Why is the National Anthem performed before sporting events?

[Oeditpus Rex]

I don't mean "Why that stupid song?" or something (although it's a horrible song), I mean why do we sing a patriotic song before a ball game at all?

I don't get the connection. :shrug:

[electricmonk]

1. I've wondered that too

That's baffled me since I was a little kid.

[WCGreen]

2. Cause you gotta sing it some place....

[rockymountaindem]

3. I believe it started during WWI

There were some soldiers in attendance at a Yankees game in a visible group, and the band was told to strike up the national anthem. It's stuck just as well as the Pres. Taft inspired 7th inning stretch.

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. Wikipedia says it was before that

In 1916, T. Woodrow Wilson ordered that "The Star-Spangled Banner" be played at military and other appropriate occasions. Although the playing of the song two years later during the seventh-inning stretch of the 1918 World Series is often noted as the first instance that the Anthem was played at a baseball game, evidence shows that the "Star-Spangled Banner" was performed as early as 1897 at Opening Day ceremonies in Philadelphia and then more regularly at the Polo Grounds in New York beginning in 1898. Today, the anthem is performed before the first pitch at every game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner

Wiki also says this:

There are many apocryphal stories about the origins of the seventh-inning stretch. One popular yarn claims that it began on account of President William Howard Taft. He had been in attendance at a Washington Senators versus Philadelphia Athletics game on April 14, 1910 and had been uncomfortable in his chair; by the middle of the seventh, he could no longer take it, and stood up. The crowd mistook his action, and believed he had decided to leave, and out of respect, stood up as well. However, minutes later, after stretching out his legs, Taft sat back down as did the crowd. This tale is almost definitely false — evidence exists of the practice as early as 1869, when unruly students were called to stand up and stretch to help settle them down. However, the seventh-inning stretch was not a formal practice in professional baseball games until the 1920s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh-inning_stretch

[rockymountaindem]

5. I guess I should stop listening to baseball hearsay

That said, why are you opposed to singing the national anthem? Is it because you're a communist?

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. Nope

Socialist.

:P

[Heidi]

7. Leveraging a common occurence as a means of instilling

nationalism in us from an early age?

[hippywife]

18. I think you're right, Heidi. n/t

[bridgit]

8. it's to recall the sacrifice that our soldiers have made spilling their...

blood on foreign shores so that we can have the freedom to spend, or more to the point take an hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, out of our already distracted lives to somehow enjoy, in the midst of it all, simple pleasures litigated by a code of sportsmanship, a binder full of regulations, and a program on which to write all the plays down win or lose...oh, while the world is falling apart at the seams x(

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. That would explain

why the Shea Stadium* P.A. announcer said Thursday night when imploring people to stand for "God Bless America" that it was "to honor our men and women in uniform who keep us safe."

"God Bless America" says that? Who knew? :shrug:





*Named for the Cuban guerrilla leader, Shea Stadium.

[bridgit]

11. yup, just please do not ask me why Roseanne felt compelled to...

grab her crotch somewhere in the midst of all that x( :hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. She said she was just imitating ballplayers

I believe her.

[bridgit]

16. 'ballplayers' is right...

:spray:

[LSK]

9. i remember in my youth about being told to be so respectful during it

What hogwash.

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. I was thinking about that, too

They don't just want us to stand and sing, they want us to be reverent.

At a minor league baseball game some years ago, I stood for the anthem but I didn't take off my cap. About halfway through the song, I felt a tug on my pants leg (I was sitting in the back row of the open-backed bleachers). I looked down and around and this old guy was standing there glaring at me. "Take your hat off!" he said.

Not too many years later, I was covering a high school basketball game — big game, packed house. My girlfriend was with me because it was at her alma mater, and during the anthem we were standing at one end of the gym, talking.

The game was a heart-stopper and the home team lost. I went into the locker room afterward for the usual quotes from the coach. He'd just lost a crucial game by about three points, and the first thing he said to me was, "Don't you have any respect for your country?"

:eyes:

[Whoa_Nelly]

19. Have had people glare at me at ballgames during the anthem

for not putting my hand over my heart.

People can be such sheep.

[tjwmason]

14. It used to be played in the cinemas and theatres here.

What I don't get is why Americans don't actually sing their anthem. When we have sporting internationals the whole English crowd sings "God Save the Queen" - and it's a damn impressive sound to hear the Welsh rugby crowd singing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (not least because they're mostly English speakers singing in Welsh).

[jobycom]

15. You ever hear Americans sing?

Watch American Idol, you'll understand. Sure, we have some great singers, but the vast majority of us can't even spell "tune," much less carry one.

Plus, the Anthem is a difficult song. Imagine 60,000 people trying to climb from "Oh, say can you see?" to "And the rockets read glare." Cats would be committing suicide from the screeching.

[Mutley]

17. Because baseball is the all-American past-time?

Just a wild guess, here.

:shrug:

[anarch]

20. to foment mindless nationalism

why else?

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. Cuz people are too fucking tone deaf to sing the Agnus Dei from

Penderecki's Polish Requiem.

[Gatchaman]

22. It's to acknowledge our freedom

now stand up and do what everybody else does before you get yelled at.

[SaveElmer]

23. I don't mind that...seems appropriate...what I HATE...

Is the recent trend at some stadiums to sing "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch. I'm there to see a ballgame, not go to church...

Tradition dictates "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is the only acceptable song for the 7th inning stretch. I hope this new trend dies off!!!

[tanyev]

24. I don't get it either.

Apparently the camera focused on me once at a San Antonio Spurs game many years ago during the National Anthem. I wasn't singing, no hand on heart, just standing there quietly. Somebody who knew me was watching the game and asked me why I wasn't singing. I'm a choir director, so I can't use the "can't sing" excuse. I just said I don't see what the National Anthem has to do with a sports event.

I'll go you one better. Before high school football games in Texas there is a huge elaborate ritual of saying a prayer, reverently singing your school song, standing respectfully while the other school plays their school song, etc. As soon as all that is over the crowd starts cheering exuberantly every time someone from the opposing team is violently tackled and flung to the ground.

I dunno. :shrug:

[Dangerously Amused]

25. More importantly,

...why is it performed in public and recorded for posterity by asshat Republican leaders WHO DON'T EVEN KNOW THE FUCKING WORDS on the steps of the Capitol, flanked by Congress, to commemmorate the September 11 anniversary?

Presenting Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, September 11, 2006:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ4x2mer2Ok


:mad:

[skygazer]

26. I don't really know

But no matter what context I hear the national anthem, in my head I always hear the words, "Play ball" at the end. :eyes:

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. From Wikipedia:

It is also sometimes said humorously that the last two words of the national anthem are “PLAY BALL!” since that phrase is shouted by baseball umpires after the anthem is played before games.

:rofl:



(I hate to blow the image, but few, if any, umpires actually say "Play ball." Typically they point at the pitcher and say something like, "Okay, let's go.")