O, say can’t you see it?
This is perfect time to end anthem ritual before games
Without fans for its restart in Orlando, Major League Soccer confirmed it won't play the national anthem before games. We're guessing the NBA will do the same. Opening up the bubble to anthem singers just doesn't make sense.
What this experiment can become then is an opportunity to finally do away with a silly ritual. Permanently. Forget, for a moment, the player protests during the an- them, which adds another layer to the argument (more on that later). The reasons for performing this song before every game are just silly, and they create a false equivalence between patriotism and sports. One has nothing to do with the other.
For fans, sports are entertainment events. You pay for a performance. Same with the movies. Or Broadway shows. Or comedy clubs. But we don't hear the national anthem before a showing of “Cats.” A round of “Escape Room” with your friends doesn't require you to stand and remove your hat until ‘Hooooome of the Brave' is complete.
Everybody at Yankee Stadium knows they're in America. These aren't international events. And shooting a basketball into a hoop is hardly akin to going to war. There are moments in time, like directly after 9/11, when it felt more appropriate. The anthem is also fitting at the Olympics, or the World Cup. But there's really no connection between The Star Spangled Banner and two teams playing football from Philadelphia and East Rutherford.
American sports has a long history of forcing patriotism and military down our throats.
Fighter jets and B-52 bombers, weapons of war, fly above stadiums during pregame ceremonies. Baseball teams use and sell army camouflage uniforms. It seems every league has a relationship with the military and a Military Appreciation Night.
According to a government report in 2015, the Department of Defense spent at least $53 million of taxpayer money on at least 50 teams to stage military-themed events. Their goal is to inspire potential recruits in the stands or watching on TV. (For instance, the Wisconsin Army National Guard paid the Brewers $49,000 to play “God Bless America” at games in 2014 during the seventh-inning stretch). In other words, patriotism at sporting events is a paid commercial, with the anthem as the free warm-up act. (And on second thought, I've figured out the connection — money).
Colin Kaepernick was banned for supposedly disrespecting this. He was called anti-American and a segment of fans bought into it because of this ingrained and faulty connection between military and sports. Donald Trump pounced, and ignited the rage of his base. Now we're waiting for the next controversy to emerge because of a misplaced ritual. Just get rid of it.