Caltagirone

The seeming inability of leaders in college athletics to satisfactorily resolve issues related to athlete compensation so disillusioned a Los Angeles Times sports columnist that he took up his pen in an attempt to stimulate action.

That was in November 1939.

In Major League Baseball, disagreement over the impact of a salary cap drove a wedge between labor and management that triggered a work stoppage.

In August 1994.

Just like the oceans and washing machines, sports have cycles. And the headlines that they produce over the years have a familiar ring.

The 2026 World Cup is the setting for another regrettable rehash of a narrative that surfaces at all-too regular intervals.

Jesse Marsch, the head coach of Canada’s team and a former assistant with the U.S. men’s national team, observed that, “In the U.S., sometimes we had to beg players to sing the national anthem.”

In contrast, Marsch said that, when Canadian players sing their country’s national anthem, they “belt it out to the top of their lungs.”

Marsch’s comments didn’t sit well with Clint Dempsey, a legend in U.S national team circles and current television analyst at the World Cup, who advised Marsch to “stay in your own lane” and “worry about your own team.”

“I’m not going to take advice from someone who switched to the other side and is singing another country’s national anthem,” Dempsey said.

U.S. national anthem controversies aren’t exactly as old as the Republic, but they command the spotlight with distressing frequency.

NFL fans will recall players kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 as a form of silent protest against racial inequality and police brutality.

Throughout the years, college and pro basketball teams have chosen to remain in the locker room during the playing of the anthem as a form of activism related to social issues.

When members of the Los Angeles Sparks voted to remain in the locker room in 2017, center/forward Candace Parker said the action was not a protest against America or the flag.

“I feel I can’t kneel before the flag. I have too much respect and pride to do that,” Parker said. “There are some people who can. There are some people on our team we don’t want to have to make that choice. We didn’t want to put anyone in an awkward position. In this, we’re united. We’re still respecting the United States and the flag, but still taking a stand.”

In 2021, during a stretch of 13 preseason and regular-season games, the Dallas Mavericks became the first major professional sports team in recent history to stop playing the national anthem. A statement issued by the NBA league office led to immediate reinstatement of the pre-game ritual in Dallas.

The irony of the remarks by Canada’s national team head coach is that they come at a time of patriotic fervor in the U.S.

America250 is more than a series of anniversary commemorations.

It’s a national affirmation of freedom and independence.

Since the World War II era, the Spirit of ’76 has been regularly expressed with performance of the national anthem at professional sporting events.

Personal beliefs aside, is it really too much to ask for the fans in attendance at these events–and the participating teams–to observe two minutes of respect for the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Or has the cycle of that tradition finally run its course?

Jim Caltagirone writes a monthly column for the Mirror.