At the same time that I understand that you should respect the anthem of your country or another, I think it's silly that they're played at sporting events anyway. From something I read a long time ago, the only reasons anthems were ever introduced in sports were:
a) to increase the rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple leafs in hockey, in Canada.
b) as a means of propaganda during wars.
So why do we continue to do this today? Why do we have to respect a damn song? And why is it such a big deal when people don't, yet they can hold protest and flag burnings and you name it all over the world.
I've experienced this situation myself. Just last week during the playoffs in hockey here in Montreal, the american anthem was booed in the games against Boston by a good 10% of the arena. The other 90% was chanting GO Habs Go... and on hockey forums I go to people bitched and called Montreal fans classless... but it's done all over the states too for the Canadian anthem... so what's the problem? It's just a song.
The only angle I can understand is that it is a yankees policy and if they want to enforce it in their own building that's fine. But this guy strikes me as someone who just wants to stir the shit pot, so I don't really have any sympathy for him. His claims are outrageous but I agree with the general point he's trying to make.
