I wouldn't say self-righteous or hyper-patriotic, but certainly oversensitive. As I stated, I work at a school with lots of military and expressions of patriotism. I can tell you where a lot of that 61% comes from as 100% of our kids don't know it coming in.
To compare getting "bloodied up and what not" on a soccer field to what our military does on a daily basis has been discussed on ESPN before (the man-child from UM who compared football to going to war), so I won't revisit that dead horse. This isn't a major issue with me, but I did want the perspective of others. Quite frankly, I'm surprised by the response, but it's made interesting discussion.
I do greatly appreciate those who have served in our military (soccerboy). And do I ever wish that I had been born with the talent to play in the World Cup. Let's just say that I wish that our team showed the same patriotic gusto that many, if not most, of the others show at the singing of our anthem. If singing ruined their focus, it didn't show up on the scoreboard. Anthem or not, I was proud of our team's heart vs Italy.
