Support the Troops

America loves baseball. America loves its troops. It’s common to see these two loves integrated, especially around the 4th of July.

The four-game series between the Marlins and Brewers at Miller park this past week (of which I attended two games) was military heavy: service men and women threw out the first pitches at all the games, sung the national anthem and “God Bless America” at all of the contests, and were in attendance in higher-than-usual numbers. On both occasions that I was present, a serviceman won the “Fan of the Game” prize — which is awarded based on cheers from the crowd — and it wasn’t even close. (Normally, the prize is won by whoever looks most like Santa Claus.)

In general, I think this is a nice thing to do: the troops don’t get to come out to the ballpark whenever they want, so it’s cool to recognize them when they do. And while I’m sure that many of them appreciate it, sometimes I wonder if they wouldn’t rather just enjoy the game and its various delights like a normal citizen instead of being cheered whenever they order a bag of peanuts. And sometimes I can’t help but wonder how much our honoring them is about feeling good about ourselves.

Case in point, this image, which is actually from the Ballpark in Arlington on June 28:

“Nobody’s looking, right?”

We’re already attending a baseball game, imbibing, stuffing our faces with dollar hotdogs, tailgating, celebrating our collective freedom and the opportunities it (supposedly) affords us, etc. Do we really need to have a full-grown man, one that we pretend to respect, driving around a stadium in a miniature airplane for our amusement?

Come on, America! Come on, baseball!