Military tributes at baseball games: True honors or hollow gestures?

[Go Skins]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/military-tributes-at-baseball-games-true-honors-or-hollow-gestures/2015/05/23/3dc36364-0154-11e5-833c-a2de05b6b2a4_story.html?tid=sm_tw

 

 

Like most people, John Dever awoke Sept. 11, 2001, saw horrific images on the news and tried to make sense of what would come next. Dever worked in the San Diego Padres media relations department, and he was summoned to a meeting to decide how the team would stage a potential game that night. The schedule had not been cancelled; they still did not understand the scope of what had happened.

At the meeting, Dever spoke up with an idea. The traditional “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” would sound out of place during the seventh-inning stretch. He suggested the Padres should instead play, “God Bless America.” The idea reached Padres owner Larry Lucchino, who had flown into Milwaukee for an owners meeting. He relayed the idea directly to Commissioner Bud Selig. A tradition was born.

“It kind of became a thing,” said Dever, who worked for the Nationals their first 10 years in Washington. “It really ramped itself up.”

In the period since the Sept. 11 attacks, military tributes at ballparks and stadiums have escalated in frequency, variety and scope. Ballparks across the country on Memorial Day will display solemn remembrance to fallen soldiers, but sporting events do not require a holiday to host a tribute to the armed services. On most any summer day at the ballpark — or any NFL Sunday, or NASCAR race, or golf tournament — the military will be recognized.

The pervasive tributes are seen by many as meaningful and important ceremonies to raise awareness and provide public gratitude. Some take a different view. No one doubts the merits of honoring soldiers and creating awareness of the travails veterans face. But the ubiquity of the tributes has led to concern that the ceremonies have become perfunctory, accompanied by obligatory applause that fades quickly and without thought, without a true appraisal of the costs. Does rote appreciation inhibit genuine gratitude? Can an attempted salute, even made with the purest motive, become an empty brand of patriotism?

[|Montana Bengal|]

Totally read that as "John Denver"

[T-Dub]

Why be so GD cynical, it means something to somebody so who GAF if MLB's intentions are pure?

[|Bunghole|]

Totally read that as "John Denver"

Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on the article. John Denver died in 1997. What terrible reporting.