Via Atrios: why do Yankee fans hate America?

Ronan Tynan was singing "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night; the fans cheered the song, but when the Vice President (in attendance at the game) was shown on the right-field video scoreboard, the cheers changed to boos, and continued that way until the Vice President was taken off the video scoreboard, at which point the cheers resumed.

Via Atrios (http://atrios.blogspot.com) and ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=240629110).

B(proud once again to be a Yankee fan)K

•  Even the Gray Lady is now confirming

  the booing of King Cheney at Yankee Stadium: Cheney Pays Visit to Stadium

  by assyrian64 on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 12:32:05 AM PDT

  •  ahhh

    this would explain why he was gone sometime in the 8th inning...  running away from America he is.. yes...

    by seamus on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:03:09 AM PDT

  •  From the NYT article

    During the singing of "God Bless America" in the seventh inning, an image of Cheney was shown on the scoreboard. It was greeted with booing, so the Yankees quickly removed the image.

    Yes!

    by lapin on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 07:52:08 AM PDT

•  7th Inning Stretch

  I can't wait till they stop singing God Bless America during the 7th Inning...I'm agnostic and think if there is a God, he blesses people and not nation states. Next time I play Risk and take over the world I'm going to sing God Bless Kamchatka...I mean, WTF?

  How about singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, YMCA, Enter Sandman....anything but God Bless America. That song sucks...it sucks so bad Woody Guthrie wrote This Land is Your Land as a response...the most famous repsonse song ever (Skynard singing Sweet Home Alabama to Neil Young's Southern Man is a distant second). OK...ranting over. Go Yanks!

  by joejoejoe on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 01:51:57 AM PDT

  •  George Steinbrenner, Yankee Owner

    Loves to wrap himself in the flag, a fact which hasn't kept him from committing felonies, of course.  The last refuge of a scoundrel, etc.
    

    "L'enfer, c'est le GOP!" - JJB, from an idea by oratorio

    by JJB on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 03:00:20 AM PDT

    •  Give George This...

      I don't know if he has changed his mind on this, but the long-time Dem said in the mid 70s that the first time he ever supported a Republican landed him a prison term, and proposed he would never make the mistake again.

      That said, Go Sox! That Cheney doesn't know Yogi played a lot of left field in the early 60s is just one more nail, I think. Left field: The GOP albatross. Bush the Elder actually got Ted Williams booed at the 1992 All-Star Game. And Bush the Younger for 1 1/2 seasons started the worst defensive outfielder of all time in left, Kevin Reimer. Weak on defense? You bet.

      by textus on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 05:53:03 AM PDT

      •  Considering The Source

        I think you can file that under "Has Absolutely No Credibility."  If you read Jimmy Breslin's Watergate book, How The Good Guys Finally Won, Breslin allows Steinbrenner to make himself out to be a victim, basically saying that CREEP extorted money from him.  Years later, I remember reading some comment where Steinbrenner praised Nixon.  He also made a substantial contribution to the Buy Reagan A Retirement Home Fund after which (surprise, surprise!) he received a pardon for his felony conviction stemming from the Nixon contribution.  His giving money to Democrats was a way of buying influence in the basically Democratic Cleveland area his business was located in.  

        Steinbrenner also got involved with paying off some pathetic character named Howard Spira in an attempt to get information with which he could blackmail Dave Winfield, at the time one of Steinbrenner's players!  When he got caught at this, he managed to cut a deal with the authorities that helped them convict Spira.  Good timing on Steinbrenner's part, he avoided getting indicted himself, but he was suspended from baseball for a number of years for this.  Not coincidentally, having to step away from the day to day operations of the team enabled his excellent management team to put together the first of multiple World Series winners.  BTW, the nucleus of his first championship teams back in the 70s were assembled during his first suspension.  When he came back, he just added Reggie Jackson, and history was made.

        "L'enfer, c'est le GOP!" - JJB, from an idea by oratorio

        by JJB on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:17:48 AM PDT

        •  To be fair

          Steinbrenner has made better decisions of late. He vetoed the trades of Bernie Williams and Soriano in the late 90's. Plus he single handedly signed David Wells away from the Diamondbacks against all advice, and that worked out.

