Monday, March 5, 2007

Foreign flags at basketball tourney in Tulsa?

Hop on over to Spelunking Through the Chaos and check out the latest post regarding an alleged event where the Mexican and Canadian flags were brought out by the color guard, alongside the American flag, prior to a Mid-Continent Conference basketball tourney in Tulsa.

UPDATE (March 6, 2007)
Bruce DeLay, the Tulsa-area minister who brought this to peoples' attention, e-mailed me this morning, clearing up some questions that I had. Seems plausible, eh?

Writes DeLay: Here's some Info I have gathered on the flag incident at the ORU ballgame...
Turns out, the local Shriners provided the color guard.The following explaination was given by a past shriner president named Harry Potts:
The reason for the Canada and Mexico flags was that the "Shriners of North America" have childrens' hospitals in USA, Canada, Mexico, and Panama."They said the Oklahoma flag was used - in lieu of a Panama flag which they don't have.
They said the Oklahoma State flag is supposed to be lowered - But that flags of other nations are not supposed to be lowered. In answer to: "Why were the Canada and Mexico flags held at the same level as the USA flag?"
They answered: They were held just slightly lower than the USA flag, but not dipped like the Oklahoma flag. (I guess they were held so slightly lower that people in the crowd could not tell they were lower than the USA flag).

I guess that clears up that issue.

No comments: