Forced patriotism

There are several things I dislike about sports. At the top of the list is forcing patriotism down the throats of the fans.

Around the globe, few nations play their national anthem before every sporting event. In England, they don't fire up "God Save the Queen" before Manchester United matches. They save it for when the English National Team is playing. When two Canadian high school hockey teams are playing, I doubt they crank up "Oh Canada!"

But here in the USA, we do play "The Star-Spangled Banner" at just about every game played. And that's fine. It's become a tradition. It's probably the only time some people actually hear the anthem.

But since 9/11, there's been a new brand of patriotism that's spreading. At Yankee Stadium, you're not allowed to leave your seats during the 7th inning stretch where "God Bless America" is performed. You're expected to stand, remove your hat and be respectful of a song that debuted on a radio show.

Tonight, the rodeo went one step beyond that.

During the pregame festivities, they had the horseback drill team ride around the arena with American flags while a song called "American Pride." Again, you were expected to stand, remove your hat and show proper respect to a song ... recorded by country musical act Alabama in 1992.*

Even worse, the "sound man" for the rodeo had edited in some audio clips between the lyrics. So we got to hear President Bush announce two planes hit the World Trade Towers. Then we got to hear some clips of him talking tough about finding those responsible for the attacks and bringing them to justice. There were three or four more GWB clips, but I quit listening.

Naturally, that wasn't enough either. Mr. Patriotic DJ segued from "American Pride" to that Toby Keith song with the lyric about "putting a boot up your ass because it's the American way."

This brought a huge ovation from the crowd. As I sat there (yes, I remained sitting despite the glares from a couple of people nearby), I saddened that all these people were feeling so patriotic when few, if any, had bothered to thank a veteran or attend a wreath-laying ceremony on Memorial Day.

No, I didn't do either of those things either. But I'd damn sure rather do those things, than get all tinglingly feeling when Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" was played. Which, thankfully, it wasn't.

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* - Actually, they didn't even play the whole "American Pride" song. They edited out a stanza about how life is better in the South because Granny's biscuits and gravy taste so good. I learned this while looking up the song to find out who sings it.