The meaning behind national anthem has been lost

	Does 'The Star-Spangled Banner' take on more meaning at an international event like the World Cup? Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
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Watching the World Cup, I find it especially moving, at the start of each game, when the two teams stand, as the national anthems of each of their countries is played. I'm particularly touched by the teams who stand for their anthem with their arms about one another's shoulders. And it must be absolutely chilling for the players and people of some small nation like Ghana or Paraguay to hear its anthem played in tandem with that of England or Italy or the United States.

Playing the anthems seems so right here. After all, the World Cup is a very special competition between the nations of the world that is contested only every four years.

OK, but then tune in to some everyday hockey game between, say, Calgary and Nashville, or some baseball game between Toronto and Texas, and every time, it is obligatory to start off playing the national anthems of the United States and Canada. Come on, countries aren't playing in games like this, just municipalities that have paid professionals to represent their franchises. We might as well also play the national anthems of, say, the Czechs and the Swedes or the Dominicans and the Venezuelans who might incidentally be hired hands on these metropolitan rosters.

What is it with this nationalism -- even, I would say, forced patriotism -- that only inflicts national anthems upon sports in this country? Hey, they're just games. In New York, you go to Madison Square Garden, to Shea Stadium, to Yankee Stadium for a game, the performance begins with The Star-Spangled Banner. You go to Carnegie Hall for a concert, Lincoln Center for a ballet, Broadway for a play, all you hear before the show starts is a warning to turn off your cell phones. Why is there a difference?

In fact, the playing of the anthem has long become such a rote experience in American sports that it was years ago when I first heard what was already an old joke then: What are the last two words of the national anthem?

"Play ball!"

The anthem has become so everyday at sports events here that some years ago it even became necessary for public address announcers to explain why exactly it is that we are playing the song. Almost at every stadium and arena now, we hear: "To honor America, will you please rise?"

We have to be told the reason to stand up?

But, you see, in the U.S., the anthem has been reduced to just another gimmick, like the seventh-inning stretch. In fact, The Star-Spangled Banner is so ordinary now that at championship events, like the Super Bowl, when the anthem would be a nice, appropriate gesture, it's not enough just to sing our country's song. No, it's so run-of-the-mill that now we also have to have a bunch of military fighter jets fly over. The national anthem has become a lounge act for martial panoply.

Next Tuesday is our American national holiday, the Fourth of July. Wouldn't it be nice if all baseball teams would agree to swear off playing the anthem at every game during the season, and only play it once a year, on our Independence Day? That would be enough. Look out to center field. Just as Francis Scott Key assured us: Our flag is still there.

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