Major league baseball is underway, and before I go any further, a reminder: When we finally get around to waving cold steel pitchforks at billionaires who are constructed of papier-mâché, let’s not forget to include Athletics owner John Fischer.
This essay has been tidied up from previous appearances at my defunct NA Confidential blog. In 2025, as my friends, neighbors and a few blood relatives enthusiastically promote the interests of wealth-engorged oligarchs at the expense of fellow citizens who the MAGA minions have been taught to hate, I’m reminded of my tendency to be a square peg in a round hole when it comes to certain of these supposedly mandatory matters.
Which is to say that I cannot remember a time when the concept of “god” made any sense to me. Same for religion in general, flag veneration, or applying the concept of “love” to one’s country. In elementary school, when we were compelled to stand and pledge allegiance to a piece of cloth (under god?), I went along with it because that’s what children do.
Hmm. Maybe that’s the problem?
Mind you, all sorts of redemptive forces play a role in my life; these include music, literature, travel and art in numerous forms. “Pete Townshend, right or wrong” strikes me as entirely reasonable, though not so much when the word “country” is substituted for the name of The Who’s guitarist and principal songwriter.
But for the moment: a reprise of “Talking Seventh Inning Blues.”
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Why do we play the national anthem before a sporting event, but not prior to opening the doors at a frilly boutique, muffler shop or dive bar?
Imagine the plight of the 24-hour mini-mart, forever unable to find an opportunity to play the national anthem prior to selling the first pack of smokes. How frustrating this must be for patriots.
Why do we insist on patriotic rituals attendant to the airing of the anthem alongside overt displays of nationalism, merely to sanction throwing the first pitch, not to mention kicking off or lofting the inaugural jump ball?
According to writer Richard C. Crepeau in an essay from the mid-2000s, the answer is that rote patriotism featuring “The Star Spangled Banner” did not become a feature of baseball games until World War II.
In 1940, with the fighting underway in earnest and America becoming more conscious of the possibility of war, there was increased talk of the need to hear the national anthem before all...Read more
