The media has had a profound effect on how athletes celebrate and support the United States troops abroad in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gone are the days of Operation Desert Storm. Gone, too, is the universal spirit of togetherness The Star Spangled Banner can bring as the crowd rises to honor our nation and those who fight for its freedom. Granted, protesting is a part of our Constitutional rights, as well it should be.

The concern here lies in the message our young athletes receive here at home by the negativism toward the Iraqi conflict and, of course, the mixed message soldiers overseas get when they witness the infighting transpiring on American soil.

Picture yourself in a United States military uniform, about to go into conflict when you’ve spent the night before watching CNN with your buddies. All those talking heads in the United States, blaring out this opinion or that, while you, the front-line soldier, are getting geared up for another day in the trenches.

I couldn’t help thinking about all this while I watched the annual Army-Navy football game unfold in Philadelphia recently. Now there’s a setting, my friends, that oozes with patriotism, a sentiment lost in a lot of corners these days.

As a coach, I remember the rousing nationalism that seeped into every corner of every gymnasium during Operation Desert Storm. I remember the stirring rendition of our national anthem. I also recall the musical solos of such patriotic favorites as God Bless America. I recall moments of silence in countless arenas for the young men and the young women who were laying down their lives for the cause of peace.

Basketball uniforms across the land were adorned with miniature American flags. Crowds stood in silence at the mere mention of hometown boys and hometown girls who were honoring their country by simply being in the service.

I’m not getting that sense of nationalism now that existed some 14 years ago across the region prior to all high school and college athletic events.

Here’s why.

What has transpired this time out is this: The unpopularity of the occupation in Iraq has rendered a situation that is volatile publicly. I grew up during the time of the Vietnam conflict, and I also played in and attended numerous athletic events during that same period.

Oh, there was some recognition of our fighting men and women, but for the most part, as the ill wind blew across the land and the sentiment toward the Southeast Asian war continued, Vietnam became a tumultuous event.

Again, think of those who risked and gave their lives for a cause that was notoriously unpleasant. I can’t imagine how that felt.

And here we are in 2005, reeling from the daily headlines, then attending our sons’ and our daughters’ athletic events, only to find the patriotic sentiment slipping away to nothing in most athletic corners.

Oh, there has been a brief mention of it from time to time. A pause or a moment of silence accompanies some events, but for the most part, the ill wind that blows out of those talking heads’ mouths each evening has permeated our thinking and hurt the cause of freedom.

Who among us can’t remember the national fervor following the terrorist plot and subsequent attack on September 11th (2001)?

The spirit of nationalism was never higher.

Only Major League Baseball kept the athletic home fires burning with seventh-inning renditions of God Bless America to stir the crowd, salute the troops, and honor America.

It’s time to rekindle those fires. It’s time to salute the cause of freedom being played out across the world by the men and the women in uniform. And it’s especially time to make our young people aware in gymnasiums and arenas everywhere that we do honor those who serve, however unpopular these conflicts have become in some circles.

NEWS columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net