Consent to inflict gbh wrote:
When you're talking about such a barbaric sport as boxing, one can hardly cticise spectators for poor sportsmanship.
Hear, hear.
Actually, at some point I'd like someone to explain to me why it's appropriate *at all* to play the national anthem--the anthem of a country--before a "sporting" event that involves two men trying to beat each other senseless.
Actually, that just leads into another rant: why play the national anthem before ANY sporting event? I know when it started in the USA, and why--MLB played the anthem before its games in WWII, so as not to look unpatriotic--but have trouble figuring (seriously) what the *national anthem* has to do with guys hitting a ball with a stick.
...or, for that matter, what it has to do with people jumping up and down, running around in circles, and throwing things.
And if you're somehow convinced that the national anthem *should* be played before a track and field meet, shouldn't it be played before the ENTIRE meet? You go to Nationals and the field events have been going on for an hour or more, then get stopped as the anthem is played before the track events begin. What, the field events don't count?
Rant, rant, rant...