…and it’s from California!
Before Clovis High played Buchanan for the Central Section Softball Championship being held at Fresno State’s Margie Wright Diamond, the announcer said, ‘There will be no anthem, let’s just play softball!”
Many booed the announcement, then the crowd started singing the anthem anyway, a capella, as most in attendance removed their hats, put their hand over their hearts, and stood. The players stopped their pregame warmups to turn around and face the American flag that waved beyond the center-field wall; nobody knealt, apparently. When the anthem ended, the crowd burst into a round of applause.
THEN the two teams played softball.
More such spontaneous demonstrations of unity, community and patriotism would go a long way toward mitigating the divisions in this nation that so many are working so hard to exacerbate.
There is hope.
Ethics Alarms 
I love it when things like this happen!
I thought that was beautiful. I also thought that America’s Got Talent should not be holding any auditions in the Fresno area, but mostly I thought it was beautiful.
Most excellent. Self-appointed protestors should pay attention that they can always vote with their feet. What’s the motives for most immigrants who ever came here? They forget in their demands for upheaval and scorched earth instead of gradual change. Many wars, neither side really won.
Fresno, California? No surprise, there. What was a surprise is that the audience didn’t let the announcer get away with this stupidity.
The story says that the announcer apologized and blamed a misunderstanding. The policy was that if multiple games were being played, only the first would have the anthem. But…
1. It was Memorial Day weekend, and
2. The phrasing of his announcement sounds anti-anthem to my ear.
Intersectiknalty. It may be California, but I’d wager that your average softball team will be composed of families more likely to be pre-disposed to patriotism than not. And as per #2, I’d be willing to bet that one anthem for a whole series is the protocol but the announcer’s wording does come off as a “screw you” to the anthem… further triggering any other latent pro-America intersectional sentiments in the crowd that would override any negative stereotypes we may hold about Californians on average.
It surprised me. I’m clinging to my stereotypes, just like my guns and my Bible (not really. I’m not a believer) because I have relatives who live in California. I suspect mysterious vapors coming from the fault-lines.
Even in the Peepul’s Republik of Kali, the common folk are still proud Americans despite everything progressives do to change that.
This is a reason Trump was elected, and why (should he survive that long and want the job) he will be re elected.
Furthermore, I’d like to see, when some jackass tries this, a group of the players say “Nope! We’re not playing softball until somebody plays the National Anthem”. That’s a player protest I can get behind.