With all ears on the reaction from the fans in Boston to the Canadian national anthem before Thursday’s 4 Nations Face-Off final, the bigger news came from the singer of the song.
Chantal Kreviazuk made a subtle shift in the lyrics in response to recent tough talk from certain U.S. citizens.
The song, O Canada, includes the line “true patriot love in all of us command.” She changed it to “true patriot love that only us command.” Her representative confirmed that it was not an accident, but a protest to the effort to undermine Canada’s status, economy, and independence.
Four days before Thursday night’s 4 game, fans in Montreal loudly booed the U.S. national anthem as a result of the recent rhetoric.
Without delving into the question of whether this whole thing sounds like a South Park storyline, the point for pro football is that there’s a small thermal exhaust port for anyone who chooses to fire a photon torpedo in that direction. At every game, the person chosen to sing the song could choose to go rogue and change the lyrics.
It could happen at a run-of-the-mill regular-season game. It could happen at the Super Bowl.
We asked the league on Friday whether steps have been taken to keep that from occurring. We didn’t get a response. Which means either that they’re ignoring us (again) or that they don’t have a response because they never thought about it before.
They probably should. Kreviazuk has exposed a loophole for anyone who wants to make any statement they want by making a shift in the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner.
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