Yankees' patriotism doodle is a real dandy

AMERICA AT LARGE:ALTHOUGH MOST Americans assume the playing of the national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, prior to baseball games to be a tradition as deeply-rooted as peanuts, hot dogs and chewing tobacco, the practice in fact dates back only to the second World War, writes George Kimball

Since the events of September 11th, 2001, fans in many major league parks have been subjected to a double-dose of patriotism, with God Bless America replacing the time-honoured sing-along of Take Me Out to the Ball Game accompanying the traditional seventh-inning stretch.

In most venues this practice has been limited to special occasions, such as national holidays and opening-day ceremonies, though in some ballparks it has become a staple of Sunday afternoon games as well.

The exception has been New York's Yankee Stadium, where God Bless America has been performed during the seventh inning of every home game for the last seven years, more often than not in a stirring, live rendition by the Dublin-born tenor Ronan Tynan. (When Tynan's increasingly busy concert schedule calls him out of town, the recorded version by the late Kate Smith is played instead.)

The ritual has taken on such solemnity that it is carried live on Yankees' television broadcasts, and the YES network passes up several hundred thousand dollars' worth of commercials to beam it into living-rooms.

Within the confines of the ballpark itself, spectators are asked to "stand and honour America" during this presentation, and although God Bless America is a song devoid of any official status, misty-eyed baseball fans unfailingly remain at attention throughout.

The practice has not been universally embraced by, say, visiting players, who claim that it provides the Yankees with a subtle competitive edge - not because of the overwrought emotions elicited by the song, but because Tynan's version is a notably lengthy one that is inclined to disrupt the rhythm of an opposing pitcher obliged to stand at attention on the mound when he might otherwise be warming up to face the next batter. Suffice it to say, American League pitchers were quietly singing along "God Damn America!" long before the Rev Jeremiah Wright turned it into a catchphrase.

Although many Americans labour under the delusion that the song goes back to the Founding Fathers, God Bless America was written in 1918 by Irving Berlin. The composer of White Christmas and Blue Skies had initially intended it for a review called Yip Yip Yaphank, but when it failed to make the final cut, the song lay dormant for two decades.

In 1938, with the clouds of war gathering in Europe, Berlin retrieved God Bless America in a version popularised by Ms Smith on her radio programme. Even then, the lyric was considered so provocatively jingoistic that Woody Guthrie said he wrote This Land is Your Land as a direct response.

Three decades ago, God Bless America enjoyed something of a renaissance following its ironic inclusion in Michael Cimino's Oscar- winning Vietnam-era film The Deer Hunter, and in the post-9/11 years it has been appropriated as a slogan of the right. You can almost take it for granted that a car bearing one of those God Bless America decals will have an old Bush bumpersticker as well.

If God Bless America has been co-opted by the right, so, too, has Ronan Tynan - by both the pro-Iraq lobby and by the Yankees. With regard to the latter, Dr Tynan's schedule this month not only includes Yankee Stadium dates for both next week's 9/11 anniversary and September 21st, the final game to be played in the about-to-be razed stadium, but a performance this Saturday at St Patrick's Cathedral for a Mass marking the 60th anniversary of Babe Ruth's death.

Apparently the Republicans' favourite Irish tenor, Tynan has performed at several White House receptions, at George HW Bush's 80th birthday celebration and at the state funeral for Ronald Reagan.

Now, as much as I might admire Tynan's voice, over the years I've come to regard the drum roll for God Bless America at Yankee Stadium as the signal to head outside for a smoke break, and it should probably be noted that nobody ever tried to discourage me.

It seems Brad Campeau-Laurion was not so fortunate. Turns out the Yankees have a rule restricting patrons from moving in the stands during God Bless America, and stadium ushers, security personnel and NYPD detail cops have been instructed to enforce it.

A bespectacled, thirtysomething resident of Queens, Campeau-Laurion was present, along with 55,057 others, for a game against the Boston Red Sox in the Bronx last week. In the middle of the seventh inning he decided to heed the call of nature and headed off for the jacks, only to find his way barred by a New York policeman, who ordered him to remain standing in place until God Bless America had concluded.

When Campeau-Laurion replied "I don't care about God Bless America, I just need to use the bathroom", he says, two cops pinned his arms behind his back and hustled him toward the nearest exit.

The policemen, according to Campeau-Laurion, "shoved me out the front gate and told me to get out of their country if I didn't like it".

Since no newspaper covered the incident, it developed as a slow-boiling issue that didn't come to light until Campeau-Laurion took his story to New York's CBS affiliate. Since being aired on television, this tale of the bladder denied has taken on a life of its own.

By yesterday an internet page - on mlb.fanhouse.com - devoted to the subject had received 247 posts. Some of them are sympathetic to Campeau-Laurion's plight. Others include thoughtful responses like "Who cares if some French a**hole got kicked out of Yankee Stadium? Rules are Rules," and "You must be one of those liberal America-hating a**holes".

Noting that God Bless America is not the national anthem, and in fact has no official status at all, Campeau-Laurion is threatening to sue the Yankees over his ejection. The baseball team have referred all inquiries to the NYPD. The cops, predictably, have claimed that Campeau-Laurion was "acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol", a contention more neutral eyewitnesses have termed "ridiculous".

If it does go to court, of course, the Yankees' attempt to enforce patriotism will be at the heart of the litigation. Or, as one of the more imaginative online responses to the episode noted this week, "if God hadn't intended us to urinate at baseball games, He wouldn't have invented the relief pitcher".