Athletes Who Exercise Their Freedom By Hating On America

Hot dogs, apple pie, fireworks and anti-patriotism— it's the perfect excuse for a July 4 gallery. Now go celebrate America!

Be honest: The only reason you remember Mahmoud Abdul Rauf — that's Chris Jackson, for those who knew him back in Mississippi — is because he was the guy who didn't stand for the national anthem back in 1995. Some people were not entirely pleased with his act of defiance.

Carlos Delgado believed the U.S. invasion of Iraq was the "stupidest war ever," and he chose to stage a personal protest and not stand when God Bless America played in the seventh inning at ballparks. Yankees fans weren't so accepting of his decision, and on one occasion, when he lined out in the top of the seventh, New Yorkers started their "U-S-A!" chants. Patriotism at its finest.

All it takes for ESPN to cover to finally give some press to the Manhattanville women's basketball team is a player turning her back to the American flag during the national anthem. She faced the other way for her "quiet, private expression to herself of her own thoughts, her own ideas and moral judgment." The uproar wasn't as silent.

Allen Iverson's charity flag football game. (Yep.) National anthem begins to blare. Josh Howard: "Star Spangled Banner's going on right now. I don't celebrate that shit, because I'm black."

From all accounts, Carl Lewis is a perfectly patriotic gentleman. He won 10 medals, nine of them gold, for the Red, White and Blue, and after all of those times he ascended the Olympic podium, he listened to Francis Scott Key's magnum opus. Chances are, he even memorized it. If only he could have hit the notes at a 1993 NBA game. His rendition is slightly offensive, and entirely enjoyable. Who said schadenfreude was German?