Gothamist: NYPD Defends Ejecting Sox Fan from Yankee Stadium During "God Bless America"

LMB

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:52:36 -0500

I'm SICK and TIRED of that DAMN song. Whenever I watch a Yankees game and the 7th inning stretch comes up, I ALWAYS make it a point to lower the volume on the TV as far as it'll go or I'll change the channel for about 2 minutes. I've always sensed an "Atmosphere" of propaganda and obligation from the Yankees front office, and this is a prime example. Now you're FORCED to be Patiotic = (BULLSHIT). Another reason not to go to Yankee Stadium, beside the high ticket prices. As for the IDIOTIC cop who tossed out fan, this is the way they harrass people when not shooting at them 50 times or entrapping them with "Operation Lucky Bag". FUCK THE NYPD AND THE YANKEES TO!!!

ltdcard

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:31:28 -0500

Just did a couple od quick searches and "False Imprisonment" comes to mind. The elements are there...granted it'd be a stretch...but pretty legit. Of note, the period (duration) of confinement matters only WRT damages. If the individual was detained or otherwise disallowed freedom of movement a crime has occurred. Fact is it was just a couple of officers breaking a red sox guy's chops and while I wasn't there I'm willing to believe both parties own a little blame.

old bus

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:42:02 -0500

Another reason to hate the Yankees. For guys, such as I who have recovered from prostate cancer, when you gotta go you gotta go. There's no way around it. When I must go, I'd head for a restroom even if the Marine Corps band were playing our National Anthem. Better that than urinating in my pants in public during the National Anthem.

dogbraincatscan

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:11:54 -0500

What's all this about it being "policy" to hold fans in their seats during GBA? I have gone to countless games since 9/11 and have left to use the bathroom every single time, after remaining seated got too much negative attention from drunk patriots who felt it was their duty to yell at a teenager for being an American-hating, commie atheist. Always stood during the pledge though.

pkreder

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:20:27 -0500

I'm a season ticket holder and have sat thru many a national anthem and god bless america (like today's by singer Ronan Tinen). I have also stood during Canada's National Anthem merely out of respect. You know I don't even much care for Canadiens really...but I'll show a little respect. God Bless America became a regualr thing at The Stadium following 9/11...and many people (fans and nypd) tie this moment in the game with 9/11 and no doubt found his actions a personal affront to their patriotism and 9/11-ishness, Of course nypd did the wrong thing (shocker) but this guy is a jack-ass for saying : (not a direct quote) "I don't care about God Bless America"...I've seen plenty of people buying beer, ketchupping up a hot dog, walking down the aisle during this time with no problems...he just ran into 2 badass cops who wanted to fuck with a red sox fan (was he wearing any red sox gear)???

Snoopy

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:43:29 -0500

I never liked soccer. Too many hooligans in the stands.

glob

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:02:04 -0500

The Swiss never have this problem.

Spiritof76

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:39:35 -0500

Pity this didn't happen back in the 90s. It would have made for a good episode of Seinfeld. I can just imagine George Costanza being surrounded by NYPD at Yankee Stadium and being ejected before he can explain that he works there.

Reflect

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:23:53 -0500

Whats better than taking a #2 while the National Anthem Plays in tune with the removal of waste from your anal cavity? I cant think of a better time to take a shit. FUCK YOU AND YOUR SHITTY SALARIES NYPD. YOUR STUPID SUBWAY ADDS ARENT FOOLING ANYONE. ONLY POOR SHEEP WITH NO IDENTITY. WAKE UP PEOPLE YOUR RISKING YOUR LIFE FOR 56,000 BASE PAY WHILE THE SCHMUCKS IN CHARGE GET ALL THE MONEY WHILE CALLING THE SHOTS FROM THERE COMFORTABLE DESK POSTIONS.

