Blue Jays slugger Carlos Delgado stands up to war

[Cocoa]

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0709-02.htm

Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado is known throughout the baseball world as one of the most feared sluggers in the game. Last year the 32 year old All-Star hit 42 homers and drove in 145 runs. He has averaged almost 40 home runs a year over the last six seasons. With his imposing physical frame, baldhead and gold earring he is one of the most recognizable faces in the game. Lately he has put the baseball world on notice that he will use his fame to fight the US’s war on the world.

In a very sympathetic story on the pages of the Toronto Star, Delgado came public with the fact he won’t stand on the dug out steps for God Bless America. "I never stay outside for `God Bless America,'" Delgado said. "I actually don't think people have noticed it. I don't (stand) because I don't believe it's right, I don't believe in the war."

Delgado also made clear that we won’t stand for the priorities of the US military machine "It's a very terrible thing that happened on September 11,” he 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. Who are you fighting against? You're just getting ambushed now. We have more people dead now, after the war, than during the war. You've been looking for weapons of mass destruction. Where are they at? You've been looking for over a year. Can't find them. I don't support that. I don't support what they do. I think it's just stupid."

Athletes have historically paid a steep price for standing up to the way sports is used to package patriotism and war. In the 1960s, Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title for refusing to go to Viet Nam. In 1991 Bulls guard Craig Hodges found himself black balled from the NBA after protesting the Gulf War at a visit to George Bush’s White House with the champion Chicago Bulls. A similar fate befell shooting guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in 1998 when he refused to stand for the National Anthem.

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