World Net Daily ... With Veterans Day approaching – a day causing most of us to experience a patriotic spiritual awakening – it is time to revisit the issue of athletes kneeling during our national anthem. Two sporting events, both occurring last month, draw our attention to the issue.

One event was this year's World Series, which began Oct. 22. But it is that sporting contest, specifically a game played over a century earlier, which gave rise to a spur-of-the-moment, patriotic spiritual awakening. In doing so, it established the tradition of standing for the flag as the national anthem is played.

Ironically, the second event mentioned above also took place Oct. 22. It involved the flagrant disrespect exhibited by the Lakers' professional basketball player, LeBron James, in an NBA opening game against the Clippers.

The first event recognized a tradition of respect Americans have had for the flag dating back 101 years; the second event recognized how athletes selfishly choose to dishonor the flag and national anthem – two symbols representing something much bigger than they are – to push their own agendas.

In September 1918, in the first game of the World Series, the home team Chicago Cubs faced the Boston Red Sox. It was a challenging time for America. A year earlier, we had declared war on Germany. As noted of that time, "World War I had sacked Americans' enthusiasm for sports and set them on edge against each other." Hatred and violence against German immigrants had erupted, German street names were being changed, a German-born orchestra conductor was forced to resign, and a German-American laborer was dragged into the streets and hanged. 

Historically, it was a most divisive time – not unlike today.

As the game entered the seventh inning, fans were showing little enthusiasm. To inspire them, the military band at the game began playing "The Star Spangled Banner."

A Red Sox player present that day was Fred Thomas, a Navy man on leave from the service. Hearing the tune, he immediately stood at attention, turning to salute the flag. Other players, removing their ball caps, also stood, hand over heart. One by one, they began singing. Then, in an incredible show of unity, the entire crowd stood to join in as well. With the song's final note, fans erupted into a thunderous applause. 

The Red Sox were so moved that day, they decided to play "The Star Spangled Banner" at all their home games.

By 1931, "The Star Spangled Banner" officially became America's national anthem. Over time, it evolved into a fixture for other professional sporting events as well. By World War II's end, the commissioner of the National Football League insisted the national anthem should be as much a part of every game as was the kickoff. With America having fought two world wars, he emphasized the flag represented that which should never be forgotten.

On Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, an intra-city NBA basketball game was played in Los Angeles between the Lakers and the Clippers. It began with the national anthem, for which the Lakers all stood at attention – except the team's star player. 

LeBron James walked off the court. As he did so, he apparently felt compelled to further disrespect the solemnity of the moment by shouting to the crowd, "Let's goooo," unzipping his sweat jacket and taking a seat.

Only a week earlier, James, in a statement of support for China's president-for-life (read that "dictator"), Xi Jinping, had outrageously called Hong Kong's courageous democracy supporters "uneducated." The Hong Kong protests are not dissimilar to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest that eventually saw democracy demonstrators massacred. 

One wonders just how educated James is, not only about what is taking place in Hong Kong, but about the vast network of concentration camps in China being used to brutalize the country's minority Uighur population as well. The camps are part of a program seeking to quash independence movements and any opposition to Xi's authority, using mass incarceration and forced ideological indoctrination to do so. Yet James totally ignores the regime's brutality.

James' anti-American display at the game made it somewhat satisfying to see his Lakers lose the opener by a score of 112-102.

It is doubtful either Colin Kaepernick – the San Francisco quarterback who started the anti-America kneeling campaign in 2016 – or LeBron James, who seeks to continue it, know or even care about our anthem's history. 

In 1918, the actions of one man, Fred Thomas, helped unify a divided nation. Yet, 101 years later, again as a nation divided, we are witnessing the actions of one man, LeBron James, seeking to keep it that way.