teledingo

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:37:01 -0500

Imagine being at a soccer game in China. Imagine that the game begins with patriotic communist singing. Imagine that halfway through the game, the action is stopped, chains are put up in the alleys, and everyone is obliged to engage in MORE patriotic communist singing. How would you feel? This enforced singing at Yankee stadium is a joke. It is NOT American to force this; it is the complete opposite. How about a rousing Take Me Out to the Ballgame? One of the points of going to a baseball game is to leave politics and the depressing state of the world at the door, and instead enjoy a few hours outdoors watching a great game with friends and loved ones. I am offended by the Yankees' practive everytime I go to the stadium.

cutlass

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:12:18 -0500

The cops are idiots if they kicked him out and he wasn't drunk, and Steinbrenner is an idiot for making us listen to this stupid song every night. But when you are a Boston fan named Bradford Campeau-Laurion, I tend to start losing sympathy all of a sudden...

qwerty

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:12:16 -0500

I'll stand during the anthem but I'm not about to pretend that I give a fuck about God Bless America.

Mr Mel

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:53:58 -0500

This isn't a Yankee thing it's a cop thing.

Future Taliban

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:40:31 -0500

I like to masturbate to the tune of the American National Anthem.

smitty

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:37:52 -0500

The Yankees should be embarassed about this whole situation. They are already embarassed about their crappy season. Ugh. I hope they change the policy.

ChampionOfTheSun

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:32:28 -0500

This whole thing is almost as ridiculous as those Yankee fans that bring their own American flag to the stadium and hold it up during God Bless America. It's nice to have some prode in your country, but come on, you really need to bring a flag to a baseball game?

JMH

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:08:08 -0500

The poll needs an option "no, they're not violating anyone's Constitutional rights, but it's still ridiculous."

Phineas Gage

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:47:29 -0500

At least we won't be having this problem during the playoffs.

salad

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:39:25 -0500

Are you all going to swallow this? You SHEEPLE! The Yankees ARE the state. Please refer to Zeitgeist the movie. Google it and watch it...NAO!

JocelynCeleste

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:36:46 -0500

You know, I never have this problem at Shea. People actually go there?

takethecanoli

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:33:00 -0500

who are these 'Yankees' you speak of?

JacqueMehoff

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:29:06 -0500

I thought the stadium is owned by the city? don't they pay rent to the city? I thought I heard they were not paying either rent or taxes. one or the other were delinquent.

abcohen

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:28:21 -0500

is this news??? NO... you pay for a ticket to access private property - if it was a private security guard this wouldn't even be news... that's why NYPD shouldn't be in the stadium... they should only be outside... let them raise prices another 20-40% to cover the security costs... But then again I have a feeling they'll just let people pee whenever they want...

Bubba

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:20:15 -0500

#35: Yankee Stadium is owned by the city of New York. The Yankees baseball team leases it from NYC.

babyhitler

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:14:32 -0500

Does anyone actually believe this shit? C'mon. use Common Sense. DO you think the police and the Yankess could actually control 50,000 people's bladders during that inning? hell no!

petercow99

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:09:26 -0500

Will Steinbrenner reserve the right to throw anyone out who doesn't know the words to the song, or sing in tune? Sue, sue, sue. Sue the Yankees. Sue the NYPD.

AHT

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:07:58 -0500

You know, I never have this problem at Shea.

harrison junkins

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:57:39 -0500

Are we to the point that a trip to jail is cheaper and more enjoyable than a night at the ballpark? At least you can swear when you're in lockup.

Mitchel Cohen

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:55:47 -0500

It doesn't matter if the stadium is private property or not, any more than it matters whether privately owned lunch counters in the South have the right to violate people's civil rights by refusing to serve them based on their skin color. Kate Smith's "God Bless America" always brings out the piss in me, anyway. Maybe the New York Yankees, Inc., and the NYPD would prefer that we pee in place? Do they require fans to stand as well? Will this fall under a new "Mandatory Nationalism Enforcement Act"? Maybe they will use cattleprods, tasers and mace to force people to stand and not to pee.

