Stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner," or we'll suspend you.

In so many words, that's what the National Basketball Association operations manual says. The rule states that "players, coaches and trainers shall line up in a dignified posture" during the playing of both the Canadian and American anthems.

Well, for the last five months, Denver Nugget guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf has decided to be undignified in the eyes of the NBA. Before some games, he sat in the locker room as the anthem played. Before others, he sat and faced away from the flag.

The NBA found out a month ago and suspended Abdul-Rauf last week for one game that cost him $31,707 in salary. Until this year, no professional athlete had ever been punished for refusing to stand for the song's traditional pre-game rendition.

He faced a wall of criticism. Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's career leading scorer and fellow convert to Islam, encouraged him to rethink his position.

Well, Abdul-Rauf ended up standing at last Friday's game against the Bulls. Maybe the threat of losing more than $650,000 for sitting out the rest of the season had something to do with it.

Whatever the case, I could care less whether Abdul-Rauf stands during the anthem. It shouldn't be up to the NBA to decide for the players whether or not they stand to honor the flag. It seems like an easy decision to make, but it should be left to the pla yers.

I still have yet to hear about a law that requires fans to stand for the anthem, so why should players have to?

Granted, the anthem has been part of professional sports since the song was played at the 1918 World Series. Now, it's played at virtually every sporting event, and people stand because they want to stand, not because they're forced to.

And that's the way it should be in the NBA.

But obviously, by having a rule that requires players to stand, the NBA is showing how its concern for its image far outweighs its concern for players' rights.

Let the players do what they want. If they don't want to honor the flag for what it's worth, then don't force them to. I'd much rather see a player standing because he wants to, not because he's required to.

Besides, I've never been one for forced sincerity.

In his game against the Toronto Raptors on Monday, Abdul-Rauf stood as the American and Canadian anthems played.

According to Associated Press reports, he covered his face with cupped hands and said "a prayer, [his] own prayer, for those who are suffering."

His standing during the songs, though, was meaningless, for I'm sure he rose still thinking of the flag as a symbol of "oppression and tyranny," just as he had described to reporters previously.

Although I dispute the NBA's rules that require players to stand, I disagree with Abdul-Rauf's hypocrisy even more.

What he fails to realize is that the "oppressive" flag he refuses to honor is the very symbol behind the country that allows him to make $2.5 million a year for playing basketball.

The AP reported him saying that his "intentions were not in any way to be disrespectful to those who regard the national anthem as a sacred ceremony."

In the past, he's turned his face from the flag. Now, he covers his face in prayer.

I was always taught to look someone in the eye when I pay a compliment.

Any other way is disrespectful.

He lives in a country that grants endless freedoms. He has risen to a level many only dream of, and even though he now stands for the anthem, he still refuses deep down to honor the flag because of religious reasons.

He said that the Koran, the book of Islam, does not allow nationalistic ritualism, but Islamic experts disagreed.

Sure, this country has had its share of oppression. Slavery and the Jim Crow South are just two of many examples. But Abdul-Rauf is ignorant for calling the American flag a symbol of oppression today, for he is the epitome of what American freedom allows.

I could care less whether or not he prays, talks to himself, or stands there and sleeps as the anthem plays. He's already made it clear that he doesn't respect the country in which he lives.

He's ignorant if he thinks he'd be making $2.5 million a year for playing basketball anywhere else, and he should realize that today's flag is a symbol of "opportunity" rather than "oppression."

And let him pray, but gods don't sign the checks.

Adam Djurdjulov is a journalism junior. His column appears every other Thursday.