No national anthem at Mavs game

[SleepingHero]

My guess would be that he's trying to avoid the politics altogether, at least in the context of Mavs games. We know he has no problem mixing it up with people in his personal voice on twitter, that's for sure

Like others have said, removing the national anthem at this specific time in our country is a little counterintuitive if Cuban is trying to avoid politics all together.


Put it this way, wouldn't it be less political if Cuban just played the national anthem and done the status quo like every other team in the league? It's obvious he's trying to make a statement, and given recent events from the Jan 6 debacle, to the BLM protests/riots, him removing the national anthem is a pretty blatant expression against it. Which is disappointing to say the least.

There are certain unifying core tenants that make a country a country. The flag, the anthem, the people etc. Without these identifiers there is no United States, UK, or whatever country you want. 

Now again, playing devil's advocate, there isn't any 1 reason we can point to and say "this is why we should play the national anthem at games". It's a tradition borne out of what is likely paid military propaganda. I can see the argument against it because of its likely origins and the fact that we shouldn't do something just because we've always done it. But  it's also a show of gratitude for the country that we're in and recognizing the USA as we play a competition sport in which it resides. I don't think it's bad to have it, because all it is is a sign of respect of where we are.  

It could 1000% be possible that Cuban doesn't want to pay for a performer during COVID with no fans and he'll bring it back next season and this is all overblown, but I don't think that's what Cuban is trying to go for here. And I am disappointed in this choice greatly.