I know it's late, but I can't sleep until I do some venting.
So, I'm a big fan of the Winter Olympics. I have loved the skating for quite some time, but I also appreciate the other events and have watched most of them (and thanks to CNBC, I've probably seen more curling than any human should).
While I'm generally an Olympics fan, here is my #1 beef: Why don't Americans sing the national anthem? In the last couple of days, I have seen Canadian gold medal winners burst into rousing renditions of "O Canada" while the crowd joins in. I know that the Olympics are in Canada, which means that there are more people who might know that particular anthem, and I know that our national anthem can be difficult to sing, but I really don't understand why American athletes, as a whole do not sing. I know there is a lot of emotion, and maybe people just get too choked up to sing. That makes sense, I guess, but I wanted to get to the heart of this matter.
I really wanted to find out if any of the Olympic gold medalists sang the anthem, so I watched the medal ceremonies for each of the seven American gold medalists. Here are my findings:
1. Four of the seven had their hands over their hearts during the national anthem (but one also did some air guitar, so I don't know if that cancels out the reverence).
2. Two non-gold medalists who lost the gold to a fellow American sang along with "The Star Spangled Banner."
3. ONLY ONE gold medalist sang the national anthem, and that was Mr. Seth Wescott, who won in men's snowboard cross. Seth, if you are reading this blog (and I'm sure you are), I salute you. I am making you my honorary blog mascot for the rest of the month.
So there you have it. Six in seven gold medalists do not sing the national anthem, and I am not sure why. I know there will probably be more Americans who will win gold before the week is through, so if you are one of them, or if you're planning on winning a gold medal for anything (even if it's most punctual in your office) in the future, please sing along with the national anthem, unless you have a really good excuse not to do so. If you don't, I'll be ticked.
3 comments:
I've noticed that too. I don't have the numbers, but I've noticed that a lot of them don't put their hand over their heart either. Makes you wonder about our athlete's national pride.
I have noticed the same thing. I was really disappointed in them for not singing our national anthem!
Stash: It seems like a lot of people don't do the hand on the heart anymore. I don't know why. Maybe people think they're too cool to do that or something. I think we need to give athletes (and all Americans everywhere) a stern talking to!
Kera: Yeah, the not singing is pretty lame. Considering all of the the time and money the U.S. spends supporting its athletes (not to mention all of the freedom and stuff), you'd think they could at least sing the song!
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