Flags

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.

One thought on “Flags”

  1. I would bet you, Harry, that the vast majority of people who dropped those flags supported recent attempts to make “burning the American Flag” against the law.

    That sounds like an amazing way to spend the afternoon on September 11th. It is good to take time to think about our world.

    Are you certain that is Thomas Paine? I thought for sure that looked exactly like KenMcD. hm.

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