A Pinstriped Patriot Act
One fine day last August, Bradley Campeau-Laurion just wanted to leave his seat and use the bathroom at the old Yankee Stadium. The 30-year-old New York resident had no idea that nature's call would lead him down a road to perdition where he would be accused of challenging God, country, and the joys of compulsory patriotism at the ballpark.
Under the thirty-six-year watch of George Steinbrenner--and now his offspring--the New York Yankees have always wrapped their fans, like it or not, in red, white and blue bombast. This is the team that so loves God and country that it mandates the singing of two national anthems--Francis Scott Key's 1814 epic, "The Star-Spangled Banner" and Irving Berlin's 1918 anthem, "God Bless America."
For a while after 9/11, "God Bless America" was standard fare in major league ballparks. But while most ball clubs have let the practice slide, the super-patriotic Steinbrenners have ramped up the flag-waving, extending the seventh-inning stretch to include "God Bless America" along with the traditional "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Sometimes "God Bless..." is performed live by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, but most often the tune is delivered over stadium loudspeakers via a scratchy vintage recording by the operatic warbler Kate Smith, who first popularized the song in 1938. But no matter who's singing, the Yankees have been known to cordon off the aisles and put off-duty police officers in place to ensure the multitudes stand at respectful attention. (Fans of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but a long-dead singer and the chains on your bleachers!)
Not only do the Yankees expect fans to stand during the singing of patriotic songs, but during the Bush era they virtually mandated fan support for the Iraq War, all the while extorting tax breaks and other public subsidies from city, state and federal governments to build their new $1 .5 billion cathedral of baseball. (Separation of sports and state anyone?) For the Steinbrenners and the high-rollers who occupy Yankee Stadium's $2,500 top-shelf seats, this kind of power patriotism wedded to corporate welfare must be sweet as champagne. But as the global economic meltdown has proven, there ultimately comes a time to put the brakes on corporate execs--to say nothing of mindless patriotism. And while some Yankees fans have grumbled and a few intrepid sports bloggers, like former Deadspin Editor Will Leitch, have raised concerns, it took one man's full bladder to hoist the Yankees organization with its own petard.
All Campeau-Laurion did was try to go to the men's room during the seventh-inning stretch. In swooped two New York Police Department officers working security detail, who reportedly roughed him up and threw him out of the ballpark. Now Campeau-Laurion has filed a civil suit against the the city, the cops and the team for violating his rights.
"New York's finest have no business arresting someone for trying to go to the bathroom at a politically incorrect moment," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Campeau-Laurion in the lawsuit. According to the complaint, Campeau-Laurion drank two beers and took the seventh-inning stretch to mean he could actually go stretch.
"As he walked toward the tunnel leading to the concourse, a uniformed New York City police officer put up his hands and mumbled something to Mr. Campeau-Laurion, " according to the complaint, blocking his way to the bathroom during the singing of "God Bless America." As Campeau-Laurion tried to move past the officer, the policeman grabbed his arm and said, "He's out" to another officer, who twisted his left arm behind his back, hustling him down the ramp and out of the stadium.
NYPD tells a different story. "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," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in an e-mail reply to my query. This account strains credulity. If it were standard procedure for the NYPD to kick out every drunken fan from Yankee Stadium, the place would be emptier than a John Ashcroft concert at the Apollo Theatre.
Campeau-Laurion disputes the NYPD account. "Not a word of that is true," he told Bloomberg News. "The whole incident didn't occur at my seat. It occurred at my section when I went to use the restroom." "I don't care about 'God Bless America.' I don't believe that's grounds constitutionally for being dragged out of a baseball game... I simply don't have any religious beliefs... It devalues patriotism as a whole when you force people to participate in patriotic acts," he continued. "It devalues the freedom we fought for in the first place." This ugly incident raises a series of inconvenient questions: why does America feel compelled to bind sports to patriotic ritual? Why are publicly funded facilities like stadiums used to promote private religious or political beliefs? And given the putrid start of the Yankees's season, shouldn't management be more concerned with what's happening with the players than with the fans? All should stand with Campeau-Laurion until we get some answers.
