Panthers tight end Jeremy Shockey says that when “The Star-Spangled Banner” played before Sunday’s game against the Texans, he looked across the field at the opposing sideline and didn’t like what he saw.
According to Shockey, several players on the Texans didn’t display proper reverence for America while the national anthem was played.
“I was pretty upset when they weren’t showing respect to America during the national anthem,” Shockey said, via the Houston Chronicle. “There were about 10 players who didn’t put their arms across their chest. This is America. They should at least give respect to America. I haven’t seen it anywhere else in the NFL, but I don’t know how you forget to do something like that.”
Texans linebacker DeMeco Ryans heard about Shockey’s complaint and raised an interesting question: If expressing patriotism during the national anthem is of paramount importance to Shockey, why was he focusing his attention on the Texans?
“If he’s so patriotic, why was he looking at our bench instead of the flag?” Ryans asked. “Where did he come up with the number 10? Was he counting? Why was he paying attention to us during the national anthem?”
If Shockey gets upset about opposing players not putting their hands on their hearts during the anthem, one can only imagine how upset he gets when the singer screws up the lyrics. Good thing that would never happen in the NFL.
