Best National Anthem Ever

This is almost enough to make me want to be a Red Sox fan.

If you've ever stood near me at a sporting event, you know that I'm a connoisseur of singing the the National Anthem of the US. I'm a firm believer that if you're going to have a live singer or singers performing the Star Spangled Banner, or ANY country's anthem, you should sing it in a way that allows the crowd to sing along. Not everyone has operatic voices, nor the ability to hold a note for ten minutes.

And it's not a song that you should be experimenting with bizarrely styled ad-libbing of the notes, either. It's a song that means a great deal to our country and its citizens. No matter whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, pro- or anti-war, etc., you can sing the anthem and it means something to you. America is a place of which to be very proud, as is just about every country for different reasons (yet, for some reason, the same reason when you get right down to it).

I have been known to heckle singers who play around with it and make it impossible to sing along - they have no business leading the crowd in singing a patriotic song. It's not meant to be a performance, it's participatory. You SING ALONG.

I also have no time for people who stand there and look around at everyone else, or talk, or just don't even try to sing during the anthem. We sing the anthem to honor our home. Get on the stick and be proud of where you live.

That being said, here is possibly the GREATEST singing of the Star Spangled Banner that I've ever experienced. And I wasn't even there. The description of the clip on YouTube reads:

It was Disability Awareness day and the folks at Fenway did a lot of great things for kids with challenges..here is one who sang and when he got nervous the Fenway Faithful helped him out

And help him out they do. Simply fantastic.