Today's Old Man Yells At Cloud post: no one ever sang God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch until after 9/11. It was a sweet idea for like a month, then immediately became jingoistic and war-adjacent. Irving Berlin would hate it, it's been 23 years, and it's time to let it the fuck go.
Comments
Get rid of national anthems too
"Sing the fucking song!"
"I'm Canadian."
"You should still sing it. You're disrespecting the troops."
Luckily, about a dozen other better assholes took my side.
Till I open'd me mouth and just said "he's a ku*t" Irish accent to the rescue he's still a ku*t though.
Never much liked international soccer, but him doing that really Pee'd me off and took a real dislike to him after that leaving the rest of the players in the lurch cause he was in a huff.
We used to walk past each other daily, bit very limited interaction. "I knew him well enough to say, hello"
Personally, to me, it water downs the meaning. I'm of the viewpoint, it should only be played at very specific and honorary events. Not at every sports games, shows, etc.
I'm not disputing the gist of what you're saying. But that is almost certainly where and when it began.