          He's mellowing a little the past couple years. Still crazy as a loon at the drop of a hat. But not nearly as bad as when I despised him in the late '80s. (Winfield was my idle growing up.)

          by Windowdog on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:31:49 AM PDT

          •  Yes

            And he's actually held onto a manager for, what, nine years now?  This was a very lucky thing, because I believe Torre was responsible for the non-trade of Andy Pettite a number of years ago.  I don't think Torre actually threatened to quit, but he hinted strongly that he might, and Steinbrenner backed down.

            Part of this is probably due to mellowing with age, but also, I suspect a lot of people have refused to sign those personal services contracts Steinbrenner used to insist on.  He'd pay you more money than anyone else, but the way I understand it, he'd also ensure that if you quit, he still had the right to stick you in any job he wanted you to serve in, even if it meant doing nothing.  Many years ago, Steinbrenner had a Cleveland franchise in something called the American Basketball League (not the ABA, incidentally, this was a few years before that).  He signed Ohio State star Jerry Lucas, offering him more money than the Cincinnati Royals of the NBA.  Before the team could play a game, however, the franchise folded, and Lucas found that he couldn't play basketball for anyone but Steinbrenner - he'd signed one of these personal services contracts.  What would have been his rookie year was spent doing nothing, although he did get paid.  Finally, there was some resolution that allowed him to sign with the Royals, don't recall what it was, I'd guess Cincinnati ownership paid Steinbrenner some money.  I'd imagine there was also considerable public pressure to let Lucas play, he was a god in Ohio back then.

            "L'enfer, c'est le GOP!" - JJB, from an idea by oratorio

            by JJB on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:58:07 AM PDT

    •  Its a hold over from 9/11

      Its clear that 9/11 effects NY/NJ/CT more than the rest of the country. The God Bless America singing isn't some fake emotion. Its a holdover from 9/11 and is still popular. Especially when sung by Roman Tinen.

      If you've ever heard him live he really is amazing. But it comes down to the fans like it, so it'll continue.

      by Windowdog on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:20:50 AM PDT

      •  I hear ya

        I'm a New Yorker and was at the Stadium on Memorial Day 2002...they had a color guard and all kinds of hoopla and I was just about balling my eyes out so I understand your point.

        But it's Steinbrenner that will keep the song....the fans would miss it one day and go back to good times and Cracker Jacks (no Crunch N Munch!). There have always been two contradictary responses to 9/11. 1) "September 11 changed everything" and 2) We have to go on living our lives as usual or the terrorists will have won.

        John McCain understands this...he was asked about going out someplace like a ballgame or Times Square and how people should deal with the terrorist threat a few months after the attacks and said something like..."For godsakes stop being wimps and live your lives. You have about as much chance of getting hit by lightning as being in a terrorist attack...stop being babies and live you live." That's where Bush fails as a leader...he used the fear of terrorism as a political weapon. FDR said fear was the enemy, for Bush fear is his best asset.
        

        by joejoejoe on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 12:30:29 PM PDT

  •  At Camden Yards they play

    YMCA and everybody does the whole spell it out thing.  They also play 'Thank god I'm a country boy' which is kind of weird; nobody has ever identified Ballmer as a hotbed of country music.

    But does this mean that now I have to like Yankee fans?  The sacrifices we must make for politics!

    by yellowdog on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 04:17:06 AM PDT

    •  Old tradition from the 70's

      They were playing John Denver during the 7th inning stretch when Brooksie was still at 3rd.  When they built Camden Yards the fear amongst fans was that they were upgrading everything -- including prices -- and taking the game away from the long-time fans for a more upscale base, so they continued "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" to try to give a sense of assurance and continuity.  Can't afford to go to the Yard too much, but hearing it does make me think of sitting in the upper deck with my Dad at Memorial Stadium and give me a smile.

      by SteveG on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 04:50:34 AM PDT

    •  Camden sucks

      It's more theme park than ball park. I caught an Eddie Murray foul ball in the old Memorial Stadium. Camden will never get any love from me. I like my stadiums huge and concrete and ugly as hell. I want it to feel like some hulking industrial prison right up until that point when you go through the gate and see the bright green of the grass. There's nothing like that. At Camden, all the yuppies arrive in the third, leave in the seventh and only spill microbrew beers on themselves when they leap up to check their cellphones.

