National anthem

[Smitty]

Long time reader, small time poster....

Has anyone given a thought to whether the taking a knee protest will spread to college bball? Not seeing it in football yet. Do college coaches wield more influence over the players so they can prevent it? What if MU players did it?

[2012Warrior]

Nigel Hayes had his own form of protest last year by standing behind the line of teammates. I think a few others did that as well.

[MayorBeluga]

Can we, as a society, please, please, please keep politics out of sport? Can't we have anywhere to escape from it? I know, it's like asking for a magic potion made from unicorn farts, but a Mayor can dream.

[Smitty]

Can we, as a society, please, please, please keep politics out of sport? Can't we have anywhere to escape from it? I know, it's like asking for a magic potion made from unicorn farts, but a Mayor can dream.

I hear ya, mayor.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Can we, as a society, please, please, please keep politics out of sport? Can't we have anywhere to escape from it? I know, it's like asking for a magic potion made from unicorn farts, but a Mayor can dream.

If you want politics out of sports, stop playing the national anthem. It's basically a mandated political statement to start every sporting event. And as you can't legally compel people to adhere to specific political beliefs, we will have politics in sport as long as we have both the national anthem played and the Constitution existent.

[MUBasketball]

If you want politics out of sports, stop playing the national anthem. It's basically a mandated political statement to start every sporting event. And as you can't legally compel people to adhere to specific political beliefs, we will have politics in sport as long as we have both the national anthem played and the Constitution existent.

Interesting. I never really gave it any thought but now I am questioning it -- why is the national anthem played before sporting events? Kind of strange when you think about it.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Interesting. I never really gave it any thought but now I am questioning it -- why is the national anthem played before sporting events? Kind of strange when you think about it.

The Chicago Cubs started it in the 1918 World Series and it grew from there.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/sto...-sports-215646

Outside US sports, the only time anthems are typically played is for international competitions like Olympics or the World Cup. But here, sports and politics have often been closely linked. Jesse Owens, Tommie Smith, Muhammed Ali, the Olympic Boycott, the Miracle on Ice, the NFL delaying the season after 9-11, Pat Tillman, the military paying the NFL to have players on the field for the anthem starting in 2009 as a recruiting strategy, Kaepernick's knee, even yesterday's FBI investigation of NCAA basketball recruiting, it's very interesting just how indivisible sports and politics are in this country.

[TheSultan]

Long time reader, small time poster....

Has anyone given a thought to whether the taking a knee protest will spread to college bball? Not seeing it in football yet. Do college coaches wield more influence over the players so they can prevent it? What if MU players did it?

Yes. Pro players have economic options that college players do not. And professional coaches are way down on the "control freak scale" compared to most college coaches.

[TheSultan]

And no...we can't keep politics out of sport. Never have, never will.

[TedBaxter]

And no...we can't keep politics out of sport. Never have, never will.

Can we keep the political topics off of a designated basketball message board like this one?