The best patriotism money can buy

The Yankees love to roll out the flag.

Fine. No problem. I'm good with that.

If they've ever charged the taxpayers to do it, well, Hal should be stuffed in a parachute and dropped into Syria.

In recent years, on-field flag rollouts and other ceremonies saluting military personnel have become commonplace at National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer games around the country. The majority of the contracts analyzed in the report — 72 of 122 — showed that the Department of Defense paid for the tributes that included national anthem performances, ceremonial first pitches, puck drops, color guard presentations and enlistment ceremonies.

This scandal is pungent with the stench of the NFL. But it needs to piss off every fan of every sports team whose billionaire owner - yep, that's Billionaire with a B - ever took one thin penny in exchange for basking in their stars-and-striped pajamas. "Paid patriotism"... what a concept.

No word on whether the Yankees take part in this. For whatever it's worth, the claim is that pro team owners - giants of morality that they are - are "unaware" of this. (What a crock! The story says the NY Jets received $327,000 for their paid patriotism. The owner is unaware of a third of a million dollars?) What wonderful, loyal, true blue Americans they are!) Somehow, the Pentagon is actually trying to spare these morality midgets the embarrassment of being outed?

More than a third of the contracts highlighted in the report were not included in a list provided by the Pentagon, the senators said. Two-thirds of the contracts found in their own investigation or reported by the Department of Defense, they said, contained some form of “paid patriotism.”

Listen: I hate "holier than thou" bloggers, who pick out something obscure and take a big moral stance, pretending to have principles. Make no mistake: This site has no principles, other than to root for the Yankees. But goddammot, I can't remember when a story has pissed me off more. If the Yankees are involved in this... if every time in the seventh inning, when they bring out the good veteran and encourage everyone to sing "God Bless America"... if Hal is taking money to do it...