I'm not an American but....

[TheEnforcer]

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

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

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

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.

[voodooman]

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.

[CDSmith]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

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

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.

[Red]

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.

[PornoDoggy]

Originally Posted by Red

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.

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

[sarettah]

Originally Posted by PornoDoggy

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

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

[RyanLanane]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

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

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...