Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry says athletes who disrespect the “Star-Spangled Banner” should be punished and I completely agree.
On Monday the LSU Tigers left the court before the national anthem was played at the NCAA Elite Eight Tournament in Albany. The Iowa Hawkeyes stayed on the court and honored the anthem.
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“My mother coached women’s high school basketball during the height of desegregation, no one has a greater respect for the sport and for Coach (Kim) Mulkey,” Landry wrote in a post on X on Tuesday morning. “However, above respect for that game is a deeper respect for those that serve to protect us and unite us under one flag!”
“It is time that all college boards, including Regent, put a policy in place that student athletes be present for the national anthem or risk their athletic scholarship!” he continued. “This is a matter of respect that all collegiate coaches should instill.”
Mulkey said her team did not intentionally skip the national anthem to make a statement or promote a cause.
“Honestly, I don’t even know when the anthem was played,” Mulkey said in a press conference after her team’s 94-87 loss. “We kind of have a routine where we’re on the floor and then they come off [at the] 12-minute mark.
“We just, I don’t know, we come in, and we do our pregame stuff,” she added. “I’m sorry. I, listen, that’s nothing intentionally done.”
Many people blasted LSU for showing a lack of patriotism.
“If they are never on the court then they have ALWAYS been wrong,” wrote one Twitter user. “There is no excuse to not honor a country where you are celebrated for playing a game,” he said. “Nowhere else on the planet would they have this opportunity yet they aren’t thankful. Everyone knows why they weren’t there.”
Here’s the bottom line:
These kids are getting full-ride scholarships because they know how to dribble a ball and toss it into a hoop. No doubt, it takes a lot of skill. But is it really a discernible skill set that makes America the greatest nation on the face of the Earth?
Many of these athletes are only able to attend college because of the generosity of the American taxpayer.
So when a kid can’t be bothered to stand at attention for the national anthem – it conveys the message that they are nothing more than a bunch of self-entitled, ungrateful, unpatriotic brats.
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