      by Jumbo on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 07:34:10 AM PDT

•  hmm

  Maybe they were booing pataki or guliani.  Who shared the screen with Cheney. Somehow I doubt it, though.

  by chad okere on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 01:53:03 AM PDT

  •  Naw

    Pataki isn't popular, but not enough to overcome the gentle "eh buddy! Take off that hat before I crack your head open" NY peer pressure. Rudy would get cheers if anything. It was definitely for Cheney.

    I had tickets for last nights game and had to sell them. Life is just unfair sometimes.

    by Windowdog on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:24:49 AM PDT

    •  Rudy?

      Actually, I think he might get booed.  The bloom is off the rose for New Yorkers regarding that relationship, the aftermath of 9/11 had a lot of people questioning why there were so many deaths among the emergency workers, and it turns out that Rudy's budget cuts were responsible for giving the firefighters lousy communications equipment that failed at crucial moments.  His toxic personality also finally soured people on him anyway.

      Steve Gilliard had some pertinent things to say on his blog about this not long ago, I believe it was at the time Guiliani testified at the 9/11 commission hearings.
      

      "L'enfer, c'est le GOP!" - JJB, from an idea by oratorio

      by JJB on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:30:53 AM PDT

      •  Not enough

        To boo during god bless America. The first folks to do it had guts. You can get your head cracked open in the upper tier for crap like that. Besides most NYers still remember Rudy more for cutting crime and 9/11 response that for his crusades against sidewalk vendors and poor vagrants.

        He still gets cheered when showed alone on the screen when he's in town.

        by Windowdog on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:34:52 AM PDT

•  Take Me Out to the Ballgame

  I so miss hearing this. I don't dislike the Berlin song, although it is the subject of more overwrought performances than I think any 20th century pop song.

  Eliminating the traditional seventh-inning chorus of Norworth-Van Tilzer's showstopper from The Follies of 1908, though, is the biggest lingering victory al Qaeda has had.

  by textus on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:00:13 AM PDT

  •  They still sing it

    It comes after God Bless America but before Cotton Eyed Joe. Maybe if we can get this land is your land sung or somthing we can knock Cotton Eyed Joe out of the game forever. They didn't play it at the home opener and it made my day. But they a week or two later they started with that damn abomination again.

    by Windowdog on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 06:27:33 AM PDT

•  Here's a pretty picture

  
  Derek Jeter greeted Vice President Dick Cheney before Tuesday night's game.

  Cheney looks a little pale for Satan...I wonder how long it took to get the sulfur smell out of the locker room after he left?

  by lapin on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 07:49:01 AM PDT

  •  As a diehard Yankee fan...

    This made me ill. The YES network, and then CBS, which had the game, must have showed this clip 10 times. Not that I really hold them for it--from a sports perspective, it's a nice little human interest story to have the veep at the game, and frankly I don't want my sports guys to be political commentators at all. Just glad that Dick doesn't show up and sully Yankee Stadium with his presence more often. That face is the last thing I want to look at when I settle in for a Yanks-Sox game.

    by mattb25 on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 08:05:30 AM PDT

    •  Another image

      

      Looks really comfortable in that hat and suit, no?  I'm going to show this to my son, a 12 year old Yankees fan, and I know he won't be happy about Cheney in a Yankees hat.

      by lapin on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 08:18:01 AM PDT

      •  Cheney's mouth resembles that of the Grinch

        from the 'Grinch that stole Christmas -- animated TV version, not the Hollywood film version.  

        by LionelEHutz on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 08:29:19 AM PDT

      •  If I Weren't Already A Red Sox Fan....

        ...this picture would make me one.

        by Answer Guy on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 08:32:58 AM PDT

•  Suburban Males Turning on BushCo?

  The audience at Yankee Stadium is largely suburban and male, i.e., natural Republicans.  I think the fact that this crowd booed Cheney is highly significant.

  by lysias on Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 07:29:12 PM PDT