I've never really gotten the significance of National Anthems. And I've especially never understood why they are played at sporting events like prior to each and every hockey game.
What has patriotism got to do with Professional Sports?
Thankfully most TV networks insert a commercial spot when the anthem is played. They know most people would prefer watching that than the 8153rd time in their lives they have heard the anthem.
And when they don't, I fast forward through it.
Playing the anthem so often cheapens its value. I pity the players, they have to listen to this thing before every game. I assume they learn to tune it out as their careers progress and switch to thinking about their investment portfolios.
Quite often the singer is some amateur wanting a jump start to his or her career and of course the anthem gets botched. The best anthems are the screw ups, people forgetting the words or, hopelessly out of key. Those anthems are entertaining at least.
I think we should just sing these anthems at Government Celebrations and Functions like Canada Day or Victoria Day or Civil Servant Funerals or Citizenship ceremonies, or the first day of school, something like that.
Keep nationalism out of professional sports. And lets put a cap on how often we hear it. Really, it's not that great a tune.
