Not Taking a Stand

Carlos Delgado is my new hero. The Florida Marlins' new first baseman has indicated that, just as he did when playing for the Toronto Blue Jays, he will refuse to stand during any playing of God Bless America this coming season. He "didn't like the way they tied God Bless America and 9/11 to the war in Iraq in baseball." It isn't motivated by politics, which he "hate[s]." Rather, he says "God bless America, God bless Miami, God bless Puerto Rico and all countries until there is peace in the world."

It was one thing for him to (refuse to) take a stand when playing for the Blue Jays, hailing from near-Communist Canada. But, to do so in Florida -- land of the bitter and confused butterfly ballot voter -- is downright noble. Kudos to Delgado for his stand, even if it is based on the misguided notion that there exists a supernatural being with the power and willingness to "bless" nations, but who lacks the power or willingness to put a stop to the matters that offend it.

(As long as I'm dispensing kudos, minor kudos should also go to the Marlins' organization, for taking that position that "what he does is up to him.")

I guess it's been a while since I went to a baseball game. When do they play God Bless America? Do they still play the apparently insufficiently patriotic Star-Spangled Banner? Does some drunken has-been still lead the crowd in an atonal rendition of Take Me Out To The Ballgame during the seventh-inning stretch? Or has the government mandated a third musical interlude specifically for the purpose of cheaply and efficiently distributing propaganda to a large crowd whose access to alcohol and interest in the American invention of baseball make them particularly susceptible to it? Why don't we just cancel the frickin' game and let Ashlee Simpson come in and lip-synch us all straight to a communal patriotic orgasm?

They do still go through the motions of an actual athletic contest, don't they?