Tank McNamara by Bill Hinds for November 19, 2017

I would like to think that a large majority of citizens know the words to their own national anthem. I would like to think that. Sadly, cynical guy above is probably right.

The Star Spangled Banner is a miserable national anthem! It’s a third rate poem, about a minor battle, in an idiotic war, written by a supporter of slavery, set to the music of an English drinking song. A far better anthem would be America The Beautiful, which was written about the entire country & is actually singable!

If they do bother to Google the national anthem, I hope they take also take the time to read the parts that are never sung so they know exactly what it is they are supporting.

Hands, touching hands

Reaching out, touching me, touching you

I’ve always been partial to “This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie. Rousing enough and in a key that everyone can sing in !

Since the kneeling started in 2016 there hasn’t been too many news items of unarmed men being shot by law enforcement. That was kind of the point of it all.

Most national anthems are miserable pieces of music. That is because they were written when someone decided the country needed an anthem, and it had to be by a contemporary musician.

The best anthems are Britain, France, and Germany. They just evolved over time. It also helps that Germany’s anthem was a tune from Franz Josef Haydn.

I’ve been in the camp of not playing The Star Spangled Banner before ANY sporting event, no matter the level of sport, unless it involves a U.S. National team (pick a sport) playing a Nation team fro another country. You play the visiting teams anthem first, the The Star Spangled Banner.

One thing of late that really chaps my britches is when I’m a a Carolina Hurricanes game and people find it necessary to scream out RED during the anthem. I get it as the RBC Center is also the home the NC State mens basketball, but it needs to stop. I was a the game last week when the Dallas Stars were in town and the Stars fans shouted STARS during the anthem. Just. Stop. It!

And God forbid those ‘patriots’ read all the lyrics and determine their meaning.

This country is so bad and has so many problems that people are leaving in droves. Oh wait. They are only promising to leave. When is the exodus going to happen?

“While we send here waiting”“For the ballgame to start”“Let’s give thanks for our homes”“And our two car garages”“Let’s give thanks for TV,”

To the tune of “For Anacreon in Heaven”

And all this time I thought the last lines of the anthem were, “YEEEAAAHHH!”, while swilling your beer, with your hat on your head, while high-fiving your bro’, while watching the flyover on your cell phone in a domed stadium!

The first NBC SNF game focused on Cowboy players up close. Behind them, some moron had his cell phone in hand, looking up to catch the flyover because the dome was open. It was in his RIGHT hand! And he wasn’t singing!