Paid patriotism

[bird.LA]

I've always found the pre-game jingoism pretty corny. Wonder if we see less of it moving forward or if teams do it anyway without being paid. (That said, $6.8MM over 4 years is a drop in the bucket.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/defense-military-tributes-professional-sports_5639a04ce4b0411d306eda5e

The Department of Defense doled out as much as $6.8 million in taxpayer money to professional sports teams to honor the military at games and events over the past four years, an amount it has “downplayed” amid scrutiny, a report unveiled by two Senate Republicans on Wednesday found.

Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake began looking into the Defense Department’s spending of taxpayer dollars on military tributes in June after they discovered the New Jersey Army National Guard paid the New York Jets $115,000 to recognize soldiers at home games.

The 145-page report released Wednesday dives deeper, revealing that 72 of the 122 professional sports contracts analyzed contained items deemed “paid patriotism” -- the payment of taxpayer or Defense funds to teams in exchange for tributes like NFL’s “Salute to Service.” Honors paid for by the DOD were found not only in the NFL, but also the NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS. They included on-field color guard ceremonies, performances of the national anthem, and ceremonial first pitches and puck drops.

 

[Lance Mannion]

Is there something about advertising that perplexes you?

 

[bird.LA]

Is there something about advertising that perplexes you?

LOL. Why do you ask?

 

[Lance Mannion]

I'm not sure why anyone would find this odd or notable.....well, HuffPo I understand, they're perplexed by reality in general.

 

[$kully]

If they want to honor vets they should honor vets like this…

[img:center]http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/84d499cf435c3e6fdd9ac549636ea461a8f98694/r=880&c=880x495/http/videos.usatoday.net/Brightcove2/29906170001/2013/04/29906170001_2327717853001_video-still-for-video-2295087503001.jpg[/img]

[img:center]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/07/09/article-0-0CEEA23B00000578-899_306x446.jpg[/img]

Instead we get poster boys and girls. That's not honoring anyone, that's promoting military recruitment.

 

[Lance Mannion]

That's not honoring anyone, that's promoting military recruitment.

Gee, did you just now figure that out?
You could be on to something, maybe the NFL should honor breast cancer survivors by showing tittyless naked pictures of cancer survivors.
Good idea little buddy!

 

[bird.LA]

I'm not sure why anyone would find this odd or notable.....well, HuffPo I understand, they're perplexed by reality in general.

It was reported in all sorts of outlets today, so if you'd prefer to read about from a source that works better for your worldview go ahead. I just thought it was interesting that two Republican senators are leading the charge to get rid of this kind of thing, and I hope they succeed.

 

[Sharkbiscuit]

That said, $6.8MM over 4 years is a drop in the bucket.

It's a drop in the ocean. The scary part is you need two Senators to spearhead a charge to trim $1.7M/year when you've got a budget deficit on the order of hundreds of billions.

 

[obslop]

this is why Pat Tillman refused to grant any interviews when he decided to join and serve - he knew he'd be used and he was eventually until the truth became known.