How to do it better than baseball
Many people I know seem to be annoyed when Proud To Be An American is played during the 7th inning stretch at a ball game. Now I've never really had a problem with it but I can see why people may be annoyed at the cheesy attempt at patriotism. Anyway, I was at the National Finals Rodeo this weekend and they showed how it can be done to effect. And since the entire baseball world was also gathered Las Vegas, maybe they picked up on it.So here's how to effectively play the song...
1. Gather the most patriotic, flag waving, god bless America crowd you can find.
2. Make the night a theme of America Night and give everyone big flags (they have a Canada Night and a Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night for breast cancer so this theme isn't a one night thing).
3. Pick a date that's actually significant to remember America's military sacrifices - Pearl Harbor Day works.
4. Dim the lights and show a film of the attack.
5. Start playing the music.
6. Bring out some Pearl Harbor survivors. Have them escorted by active military personnel.
7. In a surprise move, have Lee Greenwood walk out and actually sing the song himself.
Voila. A not so cheesy display of patriotism. It helped that the Pearl Harbor guys got into it - in spite of the fact that they're like 90.
posted by E @12:23 AM