U-S-A (4th of July post)

Here's something for the 4th of July - a video (at bottom of this post) that has to be one of the very finest renditions of our national anthem that we've ever seen (or heard, for that matter).

All finished.  A look of pride.  Or relief.

It was a Sunday afternoon game for the Diamondbacks during the interleague portion of the summer 2011 schedule - Chicago White Sox in town.  Sunday is kids day at the ballpark.  Meaning the team lets kids do various tasks, such as some of the in-game announcing, introducing the lineups and - best of all on this particular Sunday - singing the national anthem.

Yes, we've heard the anthem more times than we can count.  But there's something about this performance . . .

We were quite worried that this singer wouldn't make it all the way through.  I think the whole stadium felt that way.

But she seemed to pick up confidence as she went along.  And how about the (tenuous, then triumphant) moment when she goes for the high note (1:55 of the video).  You can feel the crowd responding at this point . . . almost exhaling collectively in relief, then quickly breaking into cheers and applause for our young performer.

I never get tired of this video.