SecondPrize

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:50:11 -0500

Click your heels, stand up straight and salute ze motherland. God bless America indeed...

edEx

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:48:15 -0500

But he was thrown out by the NYPD. The NYPD is hired privately for security by Yankee Stadium. The stadium is not city owned, it's private property.

sinisterteashop

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:47:30 -0500

the Patriot Act, the detention of enemy combatants, and warrantless wiretapping . . . Constitutional lawyers got shut down effectively and quickly by the Bush administration. As much as I disagree with their ideological positions The National Lawyers Guild went further out on a limb than the face saving ACLU did during the last eight years. But you can send them a check if you'd like or shell out some cash to a kid from the ACLU Youth Brigade they've unleashed on every city street.

Wza

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:47:25 -0500

When police are in the wrong they always charge someone with being drunk, disorderly conduct or with resisting arrest.

Snoopy

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:45:51 -0500

"The officers...decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior." That brings up a serious dichotomy. Can a member of the NYPD eject himself?

JNBennett

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:41:26 -0500

Unfortunately Prof. Dorf is no longer a professor at Columbia Law School - he's now at Cornell. And I can assure #21 that he is not an "idiot with an academic credential from Columbia." He's a noted constitutional law scholar, and, contrary to said commenter's apparent belief, actually has done a good amount of work on the ACLU side of many cases. Said commenter also fundamentally misunderstands the ACLU, as they don't just take cases they can win "EASILY." See, for example, some of the recent NSA cases, etc.

Public Relations

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:40:54 -0500

If one is an Atheist, it could be uncomfortable to be forced to listen to anything dealing with God.

hbomb1947

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:37:54 -0500

Porsche, you're just about the last person I would have expected to trigger Godwin's law . . . And while I think we can all agree that the Yankees overreached, anyone trying to make this into a constitutional violation is resting on a slender reed. The NYPD was responding to what was, in essence, a trespassing complaint (once the fan had been unwelcomely lingering in the Stadium, from the perspective of the Yankees); and their mere involvement does not make the ejection a state action. Finally, in response to poster no. 21, anyone who would assert that the ACLU and its ilk have been lying low the last 8 years has not been paying attention as civil libertarians have repeatedly challenged, among other things, the Patriot Act, the detention of enemy combatants, and warrantless wiretapping . . .

kapusta

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:35:24 -0500

godless traitors to the IMPERIAL US EMPIRE should not only be handcuffed by the Fascist Security Forces(aka ny's finest), but also waterboarded and then executed.... by the way, will you people forget about all this "constitutional rights" bullshit? that's so 18th century...

whitecastlerock

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:34:30 -0500

Considering the prices that fucking team charges for tickets to that dump, the NYPD should have escorted him to the bathroom and wiped his ass as well. Since Giuliani adopted this team as his own, the gestapo has been in full force. But the 7th inning stretch? Isn't that time when you are supposed to take a leak? Whatever happened to Take Me Out To The Ball Game? Fuck MLB and those asshole cops...

MJG

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:34:27 -0500

A statement from the NYPD reads, "The officers...decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior." If this is so important to the NYPD, why didn't they remove the Yankees from the stadium? :-)

HolyDiver

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:33:58 -0500

Can I be forcibly removed from my living room - cuz I turn that shit off directly as soon as I hear "GaaaahhhhD."

drewo

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:19:45 -0500

A statement from the NYPD reads, "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." And that cyclist who was knocked off his bike last month in Times Square tried to run over the cop - at least that's what the NYPD tried to claim. Despite videotape evidence to the contrary.

Bubba

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:19:22 -0500

Fuck the Yankees. And Fuck NYPD.

1987porsche944

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:04:01 -0500

Hitler wanted everyone to look and act the same too.

sinisterteashop

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:00:07 -0500

End of debate. According to one idiot with an academic credential from Columbia. The debate is whether a municipal police force paid by municipal taxes can act as a private security force for a private institution... and enforce capricious rules that violate ordinary citizen's constitutional rights. The constitutional lawyers are salivating over this one. Do you think the ACLU or the NYCLU takes just any case? They sure didn't take many risks going after Bush in the last eight years. The ACLU takes the cases that they think they can win... EASILY.

