Where Are We Again?

We've had a bit of a spat in the area regarding how the National Anthem is being sung at college football games.

Fans of the University of Oklahoma Sooners have been substituting "home of the Sooners" for "home of the brave" in the last line of the song, "The Star-Spangled Banner." Sooner head coach Bob Stoops weighed in this week, suggesting that since OU's opponent is the Air Force Academy, it would be good for fans to sing the original words rather than their own innovation. Since most of the players and their classmates from the Academy will begin serving their nation after graduating, and since some of that service will be in harm's way, Coach Stoops thinks it would show proper respect to them. They, after all, will be some of the actual "brave" who are referred to in the anthem and it might be fitting to acknowledge them while they are guests.

A local sports columnist referred to the "Sooner" ending as "a star-spangled shame," given that fans had made their changes to the anthem at a game on Sept. 11. His opinion has generated the usual insightful commentary in letters to the editor, online comments and sports radio call-in shows.

I sympathize with people who believe that altering the anthem in this way shows disrespect to our nation and those who serve it, as well as those who served it and made the ultimate sacrifice in that service. But I disagree. We have heard people screech the anthem in myriad ways, bending and twisting the notes to suit their own vocal abilities or to put their own style into it. Those people have looked on the anthem as less of a moment to honor their nation than to showcase themselves, which is in essence what those who bellow "Sooners" instead of "brave" do also. Although I would like to see how many of the "Sooner" shouters sing anything other than that last line. I don't think disrespect is at the root of choices like these. I think actual disrespect would require more of an effort and more thought -- the anthem-changers haven't given enough thought to the matter to be disrespecting their country, its history or those who serve it.

Not that the anthem is some kind of holy writ, which must not ever be changed. Our nation adopted it as such relatively recently -- 1931, if you're curious -- and seemed to do just fine without it for many years.

I don't mean to suggest I approve of either our local university fans' alteration or of those who treat the text and tune as something they have to mold and shape so that their own glory might stand before the symbol they're supposed to be honoring. I just don't see supposed disrespect as the reason I disapprove. A common phrase I've heard and used suggests that we should never ascribe to malice what can be explained by incompetence, meaning that it's a lot easier to be dumb than evil. In this case, I would say that we should not ascribe to disrespect and anti-patriotic feeling that which can be explained by a simple lack of class.