Yankee Fan Goes Afoul During "God Bless America"

A couple of years back, 40 friends or so and I celebrated Independence Day the red blooded, all American way by attending a Nationals game. What more could you ask for on July 4th than tailgating, eating brats, drinking PBR and watching baseball while hitting on a member of the fairer sex who a friend happened to bring along? By the time the seventh inning stretch came along, I was in fine form. After all, it was about 2:30 p.m. and I had cracked open my first PBR around nine a.m. As the P.A. announcer asked everyone to stand for "God Bless America", I made a smart a**, flirty comment to the woman I had been hitting on. With a straight face, she replied "Don't you know it's inappropriate to flirt during "God Bless America"?". I immediately broke out laughing and then she did too.

So, in D.C. you might get a reprimand for flirting during "God Bless America". But in New York, you can get kicked out of the stadium for attempting to make your way to the restroom during "God Bless America". Bradford Campeau-Laurion is suing the NYPD and the New York Yankees, claiming a NYPD officer would not allow him to leave the seating bowl to go to the restroom during a Yankees game last summer. He claims he tried to walk past the officer and the officer put him in an arm lock and forcibly removed him from the stadium. According to the suit, the Yankees have a rule which prohibits fan movement during "God Bless America" and Campeau-Laurion is claiming the rule violates his civil liberties. I'd better make a mental note of all this in case I am ever sitting next to a hottie at a Yankees game. If heading to the restroom during "God Bless America" gets you forcibly removed from a game, flirting during the song may get you 30 days.