If the national anthem were not sung at professional sporting events, would you care?

I respect the national anthem because there are always men and women who were willing to fight for our country. If it means something to them, then it means something to me.

 

Completely don't care.

 

When I was a kid once, I decided to for fun not stand up and say the pledge. It was surreal. When it was done, the teacher yelled at me.

I think the whole national anthem before sporting events is silly. I stand up because as a minority, i don't want to give the racist idiots like bigtexxx more ammunition to be racist. But I couldn't care less about the whole thing.

Nationalism and patriotism is anachronistic anyway. The new power in the world is business.

 

Racism comes from within, this ammo that you speak of is
irrelevant!....(Haters gonna Hate)
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I'd care only if the words word changed with that of "Remix to Ignition"

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oyoRJIEDOM4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

I like it. Gives me a brief second to think about how good we have it and pay tribute to those who have fought for it. I'm not sure why it's become "cool" to bash it and those who do it, but I guess some people are just miserable in general and like to share their misery.

 

Taking a moment at any big event, as they do at most big sporting events where citizens gather, to appreciate and acknowledge our country, is not too big a burden for the "so smart and annoyed crowd," IMO. That's how it got started and there isn't anything wrong with it.

 

We're so used to the National Anthem at games that not playing it would be akin to having Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf wave to an NBA home crowd before the games. He didn't want to stand there for the anthem; after that incident, he played two years for the Kings, and then sort of faded away to play overseas, where, I presume, it might not be such a big deal not to stand for a national anthem? Just guessing.

Hell, you can't even go buy a car without seeing the U.S. (and, here, Texan) flags everywhere. Try being the car dealership owner who takes a stand: "You know, why have the flag everywhere? Doesn't do any good to anybody."

How would I feel personally? Frankly the whole thing is anachronistic, jingoistic.

My wife looked at me strangely at her first Rockets game:

“O que é isso?” What's this?
“O Hino Nacional.” The National Anthem.
“’Tá brincando. A gente tem que ficar em pe?” You're kidding. We have to stand up?
“’Tou brincando não, é sempre assim, todo jogo, todo esporte.” I'm not kidding, it's always like this, every game, every sport.
“Nossa. Se fosse no Brasil? Nunca.” Wow. If it were in Brazil? Never.

 

yeah, thank god they wasted their lives on a meaningless war on the other side of the globe instead of putting all that human potential into educating or building this country.

Patriotism is about kicking oversees but. No one says, thank god for the teachers who educate our children to make our nation stronger. Thank god for those who fight polluters to make our nation healthier. Thank god for those who care enough to realize that America is stronger with all its citizens prospering and not just a select few. Yeah, Patriotism? Ha. It's fools gold in a modern world.

You care about your country, then go volunteer your time to make it better. Go stand up during the anthem at a sporting event thinking you are a patriot - that's great, but most of the people don't give two poops about the person standing next to them aka their countrymen. Let's just be honest here.

 

I don't think 3~5 minutes it too much to ask.
I also like to think of it as the same as the FEATURE PRESENTATION at the movies. I mean why have that either?!?!??!
Because it tells you the movie is about to start
Same with the Anthem.

Instead of the anthem we have some announcer come out and say
OK EVERYONE .. GRAB A SEAT . . .WE ABOUT TO START
that sucks *ss

Rocket River

 

Patriotism is about being thankful that we live in such a great place. Not perfect by any stretch, but really a comparatively nice place. Nothing wrong with taking a minute to be thankful for that or to reflect on all the people who combine to make it a great place, from farmers to teachers to soldiers to those in business.

 

Can we quit playing Oh Canada when Canadien teams play in the US?

Their players are most likely Canadien and their fans dont exactly travel well.

 

In the past I would not care, but I do now.

The national anthem... the pledge of allegiance are important. There are so few things that bind us all together as Americans.

 

I've always thought that America the Beautiful should be the national anthem. It's lovely and stirring, and people can actually sing it. Too logical, I guess.

 

I've said this before in here...

There are no nations. Just competing pools of capital.

 

Your peception on patriotism is about as one-sided as they come. No wonder you have such a negative view...you think it's all about hating.

 

What you wrote doesn't even make any sense.

 

Because we see this life completely, and I do mean COMPLETELY different.

As much sense my post makes to you, your post does the same to me.

I guess we're even.

 

Exactly. This country has become so much "Do whatever makes you feel good" that no one even takes time out to try to understand why we're being asked to do certain things. There is a reason people all over the world dream about the chance to come to America. It's because we offer way more opportunity than everyone else.

The song also gives "us" as fans and "them" as athletes a hefty reminder of what was done for this country by our veterans to make sure that we can come together at things like a sporting event. For the lazy and impatient people who don't want to stand I ask this: Is 3 minutes of a 3 hour event too long to stand and say thanks I love America, it's veterans and all it's opportunities it's provided me?