99 Reader Comments | Add a comment
Dave,
Good piece as usual. I forgot who said "patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel." The Yankees, with all of their financial advantages, including being the welfare queens that they are, still can't put together another championship. With their obscene payroll, they should be embarrassed to not win 120 games each year, let alone finishing in 3rd place. And yes, why is an allegedly unpatriotic fan more of a threat to the team than Brian Cashman, who spends their money unwisely. How does he get more chances than Bob Watson, who was way more competent?
Even after reading this piece, I'm still dumbfounded at the lengths the Yanks go about blasting patriotism like its something you find at WalMart. Sort of like how Bobby Mitchell described his tenure w/ the D.C. Skins singing "Dixie"...
Nice piece!
You missed some key facts. This incident occurred at the old Yankee Stadium on August 26, 2008. Campeau-Laurion is a Red Sox fan and this was a Red Sox/Yankees game. The Red Sox won this game 7–3. They were leading 7–3 during the seventh inning. According to Campeau-Laurion, was not dressed in Red Sox regalia, but he did not deny cheering for his team. Not even in the complaint does it state anywhere that any officer said or hinted that Campeau-Laurion was being thrown out for going to the restroom. The complaint reads that Campeau-Laurion took the mumbling to mean that he should not move during the song.
With this said, I must ask: What makes the story from Campeau-Laurion any more credible than that of the NYPD? Why should we stand with him?
I might stand with him if he were simply telling his story to the press after the incident occurred in order to generate public awareness of the event and decry the Yankee policy. But his "account strains credulity" when he decides to file suit against NYPD and the Yankees for being thrown out of the last two innings of a baseball game. An "inconvenient question" you forgot to add was: Might he be bringing suit against these parties for financial reasons?
Your closing questions are valid, but I would not use this incident nor this man as your casus belli. Despite your commentary, I have seen unruly fans get tossed from games, especially baseball games. You ruin good points about sports and politics by tying them to a he said/they said incident from eight months ago.
First, I have to agree with CP. You left a lot of details out. The guy is a Red Sox fan according to the newspapers. Anyone who volunteers that they had two beers probably had a lot more than that. So there is a very good possibility that this guy had too much to drink and was annoying everyone in his section in a game in which his team was leading. Right or wrong I have seen many Sox fans removed before things can get too ugly.
The God Bless America ritual, which I personally hate, makes for a good excuse for a lawsuit from an unruly drunk who was probably annoying the s*** out of the whole section.
Two sides to every story. But if this lawsuit somehow gets the Yanks to stop with the forced patriotic nonsense, then I'd have to consider it a blessing...even if it is a Sux fan bringing it.
Again, echoing the point of the two previous posts, this story is soft serve.
A cop "put up his hands and mumbled something..."? Come on Dave. If this is the best illustration of Yankee Stadium's enforcement of chauvinism, then the general public will laugh off its validity.
As not only an advocate for freedom of choice and the pacification of involuntary patriotism, but also a life-long Boston sports fan, the lack of validity to this story hinders the fight against the Evil Empire and its chauvinistic vomit.
Nothing would make me happier than another embarrassing headache for the New York Yankees, (more embarrassing than C.C.'s dreadful '09 start?) but Campeau-Laurion's attempt to spin his drunken humiliation for cash or infamy is a poor angle to take. This guy's case will be thrown out faster than Brian Cashman is once Steinbrenner realizes A.J. Burnett is the second coming of Carl Pavano…zing. (Seriously? 5 years - $82.5 million for a decrepit 32 year old Blue Jay? He should change his name to D.L. Burnett.)
I expect it doesn't take more than two beers to excite the Yankee fans when a fan of the hated Red Sox is thoroughly enjoying his team's trashing of their hated rival. NYPD probably to a man &/or woman moonshining for extra pay will probably be just as exuberant. I wasn't there, but I'll go with the lone Red Sox fan on this one. Oh, & by the way, I love Kate Smith's rendition of that song from the Bob Dylan of her era.
