Beauchamp: Kaepernick didn’t bring politics to sports, NFL does by playing anthem

Posted by | September 3, 2016 19:00 | Filed under: Opinion Politics

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Zack Beachamp raises the very good question about why sports teams play the national anthem before games.

But how did we get to the point of playing the national anthem before NFL games — or any professional or high-level amateur sporting event — at all?

It’s actually not normal, internationally speaking, to play national anthems before domestic sporting events. You don’t hear “God Save the Queen” before English Premier League matches. Non-Americans find all the patriotic spectacle in American sports baffling.

The reason isn’t that Americans are more patriotic than foreigners. It’s that, during the world wars, American sports leagues hitched themselves to the American military. Today, the original justification for playing the National Anthem doesn’t make a lot of sense anymore — and the kind of patriotic imagery it embodies is little more than a marketing tool that occasionally invites political controversy.
I don’t really care very much whether Colin Kaepernick does or doesn’t stand. That’s his choice. But the idea that he should have to stand, or even listen to the National Anthem at all, is much stranger than most Americans think it is.

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Copyright 2016 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

17 responses to Beauchamp: Kaepernick didn’t bring politics to sports, NFL does by playing anthem

  1. StoneyCurtisll September 3rd, 2016 at 19:15

    I agree…
    There is no point in playing a “pledge of intelligence/ or alliance/ or anthem” or what ever to anything or anyone,before any sporting event…

    it’s only a game fer christ sake~!

    • Larry Schmitt September 3rd, 2016 at 19:26

      I’ve been saying that all along. It shows how insecure Americans are about their country, they think it’s necessary to constantly declare their allegiance. It was something that started after WWI, and eventually it just became a habit. It’s time we put a stop to it. When I was in the AF, they even played the anthem in the base theater before a movie. That’s why I stopped going there. Real patriotism doesn’t have to be worn on your sleeve, it’s something you feel inside.

      • StoneyCurtisll September 3rd, 2016 at 19:40

        It just seems pointless to me…
        As a very young kid I had to do it everyday in grade school…(say the pledge hand over the heart)
        I also had to do the obligatory run to the shelter, get under the desk, duck and cover routine..
        It was drilled into our heads that each day may be our last…I think there is a whole generation that are a little f-ed over it…

        • Larry Schmitt September 3rd, 2016 at 19:46

          I remember duck and cover. Was there supposed to be something magical about that position that would protect you from radioactivity, or did it just make it easier to kiss your young ass goodbye?

          • whatthe46 September 3rd, 2016 at 19:48

            i always thought, what stupid idiot came up with that? LOL

            • Larry Schmitt September 3rd, 2016 at 19:50

              The same type who thought up “collateral damage” to replace “civilian wartime deaths.”

          • StoneyCurtisll September 4th, 2016 at 02:17

            Just hope you where in the shadow of someone else…
            And if you held your hand over your head in just the right manner, the building stones won’t crush you…(someone thought this sh!t up after looking at what happened in Hiroshima/Nagasaki)

      • Suzanne McFly September 3rd, 2016 at 22:57

        They played it at the movie theater on the Navy base as well, I felt it was a bit corny myself.

  2. Larry Schmitt September 3rd, 2016 at 19:28

    And someone tell Major League Baseball to quit playing Kate Smith and God Bless America during the seventh inning. God didn’t bless this country any more than any other country. God doesn’t give a sh*t about America. And it’s got nothing to do with baseball anyway.

  3. Suzanne McFly September 3rd, 2016 at 22:56

    This is a deflection of the story Kaepernick is trying to get us to focus on. I am for stopping the playing of the national anthem at games, it does take away the true meaning of the song, but we need to focus on why Kaepernick is taking a knee to begin with. We need to stop accepting the cops version of the story when there is a dead unarmed black man.

  4. bpollen September 4th, 2016 at 01:52

    Let us not forget that, musically, it absolutely sucks.

    • StoneyCurtisll September 4th, 2016 at 02:12

      It’s based on an old drinking song…
      And has racist tints in the third verse/stanza…

      • bpollen September 4th, 2016 at 02:27

        Yeah, and it’s not like drinking songs make it into the To 10 Songs on Billboard. “And this week ‘Here’s To Brother (name)’ has shot up to number one from number twelve!”

  5. Budda September 4th, 2016 at 06:52

    and some of the ‘stars’ that sing it, kill it, horribly!

  6. brickman October 3rd, 2016 at 23:28

    I don’t mind the National Anthem before games although I will note that very few workplaces start the day with it. My objection is “God bless America” during the 7th inning stretch. That song has a rightwing political history and if they want to alternate “This Land is Your Land” nightly, I’ll drop my objection.

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