My First Twitter Battle

Meet Cory Bolt, or @corybolt, courtesy of his Twitter description:

I love sports for starters, I'm an eagle scout and I love Life. I always look on the bright side and I have the best gf in the world!

Cory contacted me on Twitter during last week's Pirates-Orioles since I mentioned the Orioles. Enjoy a hearty discussion.

@seansramblings facebook.com/groups/2929793… like this page if you really truely like the orioles! RT This for me to spread the MAGIC!

— Cory Bolt (@CoryBolt) June 15, 2012

@seansramblings We did right the National Anthem so....We can add our own little touch!

— Cory Bolt (@CoryBolt) June 15, 2012

@seansramblings @CoryBolt I highly doubt Francis Scott Key gave the okey-doke to scream "O!!" at a sporting event. #disrespectful

— Gary Cave (@gonastynats) June 15, 2012

I hope you're joking. If not, MD has terrible schools. RT @CoryBolt no Jackass! It was written in MD under the Francis Scott Key bridge!

— Sean's Ramblings (@seansramblings) June 15, 2012

@CoryBolt And please stop bothering random people asking them to check out your Facebook page.

— Sean's Ramblings (@seansramblings) June 15, 2012

@CoryBolt You really think the national anthem was written under the Francis Scott Key bridge? Key wrote it under his own bridge?

— Sean's Ramblings (@seansramblings) June 15, 2012

@CoryBolt 1. It is you're not your. 2. I doubt the bridge was called the Francis Scott Key bridge in 1812. 3. I live in VA not DC.

— Sean's Ramblings (@seansramblings) June 16, 2012

@CoryBolt why do find the need to insult me? Disagree all you want, but you're just showing that you need to improve your grammar & history.

— Sean's Ramblings (@seansramblings) June 17, 2012

Clearly, Cory always looks on the bright side! Of course, I learned, once again, not to argue with a teenager.


In case you're wondering, here is the history of how and where Key wrote the national anthem.

The Star-Spangled Banner, was written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. Key was sent to the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812 to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes on September 13, 1814. Beanes was captured by the British during their raid on Washington D.C. Beanes, a local official in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, had arrested two drunken British soldiers. When one escaped, a small force came to release the second, and arrested Beanes. Key was enlisted by the residents of Upper Marlboro to retrieve Beanes, who, as a non-combatant, had no reason for military arrest.

Key was able to retrieve Beanes, but because the British were preparing to bombard Baltimore's Fort McHenry, his ship was detained. The commander of Fort McHenry, Major George Armistead, knew his fort would be a big and welcoming target for the British warships. He had a special, oversized flag made for the fort (which at the time had fifteen stars and fifteen stripes), and it flew for over a year before the night of the bombardment that inspired Key.

Anchored eight miles from the Fort, Key waited for the British to wage and finish their attack on the Fort. The ships used long-range, high-trajectory guns to fire at the fort. Though it tried to return fire, the Fort's cannon were too small to reach the attackers. The attack proceeded through the night and the Americans waited on the detained ship to see if the fort had been captured. As dawn broke, Key watched the fort through a telescope. There he saw the large flag Armistead had had made, flying in the breeze. Key jotted some notes on the back of a letter he had in his pocket, and later in his hotel room in Baltimore, completed a poem, an ode to the sights he'd seen.

Am I wrong on this one? According to the article, Key wrote the National Anthem on a ship (though the article doesn't state specifically where) and completed at a hotel.