Here ’s How Standing for the National Anthem Became Part of U.S. Sports Tradition

Over the weekend, following President Trump’s continued criticism of athletes choosing to protest by kneeling during the national anthem, NFL players across the country were faced with the question of what to do while “The Star-Spangled Banner” played before the game. More than 200 players chose to sit or kneel. But how did the national anthem become such an integral part of professional sporting events in the U.S.? “The earliest documented performance [of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at a baseball game] occurred on May 15, 1862, during the opening game played at Union Base Ball and Cricket Grounds in Brooklyn, New York,” Marc Ferris writes in Star-Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America’s National Anthem. But as he later explained to NPR, hiring a band was a big enough cost that the anthem was saved for “special occasions” like opening day. One famous example of this kind of special occasion was the first game of the World Series on Sept. 5, 1918. Americans were so rattled by World War I that the game “almost didn’t happen,” according to the World War I Centennial Commission. “Out of respect for the soldiers, baseball officials wanted to cancel the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. When it became known, however, that American soldiers fighting in France were eager to know the Series’ results, the games commenced.” (On a more local level, Chicagoan...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized protest Sports Source Type: news