# Chants during the anthem **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 30, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925 "2015-04-30T21:01:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/1 "2015-04-30T21:01:56Z")
Hey everyone! I know I’m rarely here any more but when I want to have something answered, who am I gonna call? Ghostbusters! But their number was disconnected ☹ so I figured SDMB was the next best thing Anyone know of a list compiled online anywhere of “alterations” (not quite the right word) to the national anthem by sports fans? For example, Orioles fans yelling “O”, Braves fans yelling “Braves” (for “brave”), Winnipeg Jets fans yelling “True North”, etc? I wouldn’t even know what Google search terms to use I’m that lost in ways to research this. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/2 "2015-04-30T21:09:50Z")
I’m not the most patriotic guy in the world, but I don’t like it. Orioles fans will also do it at Nationals Park when there are enough of them. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/3 "2015-04-30T21:13:20Z")
KC Chiefs fans yell “chiefs!” instead of “brave” during the anthem. So it’s “…and the home of the Chiefs!” Not everyone approves. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/4 "2015-04-30T21:30:33Z")
Oh I’m not saying I approve or that it’s a good thing to do. It’s just that it is a thing, and I’m kind of curious if someone has compiled them somewhere, or written about them in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/5 "2015-04-30T22:32:26Z")
At Dallas Stars games **STAR** get highly emphasized during the anthem. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/6 "2015-05-01T01:28:17Z")
There was a baseball team that had a star player named Jose (I don’t think it was Canseco), whose crowd would yell “Jose!” in place of “Oh, say” at the start of the final verse. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/7 "2015-05-01T11:49:41Z")
At the Caps hockey games, “RED” is yelled as well as “Oh”. I think the latter comes from Baltimore fans but in some creative back-explanations people try to say it is “O” for Ovechkin. My wife is in a women’s chorus that sometimes sings the anthem at local sporting events. They are generally warned by the staff to not be startled by the crowd yelling “Oh”. This warning was given at a George Mason University basketball game and at a DC United pro soccer game. As above, I think it is just something that spread from the Baltimore baseball team since the cities are less than an hour’s drive apart. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/8 "2015-05-01T12:39:08Z")
The Baltimorons (hey it’s what we called them I didn’t make it up) would yell O during the anthem at University of Maryland games when I was there. It didn’t make any sense. I suppose it was because there were no lyrics that mentioned turtles. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/9 "2015-05-01T12:44:23Z")
New York Red Bulls fans yell RED! really loud for the rocket’s red glare part. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/10 "2015-05-01T19:57:34Z")
Here is the proof that even at an O’s game in which attendance is zero, [“O!” will be shouted during the National Anthem](https://twitter.com/FitzFox5DC/status/593476639603961856/video/1). Just as the universe intended. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/11 "2015-05-02T18:50:49Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > I’m not the most patriotic guy in the world, but I don’t like it. Orioles fans will also do it at Nationals Park when there are enough of them. I’d identify myself as pretty patriotic, and also as an Orioles fan, and I don’t care for it either. But I’m never gonna win that argument. ---
**Author:** ![cardinal\_fang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal_fang/32/15316_2.png) [@cardinal\_fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cardinal_fang)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/12 "2015-05-03T03:07:06Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > New York Red Bulls fans yell RED! really loud for the rocket’s red glare part. Calgary Flames fans yell over the words “see” and “red” in the American national anthem as tribute to the “C of Red” (the “sea” of fans wearing red home jerseys that make up the crowd). ETA: The “C” is also the “flaming C” that makes up the team logo. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/13 "2015-05-05T03:40:55Z")
I guess I’m not patriotic at all. I keep trying to get people around me to sing [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxHnXajIex4) version, like my friends and I do at every game we attend. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/14 "2015-05-09T03:51:18Z")
“The Star-Spangled Banner” is always sung properly in Cleveland, from what I’ve observed. But while singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch, the lyrics are often altered from "“If they don’t win it’s a shame” to “If they don’t win it’s the same.” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/15 "2015-05-09T15:27:52Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > I’m not the most patriotic guy in the world, but I don’t like it. Orioles fans will also do it at Nationals Park when there are enough of them. Every once in awhile, a solitary Os fan will do it at Nats Park and everyone kind of looks at him like he’s crazy. At the little league park near the Hall of Fame, they make a point of asking fans from yelling out any stuff like that during the anthem. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/16 "2015-05-09T16:34:12Z")
If too many people add the missing cymbal crashing sounds to the National Anthem at the base movie theatre, the Base Commander will send a nastygram to all units on the base the next day. At least, that’s how it worked at Governor’s Island when it was a Coast Guard command. Don’t ask me how I know. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chants-during-the-anthem/718925/17 "2015-05-09T18:23:28Z")
The United Center crowd at Blackhawks games cheer loudly through the entire anthem.