A Waste of A Few Minutes?

I heard this on the radio this afternoon:

Weather problems silence national anthem in Pittsburgh

Yeah, you read it right - for the first time EVER they did not play the National Anthem before starting the game. 

Why?

With the kickoff already delayed 25 minutes by terrible weather, and a stadium filled with rain-drenched fans growing impatient for the opening kickoff, the NFL skipped the national anthem before Monday night’s Dolphins-Steelers game.

Heaven forbid they extend the start time by about 3 minutes or so.  THAT will certainly make every fan in existence turn the channel and watch something else.  And just think how uncomfortable those poor wet fans were... now it wouldn't be nice to make them wait for a few more minutes to pay honor to the country, maybe think for a few minutes about deployed troops - nope they might get even more wet and be angry they had to wait through that endlessly long anthem...

The alternative would have been to play a recording of the anthem; it’s not certain if the league considered this option.

Now why would they want to do that?  They had already figured out a way to cut the damned thing out of the game - hey just run with it!

There is no other known instance of the anthem being skipped before a major American pro sports league game of recent vintage, except for mechanical or electronic problems.

Which means that there was no good reason - other than ESPN and the NFL thinking viewers would run off in droves over a few minutes more delay... gee guys thank you so much for making it clear how tedious it is to take those few minutes for the anthem - I didn't realize it was such a chore.

The NFL’s decision to bypass the anthem was surprising if only because American soldiers continue to fight in Iraq and the league often has embraced patriotic themes.

Oh well, it's okay if soldiers work their collective asses off - the NFL is worried about AUDIENCE people!  At least that's what they tell us.  Right - that's why the second biggest game of the season - Green Bay and Indy is going to be on the NFL network Thursday night where 99% of the fans don't even get a chance to watch it.  I can see how concerned they are with their fans.

After Sept. 11, the league changed the theme of its next Super Bowl to "Hope, Heroes and Homeland" and altered the game’s logo to incorporate the American flag.

Ah, they made the gesture! Wonderful - guess that's why we see NO military deployed during games on the holidays.  For years that was a staple of the NFL. You saw the games and the greatings from troops stationed around the world.  If you've been watching football this year and even last year... when is the last time you saw ANY troops doing greetings to those at home?

Right - we know where the NFL stands now - logo not withstanding. 

Posted by: Teresa in Sports at 09:11 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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