re: Stan Van Gundy - “What good reason is there to play the anthem before a game?”

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“What good reason is there to play the anthem before a game?”

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You can apply the "What good reason" test to pretty much anything if you try hard enough, so miss me with that.

I've always viewed the anthem as a brief reminder of all the people that gave their lives so we could enjoy basic freedoms like sipping a cold beer and enjoying a game with our family. I can't imagine being so jaded that I'd view that in a negative light or feel like action should be taken to get rid of it.

It also takes all of two minutes so "delaying the game" is a lame excuse. Player intros are a bigger waste of time tbh.

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Hopefully they just tear down all sports next and none of them will have a job.

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This reply brought to you on the MORE SPORTS BOARD

Why even discuss it then

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Mark him down and any Pels player who agrees with him publicly as ineligible to play for Team USA in the future.

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I’m not trying to lose future golds because you got petty about Zion and BI

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that we “need” basketball. Some of us like basketball. Some of us like basketball in secret but pretend we haven’t watched it for years. Some of us don’t like it even though we comment on it constantly. But none of us truly need it.

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You can apply the "What good reason" test to pretty much anything if you try hard enough,

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which is very true. But I feel like stuff is being misconstrued here. I can only speak for myself here but id assume others feel the same. When I say "why do we even do it" I'm not saying that in the context of actively wanting the song removed. It's being said as a response to not really seeing the issue if it is done away with

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I vividly remember my high school baseball coach, who was a Vietnam vet(only survivor of his platoon in a brutal battle and actually played dead while the Vietnamese went around cracking guys in the forehead with a knife to see if they reacted or not) turn to me during the NA before one of our games and say...."Can we just start the game already? Why do we have to do this every game?"

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So you are comparing an example of your coach simply being bored with a pregame tradition to the current situation of nixing the anthem as a political statement and a big middle finger to our country? Pfft! Sure thing! Don't sit there and try to convince me this situation is even remotely similar to your coach's boredom with tradition.

And as a side note...baseball is America's past time. You best believe the national anthem needs to be played before every baseball game. Anyone who says otherwise needs to GTFO!

On one hand I don’t really care

On the other hand, I enjoy reading people seeth about a song they will not hear at a sporting event they will not watch.

If sports teams were going to eliminate the anthem before games, five years ago was the time. But as soon as you let your side politicize the playing of the anthem (as the left, BLM, ESPN, etc. most assuredly did), now any change in the anthem's status is an overtly political act. Any attempt to downplay or delete it is going to be taken in that light by the overwhelming majority of your paying customer base. You wanted to make a statement? Live with the consequences.