Just another reason to hate the Yankees

[Coffee and Cake]

NEW YORK — A baseball fan who says he was ejected from Yankee Stadium by police after he left his seat to use the bathroom during the playing of "God Bless America" sued the New York Yankees and the city on Wednesday.

Bradford Campeau-Laurion says in his federal lawsuit his rights were violated at an Aug. 26 game between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox when he tried to pass a police officer.

The lawsuit said the officer did not let him take a step before grabbing his right arm and twisting it behind him. It said two officers marched him down several ramps to the stadium's exit, where he was pushed out as one officer told him to leave the country if he didn't like it.

Campeau-Laurion, a director of Web productions for a media company, does not participate in religious services and objects to being required to do so, the lawsuit said. He is proud to be an American but objects to being required to participate in displays of patriotism, it added.

"God Bless America," written by Irving Berlin in 1918, was played at big league ballparks throughout the country when baseball resumed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was discontinued in some cities the following seasons but remained a fixture at Yankees games, at which security personnel and ushers use chains to block off some exits while it's played.

Rest of story here:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,516301,00.html

[Rage for Order]

1. Oh...I thought you were talking about people from up North

:)

[rfranklin]

2. Common practice in countires ruled by dictators...

You must stand at attention when the flag is waved. I experienced that often while living overseas.

[flvegan]

3. But who really NEEDS another reason?

Wankees. heh heh.

[elleng]

4. Remember Kate Smith???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koR5SYrOgIU&feature=related

[Lint Head]

5. This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie

Guthrie was tired of the radio overplaying Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." He thought the song was unrealistic and complacent. Partly inspired by his experiences during a cross-country trip and his distaste for God Bless America, he penned his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land" in February 1940. It was titled "God Blessed America." The melody is based on the gospel song "Oh My Loving Brother", best known as "Little Darling, Pal of Mine", sung by the country group The Carter Family. Guthrie signed the manuscript with the comment "All you can write is what you see, Woody G., N.Y., N.Y., N.Y.". He protested class inequality in the final verses.

Screw the Yankees!

From Wikipedia

[Buzz Clik]

6. I have no use for the Yankees (or their fans), but ... hate the pig, not the team.

It was the dimwitted cop who tossed the fan.

[BostonMa]

7. 'at which security personnel and ushers use chains to block off exits while it's played.'

It is a team decision.

[Berry Cool]

9. Something tells me Keith Olbermann objects to that practice.

I have a feeling he leaves whatever seat he's in long before it's played when he's at a game, rather than be chained in like an animal. I mean, this is a guy whose parents told him he didn't have to say the Pledge at school if he didn't want to.

[Buzz Clik]

10. I stand corrected -- it wasn't just a single cop. However,...

... we have no real idea where the dictum originated. It could go right to the top of the ownership or someone far less important.

[spag68]

8. Yankees

I'm not much of a baseball fan, however it kind of pisses me off that their third baseman and shortstop make more then the entire Pgh. Pirate team.It's also hard to have any feeling for the obnoxious steinbrenner and family and their continual raping of the city. Don't group all of us who have to live here, with those assholes.