Let’s Respect the Flag by Actually Singing the Star Spangled Banner

On Wednesday, the NFL announced a policy providing, as I understand it, that all players on the field when the National Anthem is played must stand and show respect for the flag and anthem.  Players who do not want to stand can stay in the locker room until after the anthem is played.

It has never been a big deal for me whether players stood or didn’t stand during the anthem.  I don’t watch football, and even if I did, I wouldn’t care.  There are more important things to worry about.  Plus the freedom to protest is a good thing.

Most of all, however, my thought is, if we really want to show respect for the flag, why don’t more of us actually sing the National Anthem when it is played.  I understand some of the people who perform the anthem aren’t easy to sing along with.  But even when the people doing the anthem are easy to sing along with, like Wayne Messmer at Wrigley Field, people don’t sing.

In fact, the only time in recent memory that I have heard fans really sing the National Anthem at Wrigley Field was last summer, when the Toronto Blue Jays were in town.  There were a lot of Blue Jays fans there, and they sang “O Canada” so loud that I think they embarrassed the rest of us into actually singing “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Which may be the right idea here.  Instead of worrying about what other people are doing during the National Anthem, why don’t we sing it ourselves?