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TIME FOR CHIEFS' FANS TO SHOW PATRIOTISM BY
SINGING NATIONAL ANTHEM RESPECTFULLY
October 2006
By John Landsberg
I fully admit, I just don’t get it. And I probably never will.
The great and mighty National Football League announces at the start of this
season that “Rock and Roll, Part II,” the “Hey!” song written by old rocker
Gary Glitter should be banned from all games.
Why? Because Glitter is a convicted child molester and is currently serving
three years in a prison in Vietnam.
The NFL was so offended by this musical pervert that it took this major stand
against his music. Ignore the fact that virtually no one knew who Gary Glitter
was, nor cared.
A rock star picked up for a crime? And in other news the sky is blue and water
is still wet. But the NFL will never let a good PR issue be missed. Let’s face
it, not many folks are FOR child molestation.
Forget about all the drugs, gambling, half-naked cheerleaders and current and
formal criminals in the NFL. Dammit, let’s focus on something really
important: a silly song. And our stand will show that the NFL is firmly
against child molesters.
Even the Chiefs laughed it off and—with the NFL’s blessing--- began playing
the same song just by a cover group. It does raise the question: Doesn’t Gary
the pervert get paid even when a cover group does his songs? Who cares? The
NFL got some good PR over the whole thing. Let’s move on…
Forget Gary Glitter. Where I have a legitimate problem at Chiefs’ games is the
unpatriotic yelling of “Home of the CHIEFS!!” at the conclusion of the
National Anthem instead of “Home of the BRAVE!!” Changing the words of the
Anthem is an insult to all veterans and those currently serving their country.
Nothing personal, but the Chiefs’ players aren’t “brave.” They aren’t leaving
their families and risking their lives to defend our country. Our soldiers
risk their lives for near-welfare wages while pro footballers are playing a
game and getting paid millions of dollars to do so. Ask any NFL player to go
out and just play for free for the love of the game. Stop laughing.
Didn’t Pat Tillman show us the difference between an athlete and a soldier?
There is a big difference between a game and a firefight, between catching a
pass and a bullet. Right after 9/11 the Arrowhead faithful stopped singing the
Anthem wrong. It lasted about one game.
Of all the leagues, the NFL loves to wrap itself around the flag and
patriotism. It loves those military flyovers prior to games. League officials
can’t wait to unfurl American flags during halftime festivities. They love to
have Honor Guards march out on the field.
But of all the dumb things done by sports fans that I have witnessed over the
years, the disrespect shown to our National Anthem at Arrowhead Stadium is the
worst. And this practice has even filtered down to some high school games in
the area. Heck, you’ll hear idiots at Starlight Theatre yell it before shows.
Instead of the NFL brass focusing on some aging pervert rock star nobody knew
existed, why don’t they just come out with an edict that the National Anthem
must be sung properly? Is that too much to ask?
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