So yeah, for me, its a little more than a game time ritual.

Does it belong at an NFL football game? Pro football is just commercial entertainment just like a Disney picture. Should the national anthem be played in movie theaters before the start of every movie?

Of course and the Pledge needs to be recited as well, right after you show your papers. drip drip drip

Thank you for your response, themoj0 :)

Soldiers lost abroad, their remains brought home draped in the flag of the country they served in is always very sad. With you having served under that flag and with a member of your family doing so now - I completely understand your outrage in the circumstances.

Looking at the figures for US military deployments (Service men and women abroad) there must be many Americans who for similar reasons to your own, feel the same. But I am interested in what your thoughts are with regards the question betreger raised here.

@GaryThat was a very helpful post, Thanks. Visibility of the Union Jack increased dramatically here with Brexit. (Although it did too with the fashion for having your trousers suspended somewhere between up and down too.) Those who promoted that (Brexit, not trousers) seemed to think it would be all that was needed to make us erm... great (Britain) again - SNORT - when it is of course, a lot more complicated than that. They're also it seems, a feature of our far right anti-Muslim and neo-Nazi groups too unfortunately (although the latter have also been flying the flag of Israel - a feature of similar groups in Europe attempting to wave away their anti-Semitic roots, and get adopted by a certain someone with a direct ear to the USA) all of which is horribly off-topic here, so my apologies to everyone, but especially to the OP.

But I am interested in what your thoughts are with regards the question betreger raised here.

Why does Skyline Chili serve their chili bowls with a huge mound of cheese on top?
Do you NEED it? Not really.

I think to question the need for the Anthem at these events is just like saying we don't NEED all of these old civil war monuments around, because it "hurts the feelings" of a small part of society. They haven't been an issue for 100 years or so...BUT now all of a sudden....

Now people want to question if we should have the anthem at sporting events. If someone says WHY, then I say WHY NOT?
Do we have to have a reason for everything? It started at some point, some where, a long time ago...for whatever reason. You get THOUSANDS of people together, interacting with one another..enjoying the freedoms that that flag give us. A movie theatre is a confined, dark place, where people go to be alone, with other people. Its not the same. Now if someone wants to debate what constitutes a large crowd and what doesn't, then they can go toss off. SADLY, the liberal mindset of " I don't like this, so therefore is must be bad and I want it gone' has infiltrated our society quite a bit these last 8 years. Its going to take a lot of hard work to get us back to where we were in the late 2000's.

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Mopar, or NO car.

They haven't been an issue for 100 years or so...BUT now all of a sudden....

Are you sure about that, or have you just been deaf?

The blind see, the deaf hear & the mute speak. :-)

They haven't been an issue for 100 years or so...BUT now all of a sudden....

Are you sure about that, or have you just been deaf?

Im positive. '
Im 46. Ive been around the world in the military,
ive been state law enforcement,
and im current federal law enforcement.
ive worked min wage jobs, and ive worked 30+ dollar an hr jobs.
I watch all kinds of newscasts
I read a lot of papers.
ive lived in a LOT of cities.

I have NEVER heard of people being upset with a bunch of statues, until about 4-6 years ago.
Now does that mean that maybe, somewhere, for many years, there were some butthurt liberals crying in silence over a statue? Probably.
Does taking it down, erase the fact that it ever happened? nope.
Does leaving it up glorify the event that it represents? NOPE.
Its history. It happened. Cry all you want. Just don't involve me.
I would rather spend my energy IMPROVING on things in my country, and making it GREAT,
not on taking down a few symbols of our history, as if would change anything.

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Mopar, or NO car.

The blind see, the deaf hear & the mute speak. :-)

By blind deaf and mute, you mean blind deaf and dumb? YEs? That the correct term?
Because you are correct, for sure.
Liberals LOVE to yell and scream..or "speak" as you said it.
So that makes a liberal "dumb".
HUH!!! That explains it! :D

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Mopar, or NO car.

They haven't been an issue for 100 years or so...BUT now all of a sudden....

Are you sure about that, or have you just been deaf?

