My Father Died in Afghanistan, and I Support Colin Kaepernick
Once the band finally reached the end of the song, instead of singing “home of the brave,” the entire stadium screamed “home of the Chiefs!” They had replaced
“brave” — a word that, to me, represented my father, a man who spent 24 years in the military and gave his life for the country — with a mascot.
At my first Wildcat football game in Bill Snyder Family Stadium, as I barely held myself together during the national anthem,
the purple clad K-State fans shouted “Chiefs” in place of “brave.” We’re not even at a Chiefs game, I thought.
When we got to our seats after spending pregame on the field, I knew the national
anthem was coming — and I knew how hearing this song would make me feel.
I went to my first Kansas City Chiefs football game in December 2010, six months after my
father, Army Col. John McHugh, had been killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul, Afghanistan.
So many better ways they could be helping their “cause” they could use their time and money to make their point or make a difference, but oh wait …
that would require some sort of effort or sacrifice on their part.
“Get off the field, you’re drunk!” yelled a woman behind us who sported red-and-yellow face paint and seemed drunk herself.
