The Brewers profess their love for the national anthem.

What will be going through these #Brewers players heads during the National Anthem prior to game 1 of the World Series tomorrow?? https://t.co/jwaaMAl2jn

— Cameron Ezeir (@camezeir) October 22, 2026

Isn't the WNBA trying to build its audience?

That's my question as I'm reading "Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries skip national anthem for third straight WNBA Finals game/The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries jogged off the court before the anthem in all three games of the series" (Fox News).

@ClayTravis While Pat Murphy’s rule with the Brewers is - miss the anthem, miss the game. It’s pretty simple.

— Matt Schaefer (@mschaef02) October 20, 2026

"For prospects rising through the Milwaukee Brewers’ farm system, and even established veterans on a rehab assignment, wearing lederhosen is a rite of passage."

"No, this isn’t some elaborate rookie hazing prank... it’s the result of Friday’s theme night at High-A Wisconsin, one in which the team normally known as the Timber Rattlers becomes the Brats as part of Bratoberfest, a play on Germany’s iconic Oktoberfest, while also paying homage to the state that’s home to one of the highest concentrations of residents with German ancestry. It just so happened that Abner Uribe, the Brewers’ flame-throwing reliever who is working his way back from a flexor strain, was in town on his rehab assignment...."

The NYT picks up the best Milwaukee Brewers story of the day: "Brewers’ Abner Uribe delights fans in ‘Brats’ lederhosen uniform during minor-league rehab."

Humiliating? Or is it wonderful... bratoberfestive!

I could watch the Green Bay Packers exhibition game, women’s college volleyball, the team with the best record in baseball the Milwaukee Brewers, the Winn-Dixie 250, high school football, WWE SmackDown, or…Abner Uribe in lederhosen. You tell me… pic.twitter.com/lZWfgdxMLi

— Steve Palec (@stevepalec) August 29, 2026

ADDED: I have a bit of a tags quandary for this post. I don't like tag proliferation, but this isn't the first appearance of lederhosen on this blog. It's the fourth. See them all here. But all the other times, I was able to use my well-loved tag "men in shorts." But this baseball take on lederhosen avoids the baseball travesty of shorts — White Sox, 1976 — and sticks with traditional knickers. As I've said before, I like the knickers and wish all the players would wear them and not those pajama-looking long pants, but I'm still not making a tag for knickers. But if I did, I'd have 12 "knickers" posts now. 

Let me highlight the best of those old "knickers" posts. I remembered that the Young Rascals wore knickers. I found this 1926 song with the lyric: "Knickers and trousers, baggy and wide/Nobody knows who's walking inside!" I said that David Brooks: "expatiated about the good old days when men like George Washington displayed their thighs in tight silk knickers."

And, in 2008, before I got together with Meade and started watching baseball again, there were TVs outside State Street Brats just as The Backstreet Boys were singing the national anthem to open the World Series. I blogged: "The players look like hell! When did they stop wearing stockings and knickers? Those long pants look like pajamas."

And there was Meade, the first commenter: "I must be smoking too much blog. I hallucinated." Because the video looked like this:



Key word linking the end of this post to the beginning: brats.

"O."

Love how he stopped for the "OH"...if you're from Baltimore, you understand.

— Sҽαɳ 🇺🇸⚓️ (@doc_1029) April 12, 2026

"Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran..."

"... where they will most likely be killed. Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

2 hours ago, at Truth Social.

One hour ago, at Truth Social:

"Why does it sound so much better to me when I know it's Rufus Wainwright?"

Said I, just now, seeing this:

This is getting ridiculous.

"True patriot love, that only US command"

Rufus Wainwright just a few minutes ago.pic.twitter.com/nrzvutKQcu

— Martyupnorth®- Unacceptable Fact Checker (@Martyupnorth_2) October 30, 2025

I love Rufus Wainwright, but I wasn't paying attention to the introduction. Last night, to me, he was just some guy singing the Canadian national anthem. 

