I Never Thought It Would Be Good

Well, the 49ers lost yesterday. I'm semi-consolable. I'd be inconsolable if this hadn't been the best season that they'd had in at least a dozen years and if they hadn't gotten farther than 29 other teams in the NFL. It's hard to complain about something like that. Easy to be sad, but hard to complain. But don't think that's going to stop people from complaining. No, they complain. You know why? Because people are a-holes when it comes to sports, that's why. Actually, they'll complain about anything that they can find to complain about when sports are involved.

Take the national anthem. The NFL had Steven Tyler sing the anthem before the start of the other game yesterday. Now, I find it an interesting choice, but I'm not going to be surprised if he ends up singing a 'non-traditional' sounding anthem. What would you expect? It's Steven freaking Tyler. There's not one single thing that's 'traditional' about that man. Nothing. (And I'm a Steven Tyler fan, by the way. That doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm getting when he's the choice to sing the national anthem. I know. And I know it'll be something, but that something likely won't be great.)


But people complained about it. Were they expecting anything different? How could they have been? But yet ESPN guy Skip Bayless tweeted "How could Patriots be inspired by that awful anthem sung by Steven Tyler? At least give him some screaming guitars to camouflage voice." Again, his voice wasn't made for the national anthem. What did he expect? I don't know, but it must have been the same thing that an abundance of other people expected.

Deadspin.com went with "Steven Tyler's 'Star-Spangled Banner' was terrible, but was it the worst ever?" Oh, for crying out loud! He wasn't trying to...it's not that kind of a....never mind. And I have those same sentiments for a one Greg Gutfeld of FOX News who tweeted "I went outside to put a raccoon out of its misery - then I realized my neighbor was watching Steven Tyler sing the Star-Spangled Banner." It's not supposed to sound all perfect! It's Steven Tyler! Why were you expecting something other than a miserable raccoon sound?!

OK, sure, it did sound like he kind of got some of the words wrong a couple of the times.

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Now That's An Anthem

So, yesterday we had the barrage of 09/11 tributes. Too many to count, really. And it was also the first day of the NFL football season. And I guess that we were all supposed to be extra moved by whoever it was that did their rendition of the national anthem before the various games. I get that. I mean, we were only ten days into the Persian Gulf War in 1991 when Whitney Houston did her thing at the Super Bowl at Tampa Stadium. (Holy crap, we've been at war in the sand lands for way too long.) But I guess I'm just one of those people that likes the anthem to just be sung. It doesn't need to be all tricked out or anything. I just want whomever to sing the song and sing it like they mean it and not so much like they're just trying to impress people with their wide vocal range and sparkly fringe outfit. That's all I ask.

And over there at Soldier Field in Chicago where the Bears hosted the Atlanta Falcons, I got my wish. Apparently, there's a guy named Jim Cornelison who can really sing the national anthem. And I mean really sing it. This guy doesn't mess around. (I don't know what the big gaudy ring on his finger is, but I'm hoping that it's some sort of a sports championship ring. Hoping. It looks like a broach. ) I find it extremely moving, especially on 09/11. Now if I can just go for the rest of my life without having to hear Christina Aguilera or Fergie ever sing the anthem again, I'll be happy. Check out this Jim Cornelison guy singing yesterday. (The actual singing part starts around 1:05 if you're not interested in watching a bunch of people unroll the biggest flag that I've ever seen.) It's awesome and it's how it should be.

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