Upside-Down American Flags Sell Like Hotcakes

TORONTO — Entrepreneurs were doing a booming business selling upside-down American flags as Canadians prepared to take revenge by displaying them at Tuesday night’s World Series game in Toronto.

Canadians were outraged when a U.S. Marine color guard carried Canada’s national flag with the maple leaf stem pointing up during opening ceremonies before Sunday night’s game in Atlanta between the Braves and Blue Jays.

“I hear there are going to be a lot of upside-down American flags at the game tonight,” said Greg Grant, a Toronto businessman.

Alec Rankin, owner of a company that makes pennants and banners, said his company had sold more than 20,000 upside-down stars and stripes on sticks in just a few days.

Gail Anderson, spokeswoman for the Blue Jays’ stadium, the SkyDome, appealed to Canadian fans to show a little tact.

“We expect a lot of fans will bring flags but our stadium flags are going to follow protocol and we are just going to concentrate on the game,” Anderson said.

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said the flag incident was an unfortunate error and should not be blown out of proportion.

Since the incident, apologies have been flying north from U.S. dignitaries.

A letter from Major League Baseball apologized for the error and President Bush offeredsincere apologies while speaking to an Atlanta television station.

“This was a mistake and certainly nobody would ever do a thing like that on purpose,” Bush said.