Marine Joey Jones Responds To Op-Ed Calling For End To National Anthem At Sporting Events

Retired Marine Corps bomb technician and double amputee Joey Jones appeared on “Fox & Friends” Friday to debate the merits of playing the national anthem at sporting events.

Jones was responding to a Thursday op-ed in USA Today which called the anthem a “lazy excuse for patriotism” and pushed for it to be removed from sports all together.

“It’s not faux patriotism. She makes some good points. We get lazy about it and nothing bothers me more than when someone’s walking around and chewing gum or like she said, hitting one of those smoke machines during the national anthem,” Jones said. “But at the end of the day isn’t that more reason why we should demand or at least put societal pressure on one another to respect it, stop what you’re doing for a moment and remember — hey there are men and women that lost their lives for this.”

Jones said the anthem still carries emotional weight for people, especially those who have lost relatives on the battlefield.

“One thing I would say to her is that when I’m at one of those sporting events, it means something to me. When gold stars moms and dads are at those events it means something to them,” he continued. “And for that reason alone it’s something that we should continue to do.”

Jones said the anthem is also symbolic of the unity we achieve when we put politics aside and gather together for a ballgame.

“We can talk about vouchers and school choice and all those things that would remedy those problems. But for a moment, why don’t we come together before a sporting event,” he said. “Something that is nothing more than a game. Yet, we put all this passion into it and that anthem right before this game reminds us wow, there’s something bigger than this. All this passion we feel we could put into this each other.”