Patriotic

Baseball and American Culture

Published by Papa Giorgio

40-years ago this week:

Baseball MLB Rick Monday Saves Flag 695 Color

Rick Monday was honored by throwing out the first pitch at Monday’s game at Chavez Ravine for arguably the greatest save in Dodgers Stadium history.

What, you say, Monday was an outfielder? And why would he be credited with a save?

Forty years ago on April 25, Monday was playing centerfield for the Cubs in a game against the Dodgers.

The game turned from an ordinary early season game into one with high drama when two people suddenly appeared in the outfield at Dodger Stadium.

Legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully said, “”It looks like he’s going to burn a flag!”

One had an American flag. The other, lighter fluid and was planning on burning Old Glory. This was an act Monday, who served in the Marine Corps, was not about to let happen….

The scoreboard operator was swift at the button, punching up: “Rick Monday — €”You Made a Great Play.”…

Fans Filled In the National Anthem At 3rd NCAA Softball Game

Published by Papa Giorgio

(Link in pic)

I don’t normally post anything else today other than my “Memorial Day” post, but this is fitting, and Patriot. It comes by way of Libertarian Republican:

Before the NCAA Softball Regional game between the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and Baylor University (May 19), it was announced that there would be no playing of the National Anthem. (This was the third game of the day, and the National Anthem had been played prior to the first two.) 

The fans had another idea. They sang the national anthem.

Acuity Insurance Flagpole Is The Tallest Flagpole In North America

Published by Papa Giorgio

  Flagpole Facts:

  • 400-foot flagpole weighs approximately 420,000 pounds
  • There are two versions of the 60- by 120-foot flag:
    – 220 pound flag is flown during normal conditions
    – 350 pound flag is flown during harsher weather
  • Each star is 3 feet high and each stripe is 4 1/2 feet wide
  • 680 cubic yards of concrete used in foundation
  • Over 500 gallons of paint cover the pole
  • 11-foot diameter at base tapers to 5 1/2-foot diameter at top
  • Three pendulum-style tuned mass dampers reduce movement and vibration
  • Designed to withstand a low temperature of -42°F

For more videos, images, and information visit the Acuity Flagpole project page.

Firemen Raising Flag At Ground Zero Too `Rah-Rah` ~ Dennis Prager

Published by Papa Giorgio

Dennis Prager discusses how liberalism distorts clear thinking on many issues… this one being even the patriotic act in a photo being included in the 9/11 museum. Below is another example by Prager in music.

Further poisoning musical judgment is the Left-wing value of diversity. In 2011, Anthony Tommasini, music critic of the New York Times, published his list of the ten greatest composers who ever lived. Absent from the list was Haydn, who Tommasini acknowledged was the father of the symphony, father of the string quartet, and father of the piano sonata. Indeed, one of the avant-garde’s most celebrated modern composers (and a justly celebrated conductor), Pierre Boulez, “thinks Haydn a greater composer than Mozart,” and one of the greatest pianists who ever lived, Glenn Gould, thought Haydn’s piano sonatas were superior to Mozart’s. So, why did the New York Times music critic omit Haydn? Because, he wrote, “If such a list is to be at all diverse and comprehensive, how could 4 of the 10 slots go to composers—Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert—who worked in Vienna during, say, the 75 years from 1750 to 1825?” Diversity, not greatness, helped determine the New York Times list of the greatest ten composers. That is why Bartok, Debussy, and Stravinsky made the list but Haydn (and Handel) didn’t.

Dennis Prager, Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph (New York, NY: Broadside Books, 2012), 52-53