The anthem, Army-Navy style

How a few NFL know-nothings have made the national anthem an item of controversy is beyond me. They must hate the United States. Hatred of the United States may not have been a deep secret of the progressive left, but it wasn’t proudly proclaimed for public consumption. Now you don’t have to take the trouble to suffer through the teachings of Woodrow Wilson or Howard Zinn to get a clue.

Scrolling through the news this morning I am grateful to have come across the Daily Caller’s account of the joint rendition of the anthem performed by the choirs of the two service academies before yesterday’s Army-Navy football game: “Army-Navy game’s stunning national anthem rendition puts every kneeling NFL player to shame.”

The game was played before a crowd of nearly 70,000 at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday. Wearing white in tribute to the the Army’s storied 10th Mountain Division, Army rallied past Navy to prevail 14-13 in “a snowy thriller.” For Navy, the loss was an achingly close heartbreaker. (The Washington Post has a detailed account of the game.) The anthem, however, must have counted as a winner for both sides.

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