Thought about this since the Trillbillies brought it up briefly on their latest podcast. I haven't been to too many sporting events in recent years but I typically do what Tonya does and just try to avoid being in the stands when the anthem plays. But I'll admit I'd probably be a coward in most situations and just stand anyway. At least if I'm there with other people. I feel like most Americans are afraid of confronting people but one exception is if people feel you're not showing proper respect to the civic religion or to the troops.

That said if I was at a sporting event by myself I'd probably just sit.

I just think it's fucked up how there is an expectation that at every sporting event US Americans are just expected to stand for the anthem and if you don't hooo boy you must be trouble.

  • Mother [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Comrade I was buying beer during the anthem before I became a leftist

  • jack [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I sit my ass down. I go to a lot of Browns games and never stand during the dumb song. Sometimes the crowd starts doing a U-S-A chant so I will usually chant along with XI-JIN-PING. No one gives a shit.

    • Lundi [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Feel like pro sports are way more accepting of this kind of stuff. In collegiate athletics, chuds run wild and if you try this shit you’re pretty much painting a target on your back.

      • regul [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Very glad I went to a school with an actual leftist tradition so this shit didn't happen to me at football games. I sit for the anthem.

        • Lundi [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Damn, I’m curious to know which school you went to that has a leftist tradition.

            • Lundi [none/use name]
              ·
              3 years ago

              oh lol Michigan is identical to Berkeley in every way esp in its libleft tradition but it takes its handegg very seriously so it attracts literally every hog in the state.

              • regul [any]
                ·
                3 years ago

                Yeah the only people who are Cal football fans are :sicko-yes: like me.

  • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Make loud fart noises through the whole anthem and pin it on the first person that gets mad about it.

    Either that or start playing the patriotism card and say "It's my god-given right as a free American to sit and make fart sounds whenever I choose, commie!"

  • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I'm a white guy so I have carte blanche to do whatever, which means when the anthem plays my ass sits down. I get weird looks but that's it because this cursed country thinks I'm worth more than others.

  • read_freire [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I kneel. I have done this at rodeos in the deep south where the PA announcer explicitly calls out that he loves not seeing anyone kneeling.

    Folks might glare but no one's gonna do shit.

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    i treat it like a commercial break. last time i went to a big thing (major college basketball game), i just sat there and kept chatting with the person i was with. granted, i was clearly the oldest, hairiest, and frumpiest person in the seating area, which grants a little leeway in social situations if i don't make a scene.

    also, one of my philosophies in life is "don't stand when you can sit."

  • FunnyUsername [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    If I'm ever in a situation where the national anthem starts playing I just do what everyone around me is doing because I don't want to get killed by some hotdog-skinned chuds

  • Lundi [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    When you’re an immigrant you have to keep your head down and take part in the fascist pageantry unless you want to be targetted with all eyes aiming at you.

    i had season tix to the Brain blender sport in college. I think during the first game I stayed seated. I don’t think anyone said anything tome but I was paranoid enough to think someone would follow me home after the game and stab me.

    I started standing up for the remaining games because yes, I’m a coward.

  • spectre [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago
    • don't go in the first place cause most pro sporting events are way too over produced, and jam packed with corporate advertising and DoD funded propaganda.
    • usually a well timed bathroom break if I end up there anyway
    • just stand anyway to be polite but cringe the whole way through it
    • maybe keep sitting or something depending on who I'm with, and if I'm not in chudsville
  • Dirtbag [they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    I go get another beer. No one really notices / cares where I live.

    The couple times someone has complained, I just make up some shit about my dad being a soldier and describe in graphic detail how he died horribly until they shut up.

  • FuckingCouch [she/her,comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Typically, I time my bathroom breaks so that I'm in the can while the anthem's playing. Honestly, no one gives it a second thought and I see lots of other people using the toilets, so I don't think people even care about it.

  • AverageStudent [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Depends whether Iḿ looking for trouble or not. If Im trying to support someone at the event, I just stand quietly. Otherwise, I deliberately sing the words wrong, loudly enough that everyone around me can hear it.