The Friendly Confines isn’t so friendly for anti-American…
It was an incredible weekend at Wrigley Field, with a number of members from the 2016 World Series winning team on hand to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of breaking the curse. As a longtime fan, and someone who spent 16 years living in Chicago less than 2 miles from the stadium, it was nothing short of magical to relive some of those great moments from the 2016 season.
A number of players sat in the bleachers and Cubs fan favorite, Anthony Rizzo, even caught a HR ball while holding his kid…. you can’t make this up:
The Cubs had a decisive victory yesterday and ended up taking 2 of 3 from the Minnesota Twins, but the most viral moment from the weekend (or soon to be the most viral moment) might be what happened in the stands during the national anthem yesterday. With the Jersey Girls performing a spirited rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner” ahead of the first pitch, a young fan apparently didn’t want to stand up during the song.
And hey, it’s a free country… I know many service members who openly defend one’s right to sit down or take a knee, or not participate at all, but not standing for the national anthem is certainly one way to let everyone around you know that you’re probably an entitled and ungrateful little twat. Especially in Chicago. It’s a city known for loud and rowdy national anthem performances where the crowd sings along as loud as they can. Go to the United Center and watch a Blackhawks game… you’ll hear the loudest national anthem in your life, I promise you.
But when this young man (maybe in his early 20s) wasn’t standing for the anthem, this old-timer wasn’t having it… he walked over to him and demanded that he stand and pay his respect to the country, and then gave him a good smack to the back of the head when he wouldn’t. The same way a father would smack his son who just said something disrespectful to his mom. It wasn’t super aggressive, but it stunned the kid enough to make him stand up.
Check it out:
Wild, right? These days you would expect some sort of fist fight to follow that, but the kid took the shame on the chin and just stood up. The old man eventually said:
“Thank you, thank you so much young man.”
Some of the guys near the altercation were telling the old timer to leave the kid alone, and one dork even shook his hand (presumably for not resorting to more violence and standing up?) but overall, the moment has been met with mixed reactions… as everything even slightly political does these days. Is standing for the national anthem that political? Not really, but in 2026 it sure is.
On the one hand, you have a lot of people applauding the old timer for having the balls to call the kid out, and even smacking him on the head like “his parents probably never did.” And on the other hand, you have the people who think he should mind his own business. Of course, you have a few tough guy morons who would’ve “beat the old man into next week for touching me,” and a few others who hate America commending the kid, but overall, the old timer has received quite a bit of praise for his “old school” mentality.
For me, I don’t really condone smacking people, especially these days where insane levels of violence have become so common over petty things. And while I’m not entirely sure why the kid wasn’t standing, and maybe he has his reasons, I do commend him for standing up, respecting the old man, and not escalating the situation… I’ve seen far too many videos from sporting events where a similar situation would rapidly evolve into chaos. And even based on the comments, it’s clear that people think a rather “fatherly” smack to the head is a reason to send the old man to the hospital. It’s really not…
But I also respect the old man for telling him to stand up… nothing wrong with asking someone at a ballgame to stand up and show some love for the country they’re living in, to honor those who fought and died for the freedom to go to a baseball game, drink a cold beer, eat a hot dog, etc… I wish more people would get called out or at least questioned for why they’re so easily willing to be anti-American. Does this country have its problems? Absolutely… but everywhere does. American is still the greatest country in the world and regardless of who is in the White House, I can’t imagine not standing up to support it at a baseball game.
You can’t hit the guy though. You just can’t do that. Nobody would really ever press charges over it, but it is technically illegal. If they don’t want to stand, that’s their right. Ultimately, it seemed like cooler heads prevailed and they all probably moved on and enjoyed a Cubs blowout win.
