It’s time Major League Baseball does away with the practice of playing of “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch, a New York Daily News columnist argued in an article released just in time for the Fourth of July weekend.
“It’s time for God to stop blessing America during the seventh-inning stretch,” the Daily News’ Gersh Kuntzman wrote. “Welcome to the July 4 holiday weekend — when once again, baseball fans will be assaulted by the saccharine-sweet non-anthem ‘God Bless America’ at stadia all over this great land.”
“But no matter which home team you root, root, root for, ‘God Bless America’ should be sent permanently to the bench,” he added.
Though the seventh-inning stretch has traditionally featured the popular tune “Take Me Out To the Ballgame,” the MLB opted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States to substitute that song for “God Bless America.”
But now it’s time to do away with that, Kuntzman, an avowed atheist, wrote.
“The Yankees still play it at every game, but most teams, like my beloved Mets, play ‘God Bless America’ only on Sundays or holidays. But even that’s too much,” he wrote. “Part of my outrage stems from ponderous Mussolini-esque introduction of the song, when fans are asked to rise, remove their caps and place them over their hearts.”
“Reality check, friends: ‘God Bless America’ is not the National Anthem. The only songs Americans should stand for are ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ and “Here Comes the Bride,'” he added.
The song is not only “maudlin,” wrote Kuntzman, who drew criticism recently for claiming his first experience firing an AR-15-style rifle gave him post-traumatic stress disorder, but it also embodies everything that’s wrong with America: “[S]elf-righteousness, forced piety, earnest self-reverence, foam.”
And he is not alone in hating the song, according to a poll conducted by author Sheryl Kaskowitz, whose book, Bless America: The Surprising History of an Iconic Song, found that more than 61 percent of survey respondents said they didn’t want the song played at games.
Kuntzman’s column continued, listing all the other people who are offended by the song:
*Believers!: Charlie Pillsbury once ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate and one of his issues was his objection to “God Bless America.” “God shows no partiality towards nations,” he said. “God blesses the whole world.”
*Foreigners!: I once went to a Brooklyn Cyclones game with a British guy named James Silver, who smiled when “God Bless America” was being played. “It’s exactly what I expect from Americans,” he said. “The self-righteousness, the patriotism. It’s always nice to see my opinions confirmed.”
And so on.
“So this July 4, join me at the Church of Baseball by not rising and not doffing your cap for a song that is not the national anthem of a nation that is not uniquely blessed by some deity that doesn’t exist anyway,” Kuntzman concluded.
“If you want to thank God for blessing America, you can do it on Sunday in the other church,” he added.
