America's Pastime

I was at the Red Sox - Dodgers game Sunday night... you know, the one with "The Catch". The Dodgers were up with runners on base. I was in the process of being slightly mad at Pedro. Cue hard line drive to the gap... WHOAH...Pokey leaps forty feet in the air and grabs it. The crowd goes nuts. "Pokey! Pokey! Pokey" they exclaimed. It was the longest Pokey chant I have heard. It was longer then the time he
hit his first home run for the Red Sox. Now, this catch was made in the top of the 7th. Being Sunday, they were singing "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch. The singer comes out right after the inning ends as they want to get it over quickly to keep the game going. They show a close up of him on the scoreboard. Keep in mind this is all during the "Pokey" chant. He literally stands there for two minutes waiting for the crowd to stop. The stadium announcer tried once to introduce the singer but was drowned out by the crowd. On his second attempt, the announcer finally wins as the crowd realizes what is happening. The song beings and everyone is calm and singing along. He gets to the last line of the song.

"God bless..." Some guy a section over from me yells, "POKEY!" at the top of his lungs. The song ends and not one second later the "Pokey" chant starts up again. It goes until the start of the next inning. It was the most amazing thing ever. You know it is a good play when jubilant chanting is rudely interrupted by "God Bless America" and quickly recuperates after paying respect to the song. When the next half inning started, my only thought was, "God Bless America."