I’m old enough to remember when movie theatres played the national anthem before movies. 
Thankfully they stopped that.
So, why do we need to hear the national anthem before sporting events? Especially, for example before hockey games in the states when 50% of the team is Canadian, 20% Swedish, 10% Czech, 10% Russian, and 10% American.
I say we abolish this immediately: who agrees?
Yeah! Fuck patriotism. It’s an outdated concept, at best.
At best! To hell with those jingoistic butt spelunkers!
I recently re-watched the beginning of Ken Burns’ *Baseball *a few weeks ago. They noted that during WWI, “The Star Spangled Banner” was played during the 7th inning of a game (forget what game/field) just as a show of patriotism and to remember the people fighting. It’s been a part of baseball ever since.
So, since baseball is the “American pastime” and other sports followed (except hockey, which didn’t follow baseball in America but it is the Canadian pastime) it stands to reason that playing the national anthem before the game just became the tradition of how sporting events are to go, and that’s the way it is.
How’s it work in the UK? Any anthems for cricket matches?
As has been pointed out, it’s an artifact of WWI.
I agree that it’s a silly waste of time. Patriotism is fine, but I don’t stand for the anthem every time a movie starts, or every time I go to see a play. They don’t play the anthem before operas or ballets. Best Buy doesn’t start the business day with a rousing rendition of the anthem of whatever country the store is in.
But suggest doing away with it and you’ll get asshole responses a-plenty.
It gets awkward with British teams in international competition. Because God Save the Queen is the British anthem, English teams in some sports don’t use it, and other songs are used for Scotland, Wales & N Ireland. See List of national anthems - Wikipedia
The England-Liechtenstein football match was amusing - both anthems use the same tune.
The late Bill Veeck said in his autobiography (Veeck as in Wreck, with Ed Linn), "Look, we play the national anthem before every game. You think we should pay taxes too?
Heh, in the mists of time when I was a student (St. Andrews) the dreadful “God Save the Queen” thing was sometimes played at the end of Student Union discos for the very sane reason that it worked as a way of getting people to clear off and go home. I’m pretty sure that by then the practice of playing in it cinemas had ceased, so it was certainly just a means of getting us to sod off. 
They played the SSB over the intercom every morning when I was in elementary school.
I don’t mind it at the beginning of a game, it’s part of the pageantry of the start of the game. But the dreadful “God Bless America” that the Yankees have that wailing tenor do in the seventh inning stretch is horrible.
And does anyone else notice that it gets longer and longer the better the opposing pitcher is doing.
Yes, I’m a Red Sox fan.
They used to play the anthem before movies? That boggles the mind.
The SSB before a game came out of WWII and is a baseball tradition that caught on. The “God Bless America” in the 7th inning was added after September 11.
Somewhat off-topic, but I went to an Oakland A’s game (that location is relevant) agains soem crap team in the middle of the year a year or two ago, and we were there early and getting kind of restless. The PA piped up, “And now, please rise” :sigh: “for the singing of our National Anthem” :yawn: “as performed by HUEY LEWIS!” :Buh?:
The music started, but we couldn’t see Huey out on the field or anything. Turns out, they used a gorram recording of Huey Lewis singing the anthem. Apparently they couldn’t find a single soul in the East Bay who could and would sing the National Anthem at a Major League Baseball game.
Getting rid of them would make me sad, because I enjoy the Canadian national anthem and don’t have many other opportunities to hear it.
Do the play the NA at the beginning of pro football games? I’ve never been to one in person, and while it’s ordinary to see the teams line up in baseball to hear it (this often gets included in the TV broadcasts), I don’t remember ever seeing the NA televised in an NFL game (though admittedly, I don’t watch them that often).
I’m reminded of the Cheers episode where Carla is mourning her dead boyfriend who was a hockey goalie. She plays “their song” on a tape recorder–it’s “O Canada.”
Being Canadian, I can understand where Leaffan is coming from. At games of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Argonauts, Calgary Stampeders, and Edmonton Eskimos that I’ve been to, the Canadian fans stand there, ball cap on their heads, cup of beer in one hand, mumbling the words of “O Canada” (which may have changed last week by an act of Parliament) while a recording plays. If we’re lucky, somebody sings it. But overall, it’s a waste of time; let’s get to the game we paid to see.
However, I’ve also been to see an NFL game in Denver. I must say, I was impressed with the opening ceremonies–the Colorado Air National Guard doing a flypast, a color guard from the US Air Force Academy, and 70,000 Americans hatless with their hands over their hearts, all singing. It was a very different experience for this Canadian, and it seemed to be very important to the crowd.
Perhaps we shouldn’t answer the OP’s question with a single, all-encompassing reason. Perhaps instead, it should be looked at on an “arena/stadium by arena/stadium” basis. If the people really don’t care, as at Toronto’s Skydome (it will never be the “Rogers’ Centre” to me), then drop it. But if they do care, as at Invesco Field at Mile High, then keep it. Ultimately, I’m a sports fan; as long as they show me a game sometime, then I’m happy.
For international matches, national anthems are great. Otherwise, I’d like to see them dumped.
I’m the arena announcer for our local junior college’s basketball teams, so I listen to the Star-Sprinkled Bernanner about four times a week during the winter months. I’m of two minds. One thing it does (patriotism and nationalism aside) is provide an official end to pre-game activities. After 20 minutes of warmups, crowd milling about, assorted announcements to please use the trash cans, etc., we get down to business; we play the NA, introduce the starters and tip the ball in fairly rapid sequence.
On the other hand, when we have special events at a game, the NA is an awkward stopping point that kind of brings things to a screeching halt. We’ve had pre-game festivities that would have blended nicely into the lineup intros and tipoff, but the momentum of the event died when we had to stop, stand, sing – and then try to crank the enthusiasm back up. The AD tried to dispense with the NA a time or two in those cases, but caught so much flack that we always use it now.
I say, use it when it has production value; otherwise, fuhgeddaboudit.
I’m not sure if it’s their national anthem, but in Bangkok they play something before a movie, and the screen shows picutres of the current leader throughout his life- pretty neat actually. Maybe it was just a tribute to him because he was really old at the time. But Thai or not, you WILL stand quitely while it is going on- they have guys in theatre to make sure you do.
And yeah, the anthem before a sporting event is stupid and pointless, as are the people in the crowd who give you dirty looks or a drunken browbeating if you don’t pay attention, don’t doff your cap, don’t put your hand over your heart, keep talking, etc.