I learned something today about our National Anthem...
 

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My bad. I always thought that "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States.

National anthem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A national anthem (also state anthem, national hymn, national song, etc.) is generally a patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions, and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style.

It appears I slept through this in Civics class....>>>

NOW.... (talk about divisive IMO)>

From USA Today (article linked below)

NFL will play Black national anthem 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' before each Week 1 game


Starting with the nationally televised regular-season opener between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 10, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem, will be performed before every Week 1 kickoff, before "The Star-Spangled Banner," according to a person familiar with ongoing discussions.

NFL plans Black national anthem 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' in Week 1

Francis Scott Key author of the star spangled banner was a well know slave owner. There is controversy over verse three with perhaps some reference to slavery but difficult to translate. FYI the melody is from an old British drinking song.

Next we will be saluting a BLM flag and singing Kumbayah. The NFL players today are overpaid prima donnas not fit to walk in the cleats of the players of the past. As for the NBA I’ll take Bob Cousy any day.

I used to be addicted to watching sports. But after Covid and no sports, I have realized that I was wasting a lot of time. Another Covid silver lining I guess? When sports finally come back, I was planning to watch again but much more selectively. If sports become nothing more than a platform for social justice issues, I am totally done. I watch sports to see sports. If I want to see social justice as the main point, I will watch the news channels that jam that stuff down the viewers throats.

It is beyond sad when sports go down the tube. If they play some contrived garbage instead of the Star Spangled Banner I am through with them.

Me too ... same with college football if they start to go full woke SJW ad nauseum. I'm done with the sport at that point, and no more donations for that matter to the alma mater.

My question is ... are the leaders really that obtuse? Guess we'll tune in and find out.

Are you kidding me
 

I am so sorry to see it come to the point that we feel the need to select a single group of people to celebrate by singing a song that represents them at football games. No, it isn’t that I don’t recognize the importance, I simply don’t understand why we are singling out one group. Should we hold a concert before each game consisting of every song representing every culture. I am sorry we have become so divided as a country that it has come to this. I wonder, and I hope not, but will people begin to take a knee when that song is played. It will only add fuel to the fire that is currently leading to a civil war.

You do not mix, sports, religion and politics

A little late for that. Been going on for quite a while.

I recall not that long ago, 20 years or so, Nascar drivers were already in their cars and strapped up when the national anthem was played.

The NFL could be making a big mistake!
What happens when some fans refuse to stand for the Black National Anthem?

In any case. HAPPY 4th!
Enjoy your independence....while we still have it.

100% true. I’m right behind you

Agree. Black national anthem?? That has to be the joke of the day. Wake up people and see whats happening here and its not pretty.

Written by the poet James Weldon Johnson and the composer John J. Johnson in 1900. It’s a hymn, but you can march to it or waltz to it, depending on how you accentuate it. Just in case you wondered what it sounds like and what the words are, here it is.

YouTube

So, when you are at the game, will you stand and salute or will you take a knee?

The melody goes back to maybe 1773, so it was barely forty years old when Key’s lyrics were written. It was the anthem sung at each meeting of a group of wealthy amateur singers who got together to sing and also drink. It was not a barroom song—way too difficult to sing.
The Anacreontic Song - Wikipedia
Key was a prominent lawyer, not a “well known slave owner.” I don’t think he owned a plantation. He did own some slaves, which was entirely legal in Maryland. He also freed a number of them, provided pro bono representation at times for people of African descent, and spent ten years pushing the will of my ancestor John Randolph of Virginia through the courts—a difficult process because Randolph freed 400 slaves. He was not an abolitionist, but neither was Abraham Lincoln until it was politically useful. He was a member of a society dedicated to helping free or freed Africans return to Africa—a worthy goal, and again one Lincoln approved of for awhile.