TV Networks To Skip Anthem

On Sunday, Fox Sports announced it would not televise the playing of the National Anthem at the start of its NFL games:

https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/10/01/fox-sports-anthem-coverage

In addition, ESPN has said it won't air the National Anthem before the Monday Night Football game.

This came after last week's controversy surrounding players protesting during the anthem. In another thread, I said that before 9-11, TV and radio networks routinely skipped the playing of the National Anthem. So I'm not surprised that the networks have decided to skip the anthem.

Not surprising though and the fallout of last week is still at play here.

I'm starting to think it's worth discussing how much coverage TV & radio give the president's tweets, given that he says he does them specifically to avoid mainstream media.

Shame shame shame, it's disrespectful to not stand for the National Anthem, sure don't see that with MLB, Nascar, or any other sports, all started with Kapernick, this Black Lives Matter crap is BS, ALL LIVES MATTER, BLUE LIVES MATTER.

NBC Sunday Night Football tonight from Seattle carried the whole anthem. Just a few Seahawks took a knee, otherwise uneventful. I think this thing will be an afterthought by the end of the year.

kenrayc said:

Shame shame shame, it's disrespectful to not stand for the National Anthem, sure don't see that with MLB, Nascar, or any other sports, all started with Kapernick, this Black Lives Matter crap is BS, ALL LIVES MATTER, BLUE LIVES MATTER.

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100% agree with you.

Seems that people with short memory or no memory forget that the anthem wasn't always shown before sports events, so we will never know when silent protests really began.

kenrayc said:

Shame shame shame, it's disrespectful to not stand for the National Anthem, sure don't see that with MLB, Nascar, or any other sports, all started with Kapernick, this Black Lives Matter crap is BS, ALL LIVES MATTER, BLUE LIVES MATTER.

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I've seen this refusal to cover the National Anthem thing go on well prior to Colin Kapernick's protests and the Black Lives Matter thing. For the past several years, I've seen this happen most of the time in college sports. When I tune into a Georgia Bulldogs football game on the radio, they don't cover the National Anthem. I think there was one time where UGA's Redcoat Marching Band did an instrumental version of the National Anthem, but ironically, it was done at an away game instead of a home game. I've never heard the National Anthem performed at a home game. It could have been the other team's marching band. I don't remember. I do know that University of Georgia is a liberal-biased school. The National Anthem isn't even covered in UGA's men's basketball games. As for TV, I've only seen college football games on TV, not college basketball games. Have I seen TV cover the National Anthem for college football? No, I have not. Anyway, that is all.

By not covering the anthem in Indianapolis today, the network missed several 49ers taking a knee and a grandstanding Vice President Pence making a big show of taking offense and leaving the building.

CTListener said:

By not covering the anthem in Indianapolis today, the network missed several 49ers taking a knee and a grandstanding Vice President Pence making a big show of taking offense and leaving the building.

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As a sports fan, I believe they made the right decision. Ask yourself: Why are those people watching the game on TV? To hear the anthem, see a protest, or watch a football game? I believe the answer is #3. The other two items are a distraction. Televising the anthem has become a political issue. Better to stay out of it.

CTListener said:

By not covering the anthem in Indianapolis today, the network missed several 49ers taking a knee and a grandstanding Vice President Pence making a big show of taking offense and leaving the building.

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It should have been "missed". Just totally ridiculous. Pence is just following orders from his leader. How does Pence feel after this? (A: I will always obey my President, or B: I better obey or I will get a negative tweet.) For sure, this is a no-win situation for Pence. But why in the hell we are talking about this in today's world of much more important problems is beyond me.

seatownmedia said:

But why in the hell we are talking about this in today's world of much more important problems is beyond me.

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The travel expenses flying Pence and his entourage to Indy for a few minutes and then on to somewhere else should be talked about. These people don't apparently give a damn how much of the taxpayer's money they waste.

Not to defend Pence, but he was previously the Governor of Indiana, and today they dedicated a statue to Peyton Manning.

So one could say he was there for the statue dedication, not the game. But I get your point. I doubt he flew there commercially.

Moments after I posted this, I saw this article:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/08/politics/pence-indianapolis-flights-cost/index.html

TheBigA said:

Not to defend Pence, but he was previously the Governor of Indiana, and today they dedicated a statue to Peyton Manning.

So one could say he was there for the statue dedication, not the game. But I get your point. I doubt he flew there commercially.

Moments after I posted this, I saw this article:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/08/politics/pence-indianapolis-flights-cost/index.html

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Indeed. This President has his priorities all mixed up. He is not fit of the office, IMO.

The whole event was planned according to USAToday.

landtuna said:

The whole event was planned according to USAToday.

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If so it was brilliant, for as much as the media wants to stop talking about this, Trump just
keeps finding ways to make them talk about it.

They did not show the anthem, yet all major newscasts are talking about what Pence did.

The vast majority of people out there aren't siding with kneeling players, I can tell you that.

FreddyE1977 said:

If so it was brilliant, for as much as the media wants to stop talking about this, Trump just
keeps finding ways to make them talk about it. They did not show the anthem, yet all major newscasts are talking about what Pence did.

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I don't know that "the media wants to stop talking about this." If they did, they would.

I think the media needs to ask itself how long it wants to allow itself to be played in this way.

FreddyE1977 said:

If so it was brilliant, for as much as the media wants to stop talking about this, Trump just
keeps finding ways to make them talk about it.

They did not show the anthem, yet all major newscasts are talking about what Pence did.

The vast majority of people out there aren't siding with kneeling players, I can tell you that.

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What's important is that this keeps Trump's base (which, everyone has to admit, does contain a number of avowed racists) AND Pence''s Christian Right/traditional values base energized going into election season. I may not like this strategy, but I've got to admit that it has elements of brilliance to it. It feeds into the anti-elite, anti-intellectual strain that runs through grassroots America, which is largely Republican, and the Democrats seem unable to counter it without embodying the very stereotypes Trump won the presidency by denigrating.

CTListener said:

What's important is that this keeps Trump's base (which, everyone has to admit, does contain a number of avowed racists) AND Pence''s Christian Right/traditional values base energized going into election season.

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Which election? 2018? Anti elite? Have you ever been to a football game? There is nothing elitist or intellectual about football. This is a made up fake story that shouldn't be covered or given attention by anyone, either the sports media, news media, or the fake media. If it's really a problem, have them arrest the players. That's something I'd like to see. Otherwise grow up.