The national anthem at sporting events has been a hot topic over the past year. Some of the NBA’s biggest stars are becoming increasingly more vocal with their political opinions and the anthem will continue to be an interesting topic to watch as we get closer to the start of the NBA season.
The national anthem at sporting events has been a hot topic over the past year with the likes of Colin Kaepernick and various other NFL players staging their personal protests when it is played.
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Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of the Denver Nuggets refused to stand for the anthem during an NBA game back in 1996 and was suspended by the league.
The Toronto Raptors players staged their form of a protest when the entire team locked arms during the playing of the anthems at the teams opening pre-season game last October.
The Raptors DeMar DeRozan spoke about his reasons for being involved in the protest at the time. He said:
"I had a close friend of mine a couple of weeks ago who was murdered by the police, shot 17 times. DeRozan told the Toronto Star. It was something I haven’t spoke out about. It was more so of just understanding what’s going on in our society and how much I can help. And that’s what it’s all about. So most definitely I think we will, and I will (protest), for sure."
Some people have begun to question why the anthem is even played at sporting events.
The Canadian national anthem was originally written in French by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier and Calixa Lavallee and was called Chant National.
According to University of Toronto professor Dr. Robin Elliot, the first time the Canadian anthem was played in public was at a sporting event of sorts.
He said, “It was first performed in a skating rink on June 24, 1880 on Sainte-Jean-Baptiste Day,”
The anthem and sports have been paired together since day one like peanut butter and jam.
Both the U.S and Canadian national anthems have been played during every Toronto Raptors home game since the franchise opener on November 3,1995 at the Skydome.
According to ESPN:
"History records various games in which The Star-Spangled Banner was played (during baseball games) dating from the mid-1800s, but (Babe) Ruth’s last postseason appearance for the Boston Red Sox coincided with the song’s first unbreakable bond with the sports world, in 1918."
With the political climate in the United States heating up, some of the biggest names in the NBA have become more vocal with their political thoughts.
LeBron James has become increasingly more vocal with his views and he recently called Donald Trump the “so-called President” while Kevin Durant also came out last week and said he would refuse a visit to the White House because he “doesn’t respect who’s in office right now.”
With the start of the NBA season approaching and the political climate in the United States in a state of flux, it will be interesting to see if any protests will be made during the playing of the anthems and what the NBA’s reaction will be.
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Leave a comment in the section below or drop a comment on our Facebook or Twitter if you think more NBA players should use their platform to protest or if you feel any form of protest during an NBA game is wrong.