Listening to the Red Wings-Blackhawks pregame on Sunday reminded me of one of the most awful traditions in sports.

Jim Cornelison belted out his wonderful, booming rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.

The crowd yelled, screamed and clapped through the entire thing.  It’s something the fans started doing because they were so pumped up before a 1985 Campbell Conference playoff game against the Edmonton Oilers, and have continued it ever since.

And it makes my skin crawl every time I hear it.

I think Second City Hockey did a pretty good job of defending why we cheer through the anthem at the Madhouse on Madison in rebuttal to Otto’s piece, but I’d like to get some input from Tumblr’s resident veteran (and Penguins fan), Tim — aka onefootinthegrave — or any other veteran who might come across this post. Do you buy the argument that we cheered through the anthem at the 1991 All-Star game to support the troops and give them a boost and continue to show our patriotism by rah-rahing for America? Or is it disrespectful to cheer through the anthem?