The Anthem in Sports: What’s Next

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 in our country. And right now athletes are staking their claim on the anthem more than ever, to make history themselves. We take a deep dive into this present moment, and how it speaks to the past and future of the anthem’s role in sports. Our guests are Dr. Damion Thomas, sports curator of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Jon Batiste, musician and band leader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (who performed the national anthem for the NBA’s 2020 restart), plus Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce. As the NFL lines up to start its season, we also explore playing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in the pregame, and whether anthems should continue as part of sports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When the national anthem plays before a game, it doesn't just pass by unnoticed.
0:08.0	Not for most of us, at least. Not anymore.
0:13.0	You could be standing on the court like NBA coach Lloyd Pierce.
0:18.0	If the national anthem is something that we can continue to rally behind
0:22.4	to show support and love for this country, I'm all for it. If it's going to continue to divide us,
0:29.5	you know, I think maybe that's where the conversation comes. Or watching through the lens of
0:35.8	society at large, like historian Damien Thomas.
0:39.9	When the national anthem is being played, it's an opportunity for us to reflect,
0:45.7	to reflect on the United States, to reflect on our values, to reflect on who we are.
0:53.0	Or even performing it, like New Orleans musician
0:56.3	and Leachot band leader John Batiste.
0:59.1	Things intersect socially and culturally
1:04.4	with a song like this.
1:06.6	It's not just a song that speaks to one swath of our population.
1:12.8	It represents the whole of who we are good and bad.
1:19.7	American sports, global sports, is in a new era of protest.
1:25.2	Colin Kaepernet got canceled for kneeling during the anthem in the 2016
1:29.3	NFL season to protest anti-black racism and police violence. Now a movement spurred by the
1:35.9	murder of George Floyd has teams and leagues at every level, taking a knee before games.
1:42.5	Today, we investigate the complex and singular relationship
1:46.7	between sports and the Star-Spangled Banner
1:49.5	and contemplate the future of this American tradition.
	...

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