National anthem

I don’t care what LeBron James thinks or says. That's why, unlike the many conservatives who have turned their backs on sports in recent days, I can still enjoy watching him dominate on the court. LeBron, no matter how much his gaggle of managers and agents and hangers-on try to frame him as some type of renaissance man, is strictly a basketball genius. He’s been pictured quixotically staring at books, putting on his best 'intellectual face,' but I have no doubt that he’d struggle with anything beyond middle-grade young adult fiction. And that’s fine — it’s more than enough to simply be one of the greatest athletes of all time. Too many of you expect too much from our great, hulking superstars.

Cockburn is going to get ahead of things and announce it right now: ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is doomed. Accept it, and the pain will be lessened. Over the weekend, conservatives were piqued (as they almost always are) when the track and field athlete Gwen Berry turned her back on the American flag as the national anthem played. How could she dare sully the integrity of the women’s hammer throw in this manner? Dan Crenshaw says Berry should be booted off the Tokyo Olympic team. Ted Cruz asked why the left ‘hates America’. They should have just let it lie. Instead, the GOP has let Berry’s stunt become a multi-day controversy. And in doing so, they have sealed the anthem’s fate.