3rd June 2008, 10:13 PM
National anthems before sporting events are fine with me. In the NHL, the tradition of singing the national anthems of each country (USA and Canada) was created to honour those who served in World War I, and it's stuck ever since. That's totally fine with me. In some American cites, like Buffalo, the Canadian anthem will be sung before a game even if no Canadian teams are playing, and I think the roots of that tradition are very meaningful. In baseball, however, I do have a problem with "God Bless America" being sung in the seventh inning stretch or sometimes instead of "The Star Spangled Banner", especially because there are two nations represented in the MLB. "God Bless America" is a terrible, terrible song and shouldn't be sung anywhere at anytime. You wacky Americans and your fucked up non-sensical songs. Do you think that God is actually going to bless a country that openly allows atheism, gay marriages, and Seann Penn to prosper freely? Oh, and the American tradition of crossing your heart with your right hand during the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner" has gotta stop. It looks completely ridiculous and makes Americans look like slaves to the flag. Cut that shit out.