When baseball, music, and politics mix

That's my cup o'tea - I have a blog on each of the topics. John Mellencamp's performance of the anti-Bush song "Our Country" before Game 2 on Sunday was a pleasant surprise and a welcome change from the corporate censorship that we've seen over the past six years on television.

Regardless, I'm sick of turning the games on and having to wait a half hour for a pitch to be thrown. There's no need to have Seger and Mellencamp performing before the games, or anyone else for that matter. Does this excess bring the casual fan to watch the game? I doubt it. Sunday night, I didn't think the game was ever going to start, since there was a half hour of b.s. before it. Sing the National Anthem, ok, but enough with all of that extra junk. Just play the game! It's bad enough we have to wait until the broadcast starts, but waiting until 8:30 for the game just makes us have to stay up later. Every October I suffer from sleep deprivation thanks to Fox.

It's too bad the song is used for Chevy ads (and is played every commercial break!) It's a good song. Verses:

I can stand beside
Things I think are right
And I can stand beside
The idea to stand and fight
And I do believe
There’s a dream for everyone
This is our country

There's room enough here
For science to live
And there's room enough here
For religion to forgive
And try to understand
The other people of this world
This is our country

That poverty could be
Just another ugly thing
And bigotry could be
Seen only as obscene
And the ones that run this land
Will help the poor and common man
This is our country

The dream will never leave
And some day it will come true
And it’s up to me and you
To do the best that we can do
And let the voice of freedom
Sing out through this land
This is our country