Major League Baseball gained a lot of my respect during the 2019 playoffs through to the World Series, ironically, because of this very trend. The trend of disrespect, and the trend of simply ignoring coverage of the national anthem by the tv and radio networks before professional sports contests.

The National Anthem; MLB has got it right!

It didn’t go unnoticed, by me anyway, that each MLB baseball game began with the national anthem, performed a cappella, televised before game time in 2019.

All the baseball players were respectful.

I was particularly impressed that every single player from each team was respectful, hat removed, and paying due attention. A significant number of players are from other countries, and yet they exhibited nothing but courtesy and respect during the ceremonies that I watched.

Ad revenue vs the right thing

Bully for the networks too. Praise to the networks that made it a priority to show the national anthem; instead of some bullshit advertisement like the networks seem to be doing during NFL coverage these days. Either the networks want to avoid televising the disrespectful NFL players during the anthem performance, or they are greedy for the minute lost. Hey, they can make more money by cutting the anthem altogether and selling the time for more beer ads.

Now, more than ever, we should make the anthem a priority

We have a lot to be thankful for in this country. Using public gatherings to stop and express this thankfulness for a minute or two should remain a priority. The performance of the national anthem shouldn’t ever be brushed aside.

Respectful and tasteful standards of performance should be preserved too.

While on the topic of the national anthem in sports or other public events, I’d like to propose that we try to adhere to a respectful standard. A proud standard. A solemn standard. We are a free people. That freedom came at a great price. Singing our national anthem helps the lucky recipients of USA freedom and lifestyle to remember the cost, much of the cost paid in blood. By all means, we should preserve the practice of performing our anthem, but we should also seek to keep the standard of the performance high. It’s not the kind of song that we should adapt to Hip Hop or C&W or Heavy Metal. The genre is no genre. The anthem trumps genre. Let’s not meddle with it. Not on the big stage. It’s fine just as it is written.

The national anthem of the USA matters; Please let’s respect our Anthem.

Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, preserving our freedom continues to require great sacrifice by many Americans every day. That is a fact. Lives are lost in service of protecting the USA and preserving our way of life. However imperfect the American way of life might seem to us, it remains a standard around the free world. A standard that so many other sovereign nations also depend upon for their own freedom. The least we can do is spend a minute acknowledging what we have and expressing what we stand for as a country.