Like it or not, Delgado taking a stand

How much of the patriotism and piety in sports is sincere, how much public relations?

It’s a question I’ve often wondered while standing for 5,843 variations of “The Star-Spangled Banner” (some Francis Scott Key wouldn’t recognize), listening to 967 recitals of “God Bless America,” (the late great Kate Smith still belting it out), and seeing 231 military fly-bys (hoping they don’t crash into the stadium).

Sometimes I wonder it while I’m humming the anthem or mouthing the words, watching ballplayers scratch and spit and, occasionally, fall asleep on their feet.

There’s a phoniness to all the packaged patriotism that sports deploy, like the flags flapping at car dealerships. Buy a ticket, buy a car, be American. Jingoism sells.

A lot of people really love all that rally-round-the-flag stuff and take it very seriously. I’ve seen fights break out in the bleachers when some fans thought others who didn’t doff their hats were being disrespectful.

There was curiosity, then, in seeing how Yankee Stadium fans would react Wednesday night to Toronto Blue Jays slugger Carlos Delgado, who has been refusing to stand for “God Bless America” to protest the war in Iraq.

In this most patriotic of all ballparks, where Yankees boss George Steinbrenner has cranked up the nationalistic displays since the Sept. 11 attacks, Delgado drew only a few boos when he batted and brief chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” when he lined out in the top of the seventh.

As it turned out, he didn’t have to sit in the dugout when announcer Bob Sheppard introduced the song. After his line-out, Delgado headed for the clubhouse and was removed from the game, the Blue Jays trailing 10-3.

During Toronto’s 1-0 loss Thursday at Yankee Stadium, Delgado heard more of the same from fans. He wasn’t surprised.

“Not at all, one thing about New York is that they are passionate. You know what they like and don’t like,” he said.

Yet no one went nuts over Delgado. No one threw balls or bottles at him. Civility and polite political discord prevailed. Let’s hope it stays that way.

The Blue Jays’ franchise leader in home runs and RBIs, Delgado is that rare ballplayer who exhibits a conscience about social issues and has the conviction to express himself in his own small way.

He has chosen, most of this season, to do that by sitting in the dugout or ducking into the clubhouse during the singing of Irving Berlin’s prayerful ode, introduced by Kate Smith during her radio broadcast on Armistice Day, 1938.

Agree or disagree with Delgado for calling the Iraq invasion “the stupidest war ever,” the Puerto Rican slugger is not being anti-American by showing his disagreement with President Bush’s policy. He is not disrespecting the soldiers or, as one Yankee fan said, slapping every New Yorker and American in the face.

Delgado is simply exercising the most fundamental of our rights, freedom of speech, or more accurately in this case, freedom to sit silently while his teammates stand on the dugout steps.

Delgado has spoken out on political issues before, opposing the Navy’s use of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques as a weapons testing ground. He joined singer Ricky Martin and boxer Felix Trinidad in taking out full-page ads about Vieques in The New York Times and Washington Post. The military ended the testing last year, but left behind the scars of decades of bombing.

Delgado has put hundreds of thousands of his own dollars into repairing the damage to the people and the environment on Vieques, and wants the U.S. government to do much more.

What began as a private protest against the Iraq invasion, which Delgado did not widely advertise and the other Blue Jays didn’t mind, is drawing more attention since he opened up to the Toronto Star.

“It’s a very terrible thing that happened on Sept. 11,” Delgado said. “It’s (also) a terrible thing that happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. I just feel so sad for the families that lost relatives and loved ones in the war. But I think it’s the stupidest war ever.”

Delgado reasserted his beliefs to The New York Times in a column published Wednesday, saying “It takes a man to stand up for what he believes.”

Muhammad Ali, so revered now, was reviled by many for refusing to go to Vietnam. NBA guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of the Denver Nuggets would not stand for the national anthem during the 1995-96 season, which led to an indefinite suspension that was lifted two days later.

Athletes so rarely take political stands that even a Division III women’s basketball player, Toni Smith of Manhattanville, triggered a storm of debate when she refused to face the flag during the national anthem in the 2002-03 season.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said he understood Delgado’s position, knew it was a sensitive subject, and wants to talk with him about it.

It was Selig who ordered all teams to play “God Bless America” in the aftermath of Sept. 11. Yankee Stadium is the only park in the majors where the song has been played every game since the attacks.

Some might see that as simply a show of patriotic support. Others might see it as a form of political persuasion, inserting God and America into a ballgame.

Delgado said he’s “not trying to get anyone mad.” For him it’s a personal matter, a way of expressing what he feels about an issue he believes is important.

That’s more than most athletes are willing to do.