Ghost of Jack Norworth, please feel free to haunt Bud Selig

On November 15 of last year, this blog reported on a Major League Baseball press release detailing plans for a 100th-anniversary celebration of the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during 2008.

I saw no actual evidence of any special 100th-anniversary festivities this past season. Most notably, contrary to that press release, the All-Star Game’s televised 7th-inning stretch featured Josh Groban singing “God Bless America”, not a contest winner leading the crowd in “Take Me Out to the Ball

Game.”

Not that it should necessarily be a priority for the next President, but surely he can do something about this fairly easily.

Note from the Big Apple

Yes, I was at Yankee Stadium for last Thursday’s 7-1 loss by the Devil Rays. I’ll post photos and more details tomorrow (or later Monday, given what the time stamp is going to be on this post), including some perhaps sacrilegious observations regarding Yankee P.A. announcer Bob Sheppard and my ability to understand what he was saying.

Actually, here’s an observation I’ll post right now: during the seventh-inning stretch, the Yankees play “God Bless America” (a recording of Kate Smith, in this case) and then “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” A disheartening number of people sat down after “God Bless America.”

Original comments…

Levi: Though I’m with you on the “Only one song should be played during the seventh-inning stretch, and that’s ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ (although I make an exception for Wisconsin, where tradition and history demand following it up with ‘Roll Out the Barrel’), I’m willing to give Yankee fans a pass for a few weeks.

After all, maybe they were worn out from booing Cheney recently.

Dan: Yankee fans, with a handful of exceptions, are bandwagon-jumping pricks. And they have been for the better part of 80 years.

Go Mets, woo!

Dan: Oh, and kids who like the Yankees are even worse.