The Paisley Curse.

Brad Paisley has officially sung the national anthem for:

World Series Game 2 in 2017 (11 innings)
World Series Game 3 in 2018 (18 innings)
World Series Game 1 in 2024 (10 innings)
World Series Game 3 in 2025 (18 innings)

h/t @SarahWexler32 pic.twitter.com/cgaSEVcdSq

— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025

"[Chantal] Kreviazuk, who is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, also wrote the phrase 'that only us command' with mascara on her left hand."

"She posted a picture of that on her Instagram with emojis of a Canadian flag and a flexed muscle. 'I just put it on there so if I ever had a moment and I kind of froze, I would be able to look at my hand and see it,' Kreviazuk said. 'I’d love to see people sort of get inspired and catch the fire and say their heart more in their art. ... Sometimes you just got to speak the truth in your art and it’s awesome. That’s what it should be about.'..."

From "Singer of Canadian anthem at 4 Nations Face-Off changes lyric to protest Trump’s 51st state remarks" (AP).

The official lyrics begin: "O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all of us command."

That is, the homeland commands true patriot love in all of us.

The changed lyric was "O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love that only us command."

So it is no longer the homeland commanding love. It is "only us" commanding love. There are several problems (aside from the problem of changing the words of the anthem):

Canada can't be the 51st state. It would need to be the 51st through 63rd state...

... Tom Green explains.

"The case has garnered national attention both for the salaciousness of a high-profile university official making pornographic movies and publicly talking about it..."

"... and the questions it raises about free speech rights. [Joe] Gow argued that his videos and two e-books he and his wife, Carmen, have published about their experiences in adult films are protected by the First Amendment. 'You don’t need the First Amendment to protect "The Star Spangled Banner,"' Gow’s attorney, Mark Leitner, told the committee. 'You don’t need the First Amendment to protect easy and comforting speech. It’s exactly the opposite. We need the First Amendment precisely when the danger of stifling, controversial, unpopular speech is at its highest. And that’s what we have here.'... The school is pushing to fire Gow for unethical conduct, insubordination for refusing to cooperate with an investigation and violating computer policies.... Gow has maintained that he and his wife produced the pornographic materials on their own time. He insists the videos and the books never mentioned UW-La Crosse or his role at the university...."

From "Porn-making former University of Wisconsin campus leader argues for keeping his teaching job" (AP)." Gow, formerly chancellor of UW-La Crosse, made his argument to the personnel committee of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.

I don't know if these free-speech arguments garnered the attention of the regents. We're told they "asked no questions."

How "Ode to Billy Joe" could become the U.S. national anthem.

BONUS:

The University of Wisconsin marching band plays the "Star-Spangled Banner" today, at 4:45, on the practice field by Lake Mendota.

 

Video by Meade.

Has an American President ever sung the national anthem into a microphone before a crowd?

I know President Obama sang "Amazing Grace" into a microphone — and "Let's Stay Together" — so we know he could sing into a microphone. Did any other President sing into a microphone? But what I really want to know is did any American President ever do this? — sing the national anthem into a microphone:

I found that because the Russian national anthem came up — 2 posts down — in the context of learning what lies in store for Brittney Griner if indeed she ends up serving her sentence in a Russian penal colony, where prisoners must sing the anthem, “Glory to Our Free Fatherland,” every morning at 6:05 a.m.

Brittney Griner, when she was a free woman in America, opposed the playing of the American National Anthem at basketball games. In 2020, she said: "I’m not going to be out there for the national anthem. If the league continues to want to play it, that’s fine... I’ll not be out there."

There's grisly irony, and I would not laugh at that harsh turn of fate. I've been thinking about the power of national anthems. Listening to a formal presentation of the Russian anthem, in spite of myself, I get chills. It's in the music. Look at the faces of the people, in that clip with Putin. It's reaching them deeply and merging them in shared resolve.

Resolve to do what? 

