Patriotism Gone Awry

I'm watching the presentation of the colors during the singing of the National Anthem at the beginning of the Colts-Patriots game, and two things are striking me as funny:

1) The 50-yard-long American flag being presented isn't rectangular. It's in the shape of the continental United States (kind of like the picture to the right). This clearly violates the flag proportions specified in Executive Order 10834.

2) A flag cut to resemble the contiguous states necessarily leaves out Alaska and Hawaii. That ain't right. You might as well bring out a flag with 48 stars.