Today's answer: You can try. Should you? Well ... it depends on your tolerance level for jail.
This question arises from an incident over the weekend, which has since gone viral on social media, Mediaite informs us today. Before the Chicago Cubs took the field, the crowd stood for the traditional singing of our national anthem. The crowd mostly stood, I should say; one recalcitrant young man remained seated. And one older man took offense at it, enough to do this:
Guy at a Chicago Cubs game refuses to stand during the National Anthem!
— Brandon (@LibOrNormal) July 20, 2026
The guy behind him gets pissed and does this.... pic.twitter.com/C4iKqPX7Co
“Stand up!” the older man demanded as the younger fan looked irritated and briefly shook his head in apparent confusion.
The two exchanged words, with the older man again spitting: “Stand up!” before he lifted his left hand and smacked the younger man in the head, the video showed.
Audible gasps could be heard in the crowd as the older man unleashed his slap and other fans turned around to see what was happening.
The younger man is then seen slowly getting to his feet.
Only one nearby fan tried to rein in the angry fan, telling him, “Just leave him alone.”
The slapper then pointed to the younger man and said, “He’s not standing up!” and even appeared to tell the other fan, “Shut up!”
Before we get into the legalities of this – and there are legalities, trust me – allow me to indulge my sense of déjà vu from this incident. Almost the exact same sequence took place 44 years ago in Anaheim, California, only it involved my then-girlfriend's dad, my dad, a young man, and the Anaheim Police. And a beer. Let's not forget the beer.
The set-up: My girlfriend and I had gotten serious quickly and had already met each other's families. We wanted to introduce our fathers, both of whom loved baseball, and so we bought tickets to an Angels game for all of us plus another couple. She and I were waiting for the other couple when all this transpired, so we had to get filled in on the incident later.
Her father, Dave – a great guy, may he rest in peace – had a beer in his hand when the anthem started. The young woman in front of us stood up, but her male companion did not. She attempted to cajole him into standing up, but he refused again. Dave decided to incentivize some respect by dumping his beer on the young man's head. He stood up, spluttering and demanding an explanation from Dave, who was a physically imposing man even at his age. Dave replied, "You stand up for the national anthem."
"I'm not an American," the young man protested.
"When you're in America," Dave responded without missing a beat, "you stand up for the national anthem."
As one might imagine, this did not go over well with the couple. The young man went to find the police – Anaheim Stadium was and still is a municipal stadium patrolled by police rather than private security – and two cops showed up and beckoned Dave to follow them. My father, who thought this was all pretty hilarious, eventually worried that he might need to bail Dave out and finally went to go see where they took him. To my father's surprise, Dave was already walking back to our section, laughing with the cops as he came back.
My father asked Dave what happened, and he said the cops asked him why he'd dumped a beer on the young man's head. Dave told them exactly why he'd done it, and one of the two started laughing. The other said they'd let him return if he promised not to make any more trouble, and they ended up moving the young couple to better seats closer to third base to separate everyone.
And now we get to the legalities, because Dave was fortunate not to get charged with simple battery, as was the man in this viral video. In this instance this weekend, Illinois law applies, which makes this kind of hostile physical contact a Class A misdemeanor. That can get you up to a year minus one day in the local jail, along with fines, probation, community service, restitution, and other life complications. That's an awful lot of consequences just to teach someone the value of respect and patriotism, if indeed either incident succeeded in doing so.
Somehow, I suspect that neither young man learned anything from these incidents, other than maybe it's better to stand rather than provoke a reaction by refusing to do so. That may be respect, but it's minimal. On the other hand, if you batter someone who's disrespecting the anthem while with friends, you'll create a memory that will last a lifetime – and that's not a bad thing at all.
Dave was a terrific guy, although we lost touch when my relationship ended with the girlfriend a couple of years later. He passed away years ago, but I still recall him fondly, and my father took an instant liking to him. When we would recount the incident to friends, I was always amazed at how many people wanted to replace the beer he lost. I suspect that this man will get a similar reaction to this viral video. I wish both he and the young man well, and just wish that we didn't have to look for ways to teach grown adults to show at least minimal respect for their own country, even ceremonially.
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