Would we Americans want a President who would sing our national anthem like that, or do we prefer our Presidents singing "Amazing Grace" and our anthem safely ensconced where it belongs, at basketball, baseball, and football games?

"A Russian court on Thursday found U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner guilty of deliberately bringing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into Russia..."

"... despite them [sic] being illegal, after the athlete said she had made an honest mistake by packing them. Her sentencing, which is set to take place later on Thursday, could pave the way for an high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States that would include the 31-year-old athlete and an imprisoned Russian who was once a prolific arms dealers...."

Reuters reports. 

That news just came in. I noticed after searching for the name of the basketball player held in Russia, because I was confused when I saw this headline in the sidebar as I was reading a new Washington Post article: "Brittney Griner, Brianna Turner call for WNBA to stop playing national anthem this season." 

“I honestly feel we should not play the national anthem during our season,” Griner said... “I’m not going to be out there for the national anthem.... Yeah, we’re here to play basketball. But basketball doesn’t mean anything in a world where we can’t just live. We can’t wake up and do whatever we want to do. Go for a run, go to the store to buy some candy, drive your car without the fear of being wrongfully pulled over. I just want to challenge everybody to do more. Write the story that might be tough. Take a chance. Ask a question that’s tough. Don’t let it be silent."

Looking more closely, I see that article is from 2020. Speaking of living in "a world where we can’t just live," where we can't "wake up and do whatever we want to do."

UPDATE: Brittney Griner was sentenced to 9 years in a penal colony.

Macy Gray performed a sweet, subtle version of the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star Game, so the story should not be...

 

... that LeBron James was laughing and might have been laughing at her.

Put the focus where it belongs, or put it somewhere uplifting — such as on Gray's beautiful, feathered overcoat.

Katie Couric writes that she was "a big RBG fan" and — deciding that Ginsburg was "elderly and probably didn't fully understand the question" — suppressed part of Ginsburg's statements about football players who take a knee during the national anthem.

The Daily Mail reports.

The published story, which Couric wrote for Yahoo! News in 2016, did include quotes from Ginsburg saying refusing to stand for the anthem was 'dumb and disrespectful', but omitted more problematic remarks. Ginsburg went on to say that such protests show a 'contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.' She said: 'Which they probably could not have lived in the places they came from... as they became older they realize that this was youthful folly. And that's why education is important.' 

Much worse than what Ginsburg said is the possibility that Ginsburg didn't understand the question in 2016! Couric is hurting Ginsburg much more now, but at least she's confessing her own journalistic sins. 

We're told that the day after the interview "the head of public affairs for the Supreme Court emailed Couric to say the late justice had 'misspoken' and asked that it be removed from the story." It seems more likely that Couric allowed Ginsburg to edit her remarks than that Couric decided Ginsburg didn't understand because she was elderly! If Ginsburg couldn't understand things because of her advanced age, then she did not belong on the Court!

We're also told that Couric sought help from her "friend, David Brooks," and he agreed that "Ginsburg probably didn't understand the question." Give me a break!

"I feel like it was setup... I feel like they did that on purpose, and I was pissed, to be honest. I was thinking about what should I do. Eventually, I just stayed there and just swayed. I put my shirt over my head."

Said Gwen Berry, explaining her behavior when the national anthem played as she took the stand after qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team, WaPo reports. 

She'd finished finished third in the hammer throw, and, we're told, she didn't think they'd be playing the national anthem for each medal ceremony at the trials, the way they do for the Olympic finals.

She continues:

"It was real disrespectful."

By that, she means not that she was disrespectful to turn away and pull  her T-shirt over her head, but that they were disrespectful to play it. 

"The NBA and the NFL are struggling with lower ratings, as fans clearly do not want political messaging mixed with their sports."

"So how should the leagues support and promote an anti-racism position without becoming political and alienating fans?" — Brett Favre asked President Trump (at the White House), WaPo reports, here.

