by Joe Siano
In a nod to diversity and social justice,
the National Football League announced plans to include the “Black National
Anthem” before Game 1 this season. I
doubt that an OTO playing will suffice. Tt will soon be part of the regular
rotation.
Like 500 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean, this
might be a “good start” but it falls well short of true inclusiveness.
Wikipedia cites players from over 20
different non-U.S. nations competing in the NFL. Imagine how these honest, work-seeking
immigrants feel to have their homelands, of which they are justly proud,
ignored.
The 2 Percenter hereby proposes that the NFL
play the anthem of every nationality represented on the game-day rosters
of each team on the field.
Similar to the NFL, Major League Baseball
boasts players from over 20 countries.
Regular fans will correctly expect a strong Latino and Asian
flavor. Players from these nations surely
deserve equal anthem recognition as their native-born teammates.
Anthem acknowledgement within the truly global
sports the of hoops, hockey and soccer will surely expand the political and
cultural horizons of your typical beer guzzling fan.
The NHL features the world’s best hockey
talent with players from 29 nations beyond its traditional Canadian and U.S.
roots. At the start of the 2016-17 NBA sported athletes from 41 nations and
territories.
Major League Soccer has featured players
from a stunning 141 different countries.
Wow, that’s a lot of anthems for the local high school marching band to
learn.
Now, to make this a truly immersive
cultural experience, I suggest that each anthem be followed with a brief 30 second
video extolling the virtues of that nation.
Thus, a simple “ball game’ blossoms into a wondrous, multi-cultural
kaleidoscope that awakens hearts and minds and demolishes ethnic, cultural and
linguistic barriers.
Of course, players from belligerent nations
may be present concurrently. Likewise,
there may be players who hold a grievance with the ruling regime in their
homeland. In either event, these players
will be free to kneel or make other gesture of protest during the
offending anthem. The aggrieved parties will be given
opportunity to post their objections on their respective league’s social media pages. These protests will also be projected to the crowd
on the in-stadium message boards during stoppages in play.
Or, we could forego anthem(s) altogether and get
on with the freakin’ game.
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