Faith Restored

No, not “faith restored” in the Mets.  Oh sure, I’m still a practicing Mets fan.  On the surface, I believe.  But, deep down…

Let’s face it:  as a Mets fan in 2013, it’s slim pickings when it comes to finding something to get all hot and bothered about.

Sure, watching Matt Harvey pitch is a delight.  But through no fault of his own, it’s been a long time since he’s recorded a win.  Yes, the Subway Series was a very welcome and wholly unexpected surprise.  It felt awfully nice to put on some Mets gear and walk around with a certain amount of swagger in one’s step, am I right?  Was anyone surprised that the Mets’ euphoria coming off the sweep of the Yankees in both stadiums was not enough to get even a single, stinkin’ win in Miami?  I, for one, was not.

But here I am–frustrated, angry, and bored with my team–typing away excitedly on a blog post after having remained basically mute for a good long while.

It’s not my team, however, that has propelled me to the keyboard, but it is something familiar to baseball fans:  the practice of singing “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch.

The fact that this post-9/11 addition to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” has remained a staple well beyond 2011–at every Yankee home game and at many stadiums on Sundays–has bothered me.

Come to find out, it bothers others too.  It bothered a Methodist pastor in the Washington, DC area so much that he wrote a letter that appeared in the Washington Post recently. What followed were over 3,000 comments online, including my own, and a virtual dialogue on a subject that, lo and behold, has a lot of other people–including Christians like myself–hot around the collar as well.

So, I submit as my return to the Mets blogosphere the following post on a topic which, unlike the Mets’ playing this season, has inspired and excited me and ultimately motivated me to write again.

These are my comments, as posted in the online Comments section that appears below the original opinion in its online version.  Please do read the original opinion.  It is beautifully written and makes some excellent points.

By the way, while I might not condone public songs with religious connotations (except in the context of a religious service, of course), far be it from me to discourage any Met fan from saying a prayer–in private–for this team if he or she is so inclined.  Heaven knows–pun intended–they need it!