Trump said the sports leagues could “promote an anti-racism position without becoming political and alienating fans,” but they need the players to "stand and salute, or put their hand over their heart, or at least stand for the national anthem and salute" — “They’re going to have to start respecting our country. It’s very simple. And you start by respecting our flag."

The gooiest ad I've ever seen — with a tinkling piano playing the National Anthem and the hilariously sentimental voice of Sam Elliott.

 

That ad played during the World Series. I'm not watching the World Series. I read about the ad in that WaPo article I linked to in the previous post. According to WaPo: "While Trump on Tuesday appealed in person to his most ardent fans with divisive themes, Joe Biden’s campaign beamed in to the nation’s living rooms during the World Series with a much broader audience in mind." 

Yes, whoever made that ad, sure had the "broader audience in mind." I can picture clever fellows laughing at their own work, comparing it to a "South Park" parody, and joking about how dumb Americans are. 

Watching that ad, a few seconds in, Meade said "Tegridy Farms," and toward the end, I said, "This is for the dumb people" and "Actually, this is very effective." I could feel the emotion they were trying to put over. Joe will bring us together — no reason why and don't you worry your head about what he'll actually do while you're in a hypnotic fog of phony-baloney togetherness.

I'm looking for the right "Tegridy Farms" ad to convey Meade's point. There's this, but as Meade said, "It doesn't have enough of that voice — you know, like that guy... that guy in 'The Big Lebowski.'" I say: "Sam Elliott! You do realize the voice in the Biden ad is Sam Elliott." Meade thought it was just some guy doing his damnedest to sound like Sam Elliott. No, that's actually Sam Elliott. You might think Sam Elliott is such an extreme that he'd be reserved for the comic exaggeration of the voice of a narrator...

  

... but the Biden campaign is using him utterly seriously, to stir our soulfully deep desire for America.

 

Why don't they just give us the marijuana already? Then we could sit back and laugh at all this absurdity. Ah, but then you'd be like me, abstaining.* They need you to vote. You've got to melt into a pool of goo and yet maintain sufficient semblance to a human creature to check a box on a mail-in ballot.

_________________________

* No, I'm not on marijuana. It doesn't even work on me. I'm naturally this way.

"The Democratic agenda to me right now is America is systematically racist and evil and the only people who can fix it are Democrats. That’s the vibe I get."

Said John Geraghty, a 41-year-old Wisconsin tractor factory worker, quoted in "How Chaos in Kenosha Is Already Swaying Some Voters in Wisconsin/As residents see fires and looting, some worry that local Democratic leaders are failing to keep control of the situation."

I have an earlier, longer post about that article, but I really wanted to break out that quote and put it in a headline, because it succinctly states a problem that I thought about a lot as I watched the 3rd day of the GOP convention last night. The ending, live at Fort McHenry, had such a classic, forthright American patriotism feeling. That's a much better brand! People want to feel uplifted. We want to love. We don't want to feel that everything is hopelessly corrupted and evil to the core. Even if we care about facts and truth — and I wish we would! — we still need motivation and resolve.

Look at how Mike Pence's speech ended last night, intoning "our flag is still there" at Fort McHenry. Look at that setting, Trump and Melania walking through the fort, Trace Adkins singing the National Anthem, with disabled war heroes pulling themselves into the standing position...



"My fellow Americans, we’re going through a time of testing. But if you look through the fog of these challenging times, you will see, our flag is still there today. That star-spangled banner still waves over the land of the free and the home of the brave...."

ADDED: Biden is attempting to do upbeat branding, stressing his high energy level and showing us photos of Martin Luther King Jr.:

NEW: @JoeBiden campaign debuting a 2-minute long ad tonight as President Trump is set to accept the GOP presidential nomination

"Some people are always in a hurry. They run when they could walk, race up steps when others take it slow," ad says w/ footage of Trump at West Point pic.twitter.com/nxAZ9iepfr

— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) August 27, 2020