I was at FedExField for the Washington Redskins home opener against the Minnesota Vikings. Unfortunately for the Redskins, they lost the game 19 to 16. The Redskins had a chance to tie the game in the waning seconds with a 48-yard field goal attempt…but it was no good..wide left I think.

Since the game was played on 11 September, the pre-game and half-time festivities were focused on it being the fifth anniversary of 9/11, with lots of patriotism and martial music. American flags were passed out to all attendees at the gates (the crowd was over 90,000).

At half-time, a Pentagon policeman who had led a number of peope to safety on 9/11 was honored. And what was really impressive was rather than giving a speech, he invited the crowd to join him in singing “God Bless America.” It was really something listening to the better part of 90,000+ people singing and waving US flags. And to top it all, the policeman was actually quite a good vocalist.

That was the upside…now the downside. After the game, the parking lots were strewn with American flags that people had thrown away. I guess many of the crowd that were waving flags and singing “God Bless America” at half-time were really, as Tom Paine so aptly put it many years ago, “Summer Solidiers and Sunshine Patriots.”

And now the trivial.. The Redskins owner, Daniel Snyder, recently made a deal with Tom Cruise’s production company. So Tom and Katie were enscounced in the owner’s suite as Danny Boy’s honored guests.