I'm not an American but....
 

I watched the boxing match between Hopkins and Taylor last night broadcast from Vegas.

And R.Kelly was brought in to sing the American National Anthem .

Now..

here's the thing...

Not only did he have dancers in the ring but on two occasions at least he encouraged the crowd to join in and clap.

Ummmm is he an idiot?

I thought you were supposed to stand straight and respectful when ANY National Anthem is played , not dance and clap , let alone the American one , if you are an American...

I attended an American School in Africa for a while and I'm sure Americans stood still and were taught to put there hand over their heart.

Maybe I'm just old...but I thought he needed a punch in the mouth.

And I'm not American....

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

You are absolutely correct Nick. Pisses me off just reading about it.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Wasn't he convicted of being a pedo? :blink:

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

To echo, TE, you are most correct, Nick. We were taught to stand respectfully still, our hands - or hats, as you'll see baseball players do - over our hearts. Even the '60's, when protesting was de riguer, all the students in my high school managed to do to "protest" was not put their hands over their hearts. They still stood.

Singing along is quite acceptable, for those who can manage to sing that most difficult song.

Who is "R. Kelly"? I'm unable to think of any part of the anthem where "clapping along" would fit.

And yes, it's any nation's anthem that deserves respect. We're supposed to stand respectfully for all of them, even if the "hand over the heart" thing is only reserved for their own.

Question: do Canadians do the "hand over the heart" for the beautiful "O, Canada"?

You guys knock our socks off in the national anthem department, frankly. Every once in a while somebody will restart the attempt to change the US national anthem to "America, the Beautiful," which many feel is much more suited to be our national anthem, rather than the one that references war.

My favorite trivia: Francis Scott Key was a poet and a lawyer. He wrote the words, but the music is from the British song, "To Anacreon in Heaven." Considering that the Battle of Fort McHenry was fought against the British, I consider swiping one of their songs for our national anthem was the ultimate in cheek.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

R Kelly is a punk bitch pedo who needs prison time, about 300 years of it. Actually just needs to be F@#$#d with a baseball bat and thrown off a cliff.

Anyways, I didn't see the fight but like TE, it pisses me off too.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

The real question is this.

What bloody promoter would hire a guy that sings for 15 yo prosti-tots to sing at professional boxing match aimed at older males? Seems like the guy wasn't thinking quite straight to begin with

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Exactly. Even considering him is totally tasteless.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

They should have hired "Motorhead".

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

was there a beat to the anthem that they danced to or something?

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

R. Kelly enjoys having sex with little girls and having them sniff blow off his cock on tape in addition to pissing on them on tape as well.

Do you really expect him to know better? He's more fit for the adult webmaster world than he is to be a singer.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

:-pearl:

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Good gawdamitey, has my father posted in this thread yet?

No, wait - his rant was about a Jose Feliciano version of the Star Spangled Banner done during the 1968 World Series.

To quote John Prine - "The faces change, the lines all stay the same."

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Ummm he did it with a latin dance beat ....

:(

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

We need to hear the Ricky Martin version!

http://oprano.com/msgboard/images/smilies/dance.gif


Or maybe not ...

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

The people in the ring were dancing EXACTLY like that smiley...EXACTLY

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

I am so fucking against that shit, and you know the motherfucker is gonna tweak out some day and pull some sick shit out but the 2nd post (this one) caught me as being a little funny; given the context....

I was thinking.. I am so pissed that motherfucker got off. Literally, my first thought when I saw the name R. Kelly - and I haven't read all this thread yet...

Kind of Ironic though, given what he was supposedly busted for was pissing on an under 18 teen. Our country is so far from perfect, and it seems more and more as the years go on the rich are getting off over and over. Richard Blake being the most significant recently.

Anyone ever seen Runaway Jury? I was watching that recently tonight as well which actually sort of fits into this conversation, life can be full of irony...

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

I don't like R. Kelly.

I don't like his music, and I don't like anything he presumes to represent.

It's still amazing to me, however, how many people are willing to get their panties in a knot over something so abso-fukin-lutley insignificant as who sang the National Anthem at a fucking boxing match, or how he sang it.

Like I said, I remember my old man going ballistic because Jose Feliciano didn't attempt to play it the way everybody else does almost 40 years ago. We went fifteen rounds over the Jimi Hendrix version too, btw. There was a similar controversy 20-some-years ago when Marvin Gaye sang it at an NBA event - playoffs or All-Star game, I can't remember which.

I have never understood why they play the fucker at athletic events anyway. Never understood the patriotic value of watching grown men hit balls with sticks, hit each other while running full-tilt carrying a piece of pigskin, or bounced a funny orange ball around a court that it far too small for them. And have you ever noticed the way an American crowd acts at a hockey game when the Canadian anthem is played? Oh, yeah - a lot of respect for other anthems indeed.