The Man Bat

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:59:27 -0500

I really hope the NYPD assholes are reading this blog. I hope they can get just a small taste of the rage and fury that We The People feel towards their fascist thuggery. Fuck. The. Police.

breaknight

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:53:15 -0500

I hate the Yankees and I hate the NYPD.

Billiamsburg

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:51:26 -0500

Well if people would STOP going to Yankees games maybe they would take a hint. As it is seems like all talk/outrage, no action. As usual.

arsguide

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:50:34 -0500

sigh...the caliber of the posts on this site are pretty poor - folks the NYPD is supposed to enforce actual LAWS of the state not the RULES of George Steinbrenners business. Thats why its unconstitutional

Fritzdecat

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:46:52 -0500

People talk about needing a handgun for security ...I think these days you damn sure better have your video cam with you at all times if you want to defend yourself.

gfrance

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:37:48 -0500

Easiest solution all around: stop playing the damn song. Every other major league team stopped it long ago. Grow up Steinbrenner.

Politburo

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:45 -0500

While he was thrown out by NYPD, they (theoretically) were just carrying out the wishes of the property owner. I'm not sure there's an argument there, unless there is some way to prove that the NYPD officers acted without any instruction from the owners.

RDR105

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:42 -0500

What? the land of the free? whoever told you that is your enemy!

peanuthead

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:31:11 -0500

Let's go to videotape!! ugh, if only......

Bottomless Chips

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:30:42 -0500

But Michael C. Dorf, a constitutional law professor at Columbia Law School, disagrees; he told the Times last year that “it doesn’t violate the Constitution, because the Yankees are not the government. If they were a municipally owned team, you could have an issue because the team would be a state actor. End of debate.

Mr Mel

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:28:51 -0500

And they inflict punishment with their handcuffing tactics.

Mr Mel

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:27:37 -0500

Cops don't like anyone who doesn't look or act like them.

RDR105

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:26:52 -0500

wtf is wrong with police in this country?

bfen

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:25:58 -0500

It is a poorly written poll. The correct answer is "Yes", but it IS "ridiculous to chain people into the seating areas during the 7th inning stretch." Unfortunately, whether or not something is "ridiculous" does not necessarily indicate Constitutionality.

entropone

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:25:03 -0500

If he was thrown out by Yankees Security, it wouldn't be an issue. I mean, they'd be shitty and crappy with their rules, but it wouldn't be an issue of Constitutionality. But he was thrown out by the NYPD. Man, the NYPD sucks.

thefacts

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:25:03 -0500

Can't you please word these questions to your poll better, or give additional cogent choices. That is, both answers are correct, IMHO. It is constitutional because it is private, but it is nevertheless a ridiculous policy. A similar poll earlier this week had such a Hobbesian-type choice.

chris lee

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:17:01 -0500

The Military Sports Entertainment Industrial Complex...

arsguide

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:15:52 -0500

This doesnt apply to the situation - “it doesn’t violate the Constitution, because the Yankees are not the government. If they were a municipally owned team, you could have an issue because the team would be a state actor." Because the man was thrown out by the NYPD - a municipal/goverment actor. You can say bs like the Yankees can do what they want when they are a private business, but the fact is the land is state owned, the stadium is partially funded by the state and apparently the security to the rules that the Yankees make up are carried out by the state...

mookie

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:14:18 -0500

Awful survey people! You're asking us schleps to define constitutional rights, and then in your answers you're asking for an opinion about Yankees policy. I mean, I know this is just a blog and all, but come on.

jibbly

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:11:37 -0500

This guy would become broke trying to get drunk at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are indeed a privately owned team, but boy howdy did we give them tons of tax breaks, property, and funding for new a stadium.