't force anyone to do anything until they want to. Pitchers don't have to pitch the ball until they're good and ready, batters don't have to stand in the box until they're good and ready, and fans attending don't have to yell "Charge!" until they're good and ready. It's all about the leisure of it, the laid-back ness of it. Now suddenly, out of nowhere, we have to stand up, take off our hats, and sing some song most of us don't really feel like singing. And yes, we realize that we're kind of supposed to stand up for the 7th Inning Stretch and sing, but you don't really have to. If you don't stand, you don't get some grizzled old baseball vet telling you to stand up because Babe Ruth died so we could have the freedom to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
Let's look at Sunday's game, the game where we heard the song. It was an absolutely beautiful day to be at the ballpark, in the low-80's with not a cloud in the sky. The ballpark was nearly sold out, there were boats in the Cove, and women in tank tops. Then, out of nowhere, comes the patriotic sing-a-long and we're suddenly transported from "it's 6-0 D'Backs and should we get more garlic fries?" to all the messiness in the world and the war and our President and the fact that because we don't like hearing the song, it makes us nothing but a bunch of hippie, gay-loving, commie pinko, terrorist lovers who make little baby Jesus cry.
And then, after that, out comes the goofy song and that slice of All-American corn pone. Talk about weird transitions. And the song, which should feel as leisurely as the game, comes off as rushed and tacked on. That's just un-baseball. It's even worse in Baltimore where they have to do "God Bless...” then "Take Me Out..." and end it with the O's tradition of John Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (another baseball tradition that totally rocks and is worth going to Camden Yards just to see).
We wonder too about the reasoning behind it all. Before the song, there's an announcement over the PA something along the lines that we should "join with Major League Baseball" in singing the song. Does this mean that it's not the Giants behind it, but some edict from Bud himself? It makes sense in a way because Giants' management is savvy enough to know that San Francisco isn't exactly the kind of place that is into the Patriotic frou-frou stuff. So, if it were Bud, then, why would he be requesting it? It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that ever since he took over, the sport has lurched from one PR nightmare to another PR nightmare, could it? Why nobody is cynical enough to use the flag in an attempt to earn good PR points. That would be wrong.
Look, after 9/11, singing "God Bless America" did have certain poignancy to it. Even cynical, cranky ole us got the goose bumps when it was sung in Yankee Stadium in the 2001 series. But now, five years afterwards? Playing "God Bless America" is SO 2001. And yes, we're at war and one could argue that in doing so, we're "honoring the troops" but we think we'd all agree that the best way to honor them is to figure out a way to get them the hell out of there.
Then again, maybe it's just because being from Philadelphia and cutting our sports teeth with the Broad Street Bullies, whenever we hear "God Bless America," we always want to start cheering "Let's Go Fly-ers! Let's Go!" and beat people up. Again, not really a baseball moment.