Replay: The National Anthem in Sports

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the wake of insurrection at the US Capitol, we are respinning our September episode focused on sports and the national anthem. We hear it before every major game: “The Star Spangled Banner.” Throughout sports history, the national anthem has unified the U.S. in historic moments. It’s also served as a platform to call for change. And right now, athletes are staking their claim on the anthem more than ever, to make history themselves and protest peacefully. We explore the topic with guests Dr. Damion Thomas, sports curator of the National Museum of African American History and Culture; Jon Batiste, musician and band leader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (who performed the national anthem for the NBA’s 2020 restart); and Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Pablo. We had a whole other episode planned and recorded for today that we're still super excited to eventually play for you. But after watching the attack on democracy yesterday at the U.S. Capitol building, it just didn't feel right for this particular moment. So instead, we're pivoting to something that we think feels more appropriate.
0:25.2	Last night, despite the violence in Washington, D.C.,
0:28.6	11 games were played across the NBA, and they began as they always do,
0:34.6	with the playing of the national anthem.
0:51.3	Oh, say, can you speak by the dawns early in the evening in Miami, where the Celtics faced the heat. Both teams knelt in silent protest of societal injustice and their goal,
0:56.5	as they said in a statement, was to use our platform to highlight these issues and do everything
1:02.4	we can to work for a more equal and just America. This is an episode we recorded about the power
1:09.1	of peaceful protest in sports in the United States of America.
1:14.8	And I hope you can listen to the end.
1:18.7	When the national anthem plays before a game, it doesn't just pass by unnoticed.
1:26.9	Not for most of us, at least.
1:29.3	Not anymore.
1:32.0	You could be standing on the court, like NBA coach Lloyd Pierce.
1:36.6	If the national anthem is something that we can continue to rally behind to show support
1:42.1	and love for this country, I'm all for it.
1:45.0	If it's going to continue to divide us, you know, I think maybe that's where the conversation comes.
1:51.0	Or watching through the lens of society at large, like historian Damien Thomas.
1:58.0	When the national anthem is being played, it's an opportunity for us to reflect, to reflect on the United States, to reflect on our values, to reflect on who we are.
2:10.6	Or even performing it, like New Orleans musician and late show band leader John Batiste. Things intersect socially and culturally with a song like this.
2:24.8	It's not just a song that speaks to one swath of our population.
2:31.2	It represents the whole of who we are good and bad.
2:43.0	Music of our population. It represents the whole of who we are good and bad. American sports, global sports, is in a new era of protest. Today, we investigate the complex and singular relationship between sports
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