"Patriotism ... is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit." -- Emma Goldman
Some of the responses above by quintessential simpleton 'Mericans clearly echo Ms. Goldman's sentiments... as a dyed-in-the-wool pinstripe fan it sickens me when the Yankees organization and the vast majority of the Neanderthals in the stands start waving flags and waxing their carrots as the death machines fly-by overhead (who pays for the video game pilots, the fuel, etc when the Empire puts on these ludicrous displays of muscle?).
No doubt there is an intimidation factor at the Stadium as well as elsewhere in the country (Angels Stadium behind the Orange Curtain for sure) for those of us who don't stand for this robotic BS, take the cap off, or sing about the glories of death and mayhem...
And save your responses about how my freedom was won by those brave men and women in uniform and how my rights are protected by perpetual war for perpetual peace - their actions aren't and weren't in my name. And again, if the vast majority of simpleton 'Mericans understood the thrust of the Constitution they would understand this: we don't have rights granted by the Constitution or the American government -- the People's Constitution limits, regulates and restrains the government's behavior - not the other way around, so save the militaristic chest-pounding for Joe the Plumber.
And finally, putting Kate Smith in the same sentence with Dylan is folly at best.
Bottom-line: it's a sporting event not a jack-booted exercise in nationalism. Just play the game, keep the jingoistic symbols where they belong -- with the "symboltons."
Zirin framed the story and actions of the NYPD well.
Just a note to Steve. The reference concerning Dylan had to do with the prolific Irving Berlin, not Kate Smith. But still, Kate did sound better than Dylan.
And finally, putting Kate Smith AND Irving Berlin in the same sentence with Dylan is folly at best.
Kate Smith - the voice loved by both Ronald Raygun and the Philadelphia Flyers. Nuff said.
Steve:
I guess reading comprehension isn't your strong suit. Find me a quote in the above comments where "Simpleton 'Mericans" pound their chest about the armed forces. I think just about everyone said that while they dont' like the Yankees shoving patriotism down the throats of paying customers, we should not be so quick to automatically believe Campeau-Laurion.
You can write a better headline than that.
Steve:
I don't know what you would expect, but you're not generating a lot of goodwill by insulting everyone who responded to this column with a skeptical. I'm sure you've waited a long time to use the phrase "Simpleton American." Too bad it didn't apply. Like I said, you failed to provide an example of just one response that said they liked what the Yankees do regarding the song "God Bless America." Care to do so now?
What are you, a goodwill ambassador? So, looking back over the responses, indeed I was looking between the lines aggressively. You haven't argued the points of my post, just the misdirection... for that I stand corrected.
And unfortunately, weaving in the phrase "simpleton American" is an everyday opportunity - I don't have to wait at all.
I think that I know a few things about what goes on from both sides of the story. I have done some research on the Red Sox and also nationalism, have actually attended games at Yankee Stadium between the two wearing a Sox hat, as well as have a brother in law who is NYPD in the Bronx who sometimes does Yankee Stadium detail.
With this as a base Dave's description of the moment seems very plausible - even if you argue that he left things out. The NYPD do sometimes take their power for granted, and overreact when they shouldn't, and, as all of you have noted, the rampant, simplistic, nationalism that takes place in the city and stadium itself goes beyond ludicrous and this is just another example of that. Though the work that the NYPD does is often admirable these actions have to stop. Finally, before you dismiss me as some Sawx fan that is just taking advantage of the moment to pick on the Yankees, please know that I understand that the Sawx have their own issues that aren't pretty either.
Ryan:
A question I've always wanted an answer to but have never had the opportunity to ask--Does the sporting organization pick up the tab for the security moonlighters, or does the city pay?
Dennis,
I just left a message with my sister, and will get back to you with the definite answer...BUT if I had to venture a guess I would say that the city pays. If this is true it's just another method of rich people's welfare I guess.