They can’t prove when the R. Kelly video was made. I realize that moralistic pornographers caught up in the heat of the moment can forget that we live under a system of laws that sometimes means the guilty escape justice – and the rich guilty escape it more of the than the rest of them. "The rich get off for crimes that poor people get convicted of" is about as newsworthy (or new information) as "dog bites mailman" or "politician lies." Only difference in the last 30 years are so is that justice has become color blind.

You either got the green, or you don't.

And please - has anybody been to an athletic event in, oh, say the last twenty fucking years? I certainly have, and I can guaran-gawdam-tee you that 50% or less of the crowd bothers with the custom of putting their hand over their heart, let alone removing a cap, during the butchering of the National Anthem.

I'm not defending R. Kelly. I didn't see the event, so I can't support an opinion either way.

But good grief, people - it's a fucking boxing match.

They cheapened the National Anthem by playing it there.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

It's amazing to me that you took the effort to type all that just to explain you are amazed people give a shit :p

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

seriously.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

The Jimi Hendrix version is still the best.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

WTF?? Unfricking believeable!!

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

well DON KING would say


OOOOOONLY in AMERICA

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

That was one amazing performance.

My reaction is based on how I was raised. The "social rules," if you will, that were taught when I was in school, and for generations before me. I have no idea exactly when it broke down, but break down it did. :(

I've never seen the way an American crowd acts at a hockey game, at least not for 20 some odd years when I watched hockey with my father. I do feel, however, that if the Canadian anthem isn't met with respect, the Canadian hockey team should be allowed to pile into the audience and start taking people out with their handy wooden sticks.

We're supposed to care. It's wrong to stop caring just because a shitload of other people don't. That's how we end up with people like this asshole singing the national anthem to a...I can't BELIEVE this part..."Latin beat." (I'm generally very much in favor of Latin beats, by the way. Just...not here.)

I'm having another one of my "I'm glad my parents didn't live to see *this*" moments. I fucking hate those and they're coming faster and harder as time passes.

Ryan..I've seen "Runaway Jury." Liked the movie, loved the book. I generally end up reading books first, which sometimes makes it difficult to watch the movie "inspired" by it.

Trivia for Ryan: I read "The Grapes of Wrath" shortly before catching the old Henry Fonda movie on television. I was stunned to find it beginning just about word for word as the book. They had to leave out the last scene from the book, of course. Most definitely would NOT have gotten that one past the censors. I doubt they could even do it today. But, the last decent script writer left Hollywood a long time ago and forgot to turn off the lights.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

> PornoDoggy, listening closely to the voices in his head, scurries quickly over to Rhapsody to download some Who <

... hope I die before I get old ...

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Define "old."

Age is just a state of mind....

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Seriously, folks, I want to apologize for being insensitive.

I think anyone who is offended by the R. Kelly performance of the Star Spangled Banner should write to the boxing promoter, the hotel in Vegas where the performace took place, and to the artist himself and complain about his disrespect.

Sample complaint letters can be found right here

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

:bustingup

One of your better shots, PD, and that's saying something! :okthumb:

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Now, that wasn't intended as a shot ... that was offered as a public service :whistling

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

:kiss:

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

PornoDoggy
The wall of China
Sarettah
Stone Henge
Morgan
Rome
Serge
etc. :p

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Not bad. :)

That got you points. :)

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

No, that's pretty much an American (US) thing.

Here we just stand, those who actually know the words sing along, and after it's done playing we all clap our hands like idiots.




If they didn't play the national anthem at sporting events some people would never ever hear it.

It's played during the Olympics for each country, as well as world soccer games where teams represent their countries, so I suppose it just carried over to all other sports.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

I don't think the Jose' Feliciano analogy is completely correct. It's not the fact that the song was changed. It's who they picked to sing it that I find offensive. The man is a child molester for fuck's sake. In this country, even if it's just a boxing match, being asked to sing the National Anthem for a media event is considered, by most Americans, an honor and you would think that the promoters would have put some thought into who they hired.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Spot on Red .. choosing a pedo to sing the national anthem is just disgusting.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Easy come, easy go :okthumb:

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Awww...c'mon, sarettah. Somebody has to teach the younguns. :)

Not only was it a nice historical treat...it showed why I think you and PD are so hot. I've always liked older men. :yowsa:

*thinking*

And...younger men, come to think about it. And men my same age.

OK, so there wasn't much of a point there after all. :)

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

the fact that someone who is being charged with fucking a 14 yr old and producing child porn is singing the national anthem on tv. thats disturbing.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

Yeah, it's really hurt his record sales, hasn't it.

Re: I'm not an American but....
 

"And the children call him famous,
what the old men call insane"

:okthumb: