I realise that we’re probably past the window of people freaking out about the anthem during sporting events. During this very beautiful and moving anthem by Chris Stapleton where images were filled with Old Glory and even players tearing up, I noticed something odd at the end. I had to confirm it was accurate but it seems a strong contingent of the crowd shouted ” home of the …..CHIEFS” in place of the normal lyrics, taking me out of that beautiful moment. I’m curious what other American reactions were, or even if anyone noticed. Should this be acceptable etiquette?
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It’s a song (and not even a good one). Do what you want.
this is common at a lot of sporting events, and my take is: I do not care if the dignity of the national anthem is sullied by people, even chiefs fans, bellowing out different lyrics.
That’s pretty common at major sporting events. Screaming out something in the middle of the anthem would be a dick head move though.
Extra points if you sing the Enrico Pallazo version from Naked Gun.
No
I’d put it in the same category as American flag swim trunks. technically not proper flag etiquette, but it’s not intended to be disrespectful to the source material. “rules” regarding the national anthem or the flag should always be optional & up for interpretation.
Personally I wouldn’t. but I don’t really care if others do.
Being forced to stick to the script of the anthem is disrespectful to the message of the anthem.
I don’t care at all. Frankly, I think playing the anthem before every single sporting event cheapens it way more than some Chiefs (or Orioles, or etc.) fans yell at the end of it.
Not everyone is patriotic, and if someone is offended by someone else’s lack of patriotism and lack of respect for the national anthem…oh well. This is America
This is America. You can shout what you like.
The fun thing though is my school’s mascot was the Braves so we just extra shouted Braves (adding the s) at the end of the anthem. That was always fun.
Personally, I make sure sing the 3rd verse instead of the 1st.
American sports hooligans have very few songs, so they improvise with this low effort stuff
The First Amendment ensures I can yell CHIEFS during the anthem and that’s pretty cool.
I’m from Kansas City. This is just what the fans do. When the entire stadium does it during a home game it is pretty cool. The performers know it will happen.
I think many fanbases do it at sporting events around the country. In Minnesota college games people shout “home of the… Gophers!” at the end of the anthem.
Based on your responses you’ve come here to argue a point. That’s not really what this sub is for.
My answer to this would be that an immigrant should not try it. There is A LOT of nuances and reading the room required to know when it is appropriate to do minor changes like that. Someone not extremely fluent with American culture/society has a high chance of getting it wrong and a high chance of not being able to recover if they made a mistake.
To your specific example, “home of the….CHIEFS”, its generally acceptable and not seen as disrespectful because it was a special event and everyone was positive excited. Try doing that at a regular NFL game and you’ll probably be seen as disrespectful.
>Should this be acceptable etiquette?
Your question is asking for a fixed target but the actual situation is a moving target. There is no real answer to this.
Remember if you don’t show appropriate respect for the magic stripy square it won’t freedom right. Honestly it’s weird that we sing a 200 year old song about a battle before sporting events.
There is no reason for it, why not before we watch a movie or play a game of monopoly?
You want to show respect for your country?
Volunteer at homeless shelter, clean up a park or stop to help a stranded motorist.
Failing to stand in silence staring at piece of cloth made in china for 3min before watching a game isn’t nearly as insulting to the country as being too lazy to look up the people who want to run it one day a year and vote to make sure it keeps functioning but half of us don’t even care enough to do that.
I personally don’t even like the cheering and clapping during the last line of the anthem and I think you should wait until it is completed to make noise.
But I’m just some dude… Do what you want, I’m not going to say anything to you for not following the etiquette of the anthem I have created for myself.
Yes that would be seen as tacky and rude.
It’s so common in Kansas City that even at high school games we yelled home of the chiefs. Even at sporting KC games I think I hear home of the chiefs, haven’t been to a royals game since like 2015 but I bet they do it there too. Hell even at a fucking anime podcast panel for the trash taste podcast we yelled home of the chiefs when we sung the anthem
I think it is, but it isn’t unusual.
I think it is in principle, but it’s also a tradition for a countless number of teams, so idk, call it a draw. As a kid at Cal games I used to yell “BLUE!” with the crowd during the anthem, thought it was cool. Even if it’s not disrespectful to the anthem itself, which it probably it, it probably is still disrespectful to the performer.
Now we have a tradition at San Jose Sharks hockey games as well that for people who don’t know, always sounds like we’re disrespecting the performer lol. There’s a slight pause between when the time that the name of the performer is announced and when they start singing. The arena is completely quiet with no PA noise and no general crowd noise during that quick pause. So during that pause someone yells, “HEY (opposing team)!” And the crowd yells “YOU SUCK!”. When people hear it for the first time they think we’re telling the anthem singer that they suck, but we actually aren’t
Eh not really, only weirdos will actually get mad