Yeah, it’s not about baseball not directly at least.
I just wanted to give mad props to the Swedish hockey team for pulling out a victory against the Finnish team to get the gold. You see, I’m of Swedish descent and my family never let me forget it. So when I see a Swedish team/athlete in the Olympics, I’m always pulling for ’em.
Today, their hockey team certainly didn’t disappoint with a come from behind win to win it all.
One thing I noticed during the medal ceremonies (which I admit, get me a tad emotional) was how every Swedish player was singing the Swedish national anthem. I don’t mean moving their lips and hoping someone doesn’t notice that they’re faking it. They were actually singing it.
Why don’t the American athletes do that? For that matter, why do the majority of American citizens in general avoid singing the Star Spangled Banner in favor of letting the performer sing it for them?
Those who know me are probably a bit surprised to read this. But yes, despite how I feel about the current state of the U.S government, I love the Star Spangled Banner. If more people would sing the words to the song (and more importantly, understand the context that they were written), they would have a greater appreciation for the freedoms we still have.
Two years ago at a baseball game, (see, here comes the baseball part), I was incredibly proud of my then 7 year old son who (with no prompting from me) stood up for our national anthem and took off his hat. Part of me wanted to run around get the attention of the annoying yuppies in our section still talking on their cell phones and point to my son and say, “THERE! That is what you should be doing now!”. Of course, I didn’t.
I’ll get off my soapbox now.