[greymule]

The umpire is an official of the game, and in that sense is sort of like a police officer for the field. If an ump wears the flag respectfully, as on the hat or sleeve, that's fine with me. It also seems to be fine with fans, players, coaches, etc. In fact, I prefer to wear flag patches, just to irritate the 5% of the U.S. population who are disturbed by patriotic displays.

Flag protocol is not law. It is guidelines so that the flag looks good when it is displayed. I look at the motive behind the treatment of the flag. If you burn an American flag to show how much you hate America, then why don't you get the h*ll out? If you burn a tattered flag privately to dispose of it properly, that's another story.

But Dakota is right, the flags on the hats do get soiled and worn. They are hard to clean, too.

There are several townships in my county. Flags are widely displayed in all but one of them. In that one, customary displays of the flag (as on July 4) are controversial, and every year there are enough protests that municipal officials are forced, as a conciliatory gesture, to promise not to let the flags fly past a certain date. You see, the U.S. is imperialist, racist, sexist, homophobic, lookist, ablist . . .