Im positive. '
Im 46. Ive been around the world in the military,
ive been state law enforcement,
and im current federal law enforcement.

Yep, perfect conditions to suck all voices away. You haven't heard it because you are the government. People don't dare speak freely to or near you.

I'm sure you didn't hear any issues in the 60's when the civil rights movement happened.

Im 46. Ive been around the world in the military,

One of many worldwide. So what makes you so special?

BTW: Don't respond to the baiting questions of Sirius B.

He is, as with the monuments we are referring to. A problem we are attempting to resolve.

The perfect response to the above, unfortunately, the credit for it belongs to someone else. :-)

Yep, perfect conditions to suck all voices away. You haven't heard it because you are the government. People don't dare speak freely to or near you.

But I am interested in what your thoughts are with regards the question betreger raised here.

Why does Skyline Chili serve their chili bowls with a huge mound of cheese on top?
Do you NEED it? Not really.

I think to question the need for the Anthem at these events is just like saying we don't NEED all of these old civil war monuments around, because it "hurts the feelings" of a small part of society. They haven't been an issue for 100 years or so...BUT now all of a sudden....

Now people want to question if we should have the anthem at sporting events. If someone says WHY, then I say WHY NOT?
Do we have to have a reason for everything? It started at some point, some where, a long time ago...for whatever reason. You get THOUSANDS of people together, interacting with one another..enjoying the freedoms that that flag give us. A movie theatre is a confined, dark place, where people go to be alone, with other people. Its not the same. Now if someone wants to debate what constitutes a large crowd and what doesn't, then they can go toss off. SADLY, the liberal mindset of " I don't like this, so therefore is must be bad and I want it gone' has infiltrated our society quite a bit these last 8 years. Its going to take a lot of hard work to get us back to where we were in the late 2000's.

BS, it started in 2009.

This anthem thing is a scam. This is not actually part of football. This was invented in 2009 [by] the government paying the NFL to market military recruitment,

https://thinkprogress.org/nfl-dod-national-anthem-6f682cebc7cd/
themoj0 you have been brain washed by fake news.

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BTW: Don't respond to the baiting questions of Sirius B.

He is, as with the monuments we are referring to. A problem we are attempting to resolve.

Again I ask who is we, are you pregnant?

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Why does Skyline Chili serve their chili bowls with a huge mound of cheese on top?
Do you NEED it? Not really.

But you eat it nevertheless.

George Carlin touched on that... somewhere.

Now if someone wants to debate what constitutes a large crowd and what doesn't, then they can go toss off.

Is that before, during or after your anthem...?

Seriously... salad wilts.

BTW: Don't respond to the baiting questions of Sirius B.

He is, as with the monuments we are referring to. A problem we are attempting to resolve.

Again I ask who is we, are you pregnant?

Shirley Ardell Mason?

No fish in this pond either Clyde, move along. ;-)

ROFLMFAO!!!!!

Shame for such a "new" country that originality is beyond them. America's national anthem music was actually an English song composed in 1775 that soon become a popular pub staple.

So altogether, lets join in with a popular pub ditty...

..."Knees up mother Brown". Should make it hard for anyone to kneel. :-)

I can't remember where exactly I read/heard it - but apparently the first recorded example of an anthem before an international sporting event was when the Welsh team sang Hen Wlad fy Nhadau in response to the All Blacks (they're from New Zealand in case you didn't know) doing this at them. That was in in 1905 I think. Not the clip though - that's more recent.

Not the clip though - that's more recent.

NZ vs SA in rugby should be a good match.

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IMO the national anthem is inappropriate for commercial uses such as pro football games. That is not patriotism it is blatant profiteering and should be insulting to all who claim to be patriotic.

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NZ vs SA in rugby should be a good match.

There've been good ones, I think, but The All Blacks have the upper hand on the stats, definitely. I put it all down to that haka thing ;)

IMO the national anthem is inappropriate for commercial uses such as pro football games. That is not patriotism it is blatant profiteering and should be insulting to all who claim to be patriotic.

For me - your national anthem has been forever... shaped... in my head by the version Frank Drebin delivered in Naked Gun.