The fact the guy is a Red Sox fan speaks volumes. Red Sox fans are the most oafish, obnoxious, in-your-face boors the sports world has ever seen. They make Dallas Cowboys fans seem like Sunday school teachers by comparison, and that says a lot. I read Zirin's column feeling sorry for the guy, but now I think the NYPD version is a lot closer to the truth. (And for what it's worth, I'm a Yankee hater from way back.)
Hey folks. First and foremost, I think the name Kate Smith should never - by force of law - be in the same sentence as Bob Dylan, unless the sentence is, "Bob Dylan is the exact opposite of Kate Smith." Second I agree wholeheartedly that Red Sox Nation is about as obnoxious a sporting bacillus as anything we've seen since Homer Hankies or the Tomahawk Chop. I pray that Steeler Nation doesn't continue to follow its path. But all of that said, it's not about whether this guy is a Red Sox fan or whether we should feel sorry for him. The Yankees operation of compulsory patriotism in a publicly funded structure deserves a lawsuit, even if the holy truth lies somewhere between Campeau-Laurion and the police's stories.
Ok according to my brother in law the city pays for ALL of the policemen and women outside of the park, and many on the inside. However, on games where the stadium is full (insert joke about corporate greed and new Yankee Stadium here) or they feel that there is just a general need the team does supplement security with off-duty NYPD on their own dime. Of course, those being paid for Yankee Stadium detail by the city in the Bronx, while other stuff is going on in the area is probably enough for another fine Zirin column.
Too much of an either/or pissing match going on in here. David did jump to a conclusion by assuming the guy was kicked out for merely going to the restroom during whatever moronic, nationalist jingle was playing during the 7th inning stretch. David was obviously looking for a segue to criticize the Steinbrenner's policy of turning the 7th inning stretch (where going to the restroom and/or refueling with more food and beer during so is actually far more of an American tradition that singing some stupid song with your hat off) into an American version of Ivan Drago entering the ring at the end of Rocky 4. And, hey, this story is it. Deal with it.
I didn't realize I was treading on hallowed ground with the temerity to mention Kate Smith &/or Irving Berlin in the same sentence--Oh, oh, here I go again. You know, with the other guy. I'm beginning to feel a bit like that Red Sox fan who dared to go take a piss during our second national anthem.
Oh, btw, whoever did mention Bob Dylan and Kate Smith in the same sentence was doing some serious baiting.
With all due respect to the very interesting points made by Mr. Zirin, I think the most interesting question here is how the civil court will sort this out. We can probably be certain that Mr. Campeau-Laurion will seriously exaggerate what happened to him. The rented cops will almost certainly "fudge" about how and why they responded. The witnesses in the stands will tell any number of versions, and will certainly exaggerate or fabricate them in order to show solidarity with their team and their police force. Where else but in a major sporting venue could it happen in just this way? Not to be completely perverse about it, but, from the Steinbrenners on up, what a great laboratory for the study of human weirdness.
With regards to how the case will turn out, does anyone else think it likely that nearly the entire stadium is under video surveillance?
Dave, Tim Brown just claimed that Al Davis once told him that he doesn't like black athletes from Notre Dame. The mainstream press has dismissed the claims and buried the story, without even following up and asking Tim Brown to elaborate. Could you shed some light on this? After reading Marcus Allen's book, I've always been convinced that Al Davis's real problem with Allen was that he was educated, and henceforth, "uppity". Marcus, without outright saying it, was certainly painting that picture. So, Tim Brown's claim was not surprising to me. However, the mainstream sports writers who've written on this story have, in lockstep, dismissed Tim Brown's claims on the basis of Al's so called "record of civil rights activism". HUH? Look, I know the guy did make inroads to getting black athletes treated better in the NFL. but let's get real. Al Davis wanted black athletes to catch balls and run for him. Al Davis was not marching in Birmingham, for pete's sake. Dave, you're the voice of reason in an otherwise right leaning, corporate friendly sports media. Please shed some light on this. Try and contact Tim Brown to at least clarify his comments. If Al Davis is going up to his black players and saying things like this, not only am I not a Raider fan anymore and boycotting everything silver and black, but I will also boycott the NFL as long as he's in the league. This would make Marge Schott look like Phillip Drummond.
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