Yankee Stadium Overdue To Drop "God Bless America"

There was a time when all baseball stadiums would play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. Often a celebrity or fan would lead the singing to keep the tradition fun. But this practice changed after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Americans were afraid, and wanted to do anything they could to fight the Islamic terrorists who brought down the Twin Towers. George Bush sagely advised everyone to keep shopping, but many people were willing to take their sacrifice even further. Since the government didn't feel like offering any more guidance, the gap was filled by baseball teams. Many true patriots knew that to get these Muslims where it hurt, they had to intimidate their brown-people God. Already, at the beginning of ball games, the "Star Spangled Banner" is played, which of course mentions how America owns God. This was a fine start, but by the 7th inning stretch, a couple of hours would have passed without a large display of public praise. So it was determined that the song "God Bless America " would replace "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," thus not giving Allah ample time to recuperate.

In the coming years, as the country slowly regained some of its lost sanity, the practice of playing "Take Me out to The Ballgame" slowly returned. But even today, there are some stadiums that cling to the outdated practice of keeping "God Bless America." The worst offender has to be Yankee Stadium, where there is a rule that you can't leave the stands during the singing of the song. The stupidity of this rule was highlighted on August 26th, when a man was roughly ejected from the stadium by two of New York's finest when he tried to use the bathroom during the 7th inning stretch:

Some fans are coming forward to tell CBS 2 what they saw when a man was kicked out of Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night after he apparently tried to use the restroom during the playing of "God Bless America."

A Queens man is considering legal action against the Yankees after he was ejected from the contest against the Boston Red Sox.

The incident began during the patriotic 7th inning stretch at Yankee Stadium, when nature called on Bradford Campeau-Laurion. When he tried to leave his seat during the traditional singing of God Bless America, however, he says he was stopped by a NYPD officer who said he'd have to wait until the song was done.

"I then said to him, 'I don't care about God Bless America. I just need to use the bathroom.' As soon as I said that, he immediately pinned my arm behind my back," Campeau-Laurion told CBS 2.

The 29-year-old says two officers pinned both of his arms behind his back and ejected him from the stadium.

"He shoved me out the front gate and told me get out of their country if I didn't like it," he said.

Campeau-Laurion says he didn't know the Yankees had a rule restricting movement in the stands during the playing of God Bless America. The rule is enforced by ushers, stadium security and the NYPD.

The police are claiming he was a rowdy drunk, but I think they're liars:

"The officers observed a male standing on his seat, cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol, and decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior.

Campeau-Laurion was at the game with a Yankees season ticket holder who couldn't believe the cops allegations.

"That's ridiculous," said the fan, who asked not to be identified. "That's completely false."

Campeau-Laurion says he did have two beers at the game. He doesn't know if he'll seek legal action, but he's discussing his options with the NYCLU.

Meanwhile, after seeing CBS 2's report on the incident, witness Pete Montenez contacted CBS 2 to refute the officers' story. He does not know Campeau-Laurion, but was sitting near him during the game, saying he watched as it all went down.

"As far as him hootin' and hollerin' and standing on the chair, no way," he says.

I hope Campeau-Laurion goes ahead with the lawsuit, since I don't see how he could lose. Although the obvious First Amendment violations bother me, the Yankee Stadium rule seems ill considered in several ways. Imagine a scenario where "God Bless America" is playing, and then someone has diarrhea, or needs to vomit, or just has to urinate really badly. The stadium officials would rather they perform these bodily functions in their seat than leave. Or, suppose someone is diabetic and forgot their insulin, or is asthmatic and needed their inhaler. The police might still block their exit. In fact, there are thousands of potential emergencies that could require a person to leave.

With all the bad press Yankee Stadium is getting from this incident, maybe they can finally reevaluate their 7th inning stretch policy. They should realize that people go to a baseball game to have fun, and not for faith-based, pseudo-counter-terrorism activities. So please, bring back "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" already!