The Sports Brewery

BFD, just play the damn game!

Posted on 24. Mar, 2010 at 3:38 am by Stake in Beer + Stuff

Apologies to those who were expecting some substance this morning, because I’ve got little for you. Then again, if your surfing the SportsBrewery, you expectations are already fairly low. My eye(half-closed) caught this article about about a baseball team playing its first game with a national anthem. Some Mennonite school(Goshen College) hadn’t had the national anthem played before their games in 53 years!!!!!!! OMG!! The reason for it not being played, equally as ridiculous as the reason for playing it in the first place. Here’s a better idea. Let’s play God Bless America during the baseball game too. What the fuck is that for? Why don’t you have to take your hat off for that, but you do for the national anthem? Taking any piece of clothing off for any reason related to a country is a joke and meaningless. Do guys with toupees take their hair piece off for the pre-game tune? I can’t wait for the story of when some high school basketball team in Indiana, for the first time decides to do lay-ups prior to their game.

Mennonite baseball team plays school’s first national anthem

By ‘Duk

Can you imagine a baseball game starting without the playing of the national anthem?

Yeah, me neither.

But for 53 seasons, that’s exactly what happened — or didn’t happen, rather —  before games played at Goshen College. Then came Tuesday afternoon when the song was played at the small Mennonite school in Indiana for the first time.

I wasn’t really aware of this, but the Mennonites have traditionally held a complicated relationship with the national anthem, partly based on the faith’s belief that the song glorifies war and partly based on its belief that citizenship with God comes before their citizenship with any nation.

There is no blanket policy for Mennonite schools when it comes to the anthem, but it had not been played in the 116-year history of Goshen College. The school received 400 complaint letters last season when a radio show talked about the anthem not being played before a basketball game and school administrators ultimately decided on a one-year trial period of the song to foster a more welcoming atmosphere for visitors.

That led to a controversial first playing on Tuesday as Goshen prepared to faceoff against Siena Heights, a small Catholic school from Michigan.

From the Indianapolis Star:

“Tiny wooden grandstands were packed with more than 100 fans, a mix of students and adults. Most of them stood during the playing of the anthem — about a dozen remained seated and at least one booed during the song.

“Some students painted American flags on their chest while three members of an off-campus group came dressed in black with black crosses painted on their forehead.

“‘This is a sign of mourning,’ Nekeisha Alexis-Baker said about the cross.”

School president Jim Brenneman told reporters Tuesday that one of his school’s goals is to address the “complex issues” that Mennonites face with “academic rigor and civility.”

That should be the goal of any higher education outlet, so kudos to Brenneman for keeping that in the forefront as his school explores its beliefs and values.

And a big BLS head nod for introducing the song in the most normal, natural and American way possible. Once again, baseball shows itself to be one of society’s great uniters.