Take A Knee

This business of NFL athletes kneeling instead of standing for our national anthem is silly and I refuse to take sides. My choice would be to stand for the anthem, but if the person next to me wants to sit or kneel, that’s his choice. Maybe he hates this country, or maybe he loves this country. Whichever, that’s his business, and my threatening him with retribution for kneeling won’t change what is in his heart. If I force him to stand when he doesn’t want to stand, what have I gained? What has anyone gained? Nothing at all.

A bigger question is: why is the anthem played at the beginning of sporting events? Sports leagues are multi-billion dollar private-sector businesses that exist to make huge profits for the players and owners by entertaining their fans. The games aren’t government events and have nothing to do with politics, so why is the Star-Spangled Banner played or sung at every game?

The origin of that goes back to baseball and the year 1918, before the Star-Spangled Banner became the anthem. You can read about it in detail on History.com, so there’s no need to retell the story here. But basically, playing the anthem was a gimmick to rouse the fans and get them more enthused about the game. It worked, so the sports leagues decided to play the anthem before every game.

Players who take a knee will offend some fans, but many of those fans disrespect the flag in their own way. Quoting History.com:

The anthem’s adoption also gave way to a new American pastime, almost as beloved as sports itself: complaining about people’s behavior during the national anthem. By 1954, Baltimore Orioles general manager Arthur Ehlers was already bemoaning fans he thought disrespected the anthem by talking and laughing during the song. Ehlers briefly stopped playing the anthem altogether, before relenting to pressure and reinstating it a month later.

My opinion about this whole take-a-knee affair is that it is, as William Shakespeare might have put it, “much ado about nothing.” If it offends you so much, don’t buy the product. Don’t watch the games. Problem solved.