Really good column about hyper patriotism at sporting events

[Va Lefty]

"In my mind, though, all that cannot be decoupled from what Sept. 11 has done to sports. What was once ostensibly a unifying moment in the country has helped transform sports, with flags and flyovers, kneeling and protests — into the most divided public spectacle this side of Congress."

"It all felt right, until temporary grieving turned into a permanent, commercial bonanza — and a chilling referendum on who gets to be American...Recently a high-ranking Red Sox official told me — nearly 17 years after the towers fell — that he really doesn’t know why the team still plays “God Bless America,” but he knows this: The team would “get killed” publicly if it was the first team to stop doing it."

"The fan attitude of “shut up and play” may be directed at the big, wealthy athlete, but you know it is also designed to shut all black people up. If the public can try to silence LeBron James (net worth about $400 million), what chance, then, to disagree does the average citizen have?"

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/12/opinion/sports-colin-kaepernick-9-11.html

[LisaM]

1. Excellent.

This gets at the heart of many of the things that bother me about this whole unholy partnership. I detest camo uniforms and flyovers. Now I feel a tiny bit emboldened to complain to the teams.

[Delmette2.0]

5. +1

[hatrack]

6. Thank you!

It's a freaking baseball game.

Can we go and enjoy a game without being subjected to this obligatory display of masturbatory nationalism? Please??

On the rare occasions I do go these days, I try and time it so I'm standing at a urinal when the B2 goes overhead, or when the 120' by 70' flag is deployed in the outfield.

[mountain grammy]

8. Yes. Exactly

[Xipe Totec]

2. Sounds like a disease amenable to surgical treatment. nt

[Locrian]

3. sounds like malignant cancer to me - nt

[Xipe Totec]

4. Testicular, but yes. nt

[Kilgore]

7. It's a calculation

Whatever the fan base wants, the fan base gets.
The goal is to sell tickets and get eyeballs.
If hyper patriotism does it, then that's what we all get.

[hexola]

9. Does it sell tickets? Or is the potential for negative press the motivator?

If they could quietly phase this stuff out - I doubt anyone would even notice...

The vast majority of us watch sports on TV - where they rarely air the patriotic pre-game stuff - commercials make more money!

Nobody would even notice.

[PJMcK]

11. You're exactly right!

When you watch a sporting event on TV, they almost never air the national anthem or "God Bless America." It seems to get broadcast only for the Super Bowl or the World Series. When you attend a game, a vast number of the attendees don't pay attention to the performances.

It really is a stupid and fake expression of patriotism.

[Dorn]

10. Even now, even here

I can't tell anyone my feelings about our country's military fetish -- suffice it to say we should bring back the draft.

[The Wizard]

12. When did worshiping uniforms

become patriotic. Was it a response to the shabby treatment veterans got from the government after their Vietnam service? Was it in recognition of the first responders who were killed trying to save lives on 9-11-01?
As a disabled Vietnam combat veteran I see this uber patriotism as a divisive force in our culture. And to those who say shut up and play, I say sign up or shut up.

[ehrnst]

13. I always thought that high school sports were part of training citizens for cheering men off to war

Especially before Title 9.

[tiredtoo]

14. The War Department

Pays these various sports venues for displaying this pseudo patriotism. Military-industrial complex at it's finest.

[relogic]

16. Great military PR

Most of these sports fans are not cognizant of how their attention to super patriotism is imposed on them as they stand/sit for allegiance/worship of everything military. This promotion is carefully orchestrated in the wrappings of innocent respect from the American zombies without question or challenge.

As some here have said it is indeed a fetish and one that sickens me every time I see these wasteful and overt expenditures mingled in with sport events.

[Ferrets are Cool]

15. [phone]

[stevenleser]

17. Sports team following itself is an exercise in tribalism. One that I also engage in. We're wired for

it.

I am sure tribalism is wired in our DNA specifically because long ago it aided in the chance that our DNA will be passed on.

Without tribalism, professional sports wouldn't have the following it needs to be successful. In a sense what the OP linked article describes is simply multiple layers of tribalism, and why its hard to get rid of one of the layers.

[John1956PA]

18. In Jan. 1980, shortly after the hostages were taken in Iran, I attended a professional hockey game.

After the national anthem concluded, many fans shouted out the chant "USA! USA!" while pumping their fists in the air. That was the first time I witnessed that now-familiar assertive demonstration. At that time, I was not comfortable with the mindset which produced that demonstration, and I still am not comfortable with it

[MineralMan]

19. "Fan" is a short form of "Fanatic."

It's easy enough to shift fanaticism from sports to politics, if you have a bunch of sports fanatics all in one place.

Hence, the patriotic nonsense at sports events.

[Va Lefty]

20. Very good point about "mob mentality"

Anyone who saw that ESPN documentary on Steve Bartman "Catching Hell" knows the crowd can get real ugly real fast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bartman_incident

[FiveGoodMen]

21. Ah, the last refuge of the hyper-scoundrel

And the first.

[smirkymonkey]

22. I suppose that is why sporting events have always turned me off.

I have never liked them.

[Uncle Joe]

23. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread Va Lefty