Ellsworth

Top sports news of the week: Michael Strahan doesn't place his hand over his heart for the Star Spangled Banner and people get upset.

https://fanbuzz.com/nfl/nfl-legend-m...tional-anthem/

I attended my first baseball game last summer, it was a Major League game.
The wind up for the first pitch is amazing.
Lights, music, the crowd, the excitement, the build up right before the game felt like a giant house party or giant rave (I've never been to a rave, so I imagine the communal party atmosphere).

I got so dang mesmerized / overwhelmed that the next thing I know the Star Spangled Banner is playing and I'm sitting down with my hat on and a beer in my hand.
I have all sorts of excuses, such as there didn't seem to be a legible transition into the song, I noticed people getting up but there didn't seem to be a unifying direction, et cetera.
I manage to sort myself out about half way through the song and yet I felt like a disgrace.

I felt so upset about that experience that I went back to another game just so I could be 100% ready to get it right.

On that second trip to the Baseball stadium, I knew exactly where the flag was before walking in.
I was so cognitively engaged in the minutia that I noticed the plainclothes lady walking the stadium's aisles with the 'wrong' lens' (it was a nifty-fifty).
I was Harry Houdini expecting a punch, ready for anything. And no one can keep that up non-stop.

My stand up for the Anthem was spot on, I bowed my head, and clasped my hands in front of me, similar to what Micheal Strahan did.

There are three reasons I adopt that posture.
1) A gesture of loyalty to the country and respect those who have served.
2) The Flag Act of 1942.
3) I was almost expelled from either 2nd or 3rd grade for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
It was the very first year that the pledge became 'mandatory' in my school district (iirc it was a statewide change).
I marched to class that first day and explained to the teacher that the Pledge of Allegiance is a contract and as a minor I cannot legally enter into a contract.
After that I offered to discuss the nature of actions taken under duress, elements that invalidate a contract, et cetera.

Eventually negotiations lead to an agreement where I'd stand and do nothing more.

I have respect* for Micheal Strahan's position because he'd likely respect mine.

I have respect* for Micheal Strahan's position if only because, this is America and it's what we're supposed to do.

I have respect* for Micheal Strahan's position, because I can imagine the inter-generational complexity to his position, within the State's standard frameworks of paradoxes and contradictions.
(Paradoxes and contradictions exist within every States functional system, arguably they often are the grease promoting functionality and that sort of solution is often part of the problem)
Phrased another way, I imagine that 4 generations ago his ancestors stood as slaves on U.S. soil. And that can be very difficult to reconcile/process.

This is America, anyone is allowed to be a critic and allowed to voice judgement, it's so easy in fact it's often done without much thought and without many facts.

*Definition: "To avoid interfering with or intruding upon."

Edited to add:

https://www.legion.org/advocacy/flag...-of-allegiance
https://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance

https://www.usa.gov/flag
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States
https://www.americanhistory.si.edu/e...flag-means-you
https://www.pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/history/old-glory/

I just watched Biden on TV, lay a wreath upon the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
It's a moving and meaningful ceremony, regardless of whether it's democrat or republican hands that are carrying the wreath.
May everyone have a meaningful and contemplative Veteran's day.