AS ONE MAN SITS OUT ANTHEM, LOCAL VETS STAND FAST.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

They remove their legion caps and get up slowly from their folding chairs, rising to pay homage to their flag.

The aches and pains of a long life and hard work have caught up with the backs and knees of these veterans from American Legion Post 826 in Woodland Hills.

But there's nothing wrong with the hands they place over their hearts, not with their voices as they begin to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

You look around this room at the pride in these grizzled faces, and you wonder how anyone could look at the same flag and see oppression and tyranny.

But that's exactly what Denver Nuggets guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf says he sees every time the lights dim in an NBA arena around this country, and the spotlight shines on the stars and stripes.

For refusing to stand during the national anthem, Abdul-Rauf has been suspended without pay by the NBA.

To the vets in this legion hall and countless like them across the country, he got off light.

To these vets, disrespect for the flag is disrespect for them and everything they stand for. Disrespect for all the men and women who died in wars around the world fighting the oppression and tyranny Abdul-Rauf now says the American flag symbolizes.

He makes more in one or two nights dribbling and shooting on NBA basketball courts than these men collect in a year of veterans benefits.

Is it too much to ask that he stand when fans and other players pay their respects to the flag hanging over the arena, and all the good things it stands for?

Now that he's got some time on his hands, maybe Abdul-Rauf should spend some time outside the small, starry-eyed, sheltered world of professional basketball and step into the real world for a while. Where the fans live.

Maybe he could stop by Building 99 at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration Hospital, and get a different read on this country from some people who gave up an arm or a leg - or more - to keep this country free from oppression and tyranny.

If anyone has the right to be mad or disrespectful of that flag, it's them. They paid a heck of a price for those stars and stripes.

But when the color guard comes marching by their windows, they stand - if they can. And when the Armed Forces band plays the national anthem, there's no hate in their eyes - only pride mixed in with a few tears.

A few minutes with Bill Clark over in Lake View Terrace wouldn't hurt Abdul-Rauf, either.

Bill describes himself as an "old black buck sergeant" who served on Gaudalcanal during World War II in the 93rd Division, an all African-American unit.

He's as down-to-earth a man as you're going to find on any street in this country. He doesn't see the oppression and tyranny Abdul-Rauf is talking about.

He saw the real stuff in World War II, and it sure doesn't look anything like what we've got over here now, Bill says.

All he finds out on his neighborhood streets today are kids dribbling basketballs with dreams of playing in the pros, like Abdul-Rauf.

Finally, maybe Abdul-Rauf could spend a few hours with the folks I spent time with Tuesday night over at post 826.

It was raining cats and dogs outside, but you couldn't keep these vets and their wives home. They had business to take care of, important business.

It's law-and-order month in the American Legion - time for posts to honor the top firefighter, paramedic, police and Highway Patrol officer in their area.

At Post 826 on the evening of March 30, you could get a steak dinner and some great stories of heroism for $10 - less than half the median price of an NBA ticket.

And over there, everybody stood up for the flag.