By Elaine Carlson

"Playing the 'Star-Spangled Banner' at sporting events has become an empty gesture of patriotism – so empty that, when the NBA's Dallas Mavericks quietly began skipping the ritual, 13 preseason and regular-season games passed before anyone noticed." (Jamele Hill, "Atlantic," 2/14/2021)

Hill said that the day after she wrote about those 13 games the NBA announced that because of "longstanding league policy" all of their teams must play the National Anthem before their games. The Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban said that team will comply with the NBA directive.

"But the Mavericks should have held their ground," Hill said, "because playing the anthem shouldn't be a pregame ritual in American sports. Not during a time when many people --- including many athletes of color --- are deeply uncomfortable with how patriotic symbols have been weaponized to undermine and diminish the humanity of Black and brown Americans."

Hill said that for Black people "the anthem has always represented the nation's hypocrisy more so than its promise."

She states that Francis Scott Key, the author of the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner, was a slave owner who once said the Africans who lived in America were "a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community."

In an interview on ESPN's The Jump (February 10) Cuban said "… during the first preseason game, we [he and his team] decided to not play it and just see what the response was, knowing we were going to have ongoing conversations about it."

New Orleans Pelicans Head Coach Stan Van Gundy praised Cuban and the Maverick's action and said, "This should happen everywhere."

"What good reason is there to play the anthem before a game?" Van Gundy asked. "If you think that the anthem needs to be played before sporting events, then play it before every movie, concert, church service and the start of every work day at every business."

Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick seemed to be speaking directly to Cuban when he publicly said, "Your decision to cancel our National Anthem … is a slap in the face to every American & an embarrassment to Texas."

"It is hard to believe this could happen in Texas," Patrick said, "but Mark Cuban's actions of yesterday made it clear that we must specify that in Texas we play the national anthem before all major events."

Patrick supports a bill which will require the National Anthem to be played before games for any team which receives public funding. The bill is referred to as "The Star Spangled Banner Preservation Act."

"In this time when so many things divide us, sports are one things that bring us together --- right, left, black, white, brown. This legislation already enjoys broad support," Patrick said. "I am certain it will pass, and the Star-Spangled Banner will not be threatened in the Long Star State again."

What will happen if professional sports teams don't have to play the National Anthem?

Maybe teams can play other songs. It should be easy enough for teams to find crowd-pleasing songs – defined here as songs more popular than the Star Spangled Banner.

A good choice for a baseball game would be "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." We should expect that every time it is played some people in the stands will say, "We are already here. How can we be taken out to the ball game?" But then you can never control all variables and it has become our nation's favorite baseball song since it was introduced in 1908.

Maybe before a rodeo their promoters could decide to play "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys." At least starting the show with that song would put everyone in a happy mood for when the Rodeo Cowboys ride out into the field. I think it would be a better selection than something from Aaron Copland's ballet.

Maybe an even better replacement would be "This Land is Your Land." Woody Guthrie's song is easier to sing and the lyrics are much better than Francis Scott Key's song.

"From California to New York Island" and "As I went walking that ribbon of highway; I saw above me that endless skyway; I saw below me that golden valley" give homage to our country --- to our land.

Hill in her article in the Atlantic quotes the second half of the third verse of the Star Spangled Banner: "No refuge could save the hireling and slave, from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave." Hill said that lyric "has been interpreted as mocking or threatening the Black people who escaped their enslavers and fought for the British [in the War of 1812]."

There are a lot of possibilities. Maybe the team could hire strolling musicians playing different kind of instruments --- perhaps bagpipes, fifes, and trumpets.

Also the teams could decide to just have a game and no song in an Opening Act. But I guess the teams want there to be something going on when the people come into the stadium and are going to their seats.

The choices for the teams are not infinite or endless but still there is a lot they could do and end up with a good game day experience for everyone.