Bruce, sorry, I don't think I've ever been to Omaha. (Maybe went through it on vacation as a very young child, but, that won't count.) It's just a suggestion for The Moving National Capital City fantasy I have; I think those guys lose touch in DC and ought to be sent somewhere new after each presidential election. Get 'em back to confronting reality and turn DC into a political theme park -- see, we're halfway there already!

Cranky Yankee, what a delight your posts are. Your complete "Star Spangled Banner" reminded me it was the first thing I ever recited, back in third grade. Me da helped me learn it, down to putting feeling into it instead of just "da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da, etc." Taught me a lot about reading and understanding poetry, he did, with that song. In fact, the thing he did first was have me write it out as if it were prose. I guess that's why your post, without the line breaks, made me think of it. So thanks for that.

So, even if we're stuck in some mezzo soprano key at the ball game, now we can at least appreciate its history, and smile to ourselves..."I wonder who else here knows we're singing a folk song...?"

Sarah