So if you've been to a few games over the past couple of years, you know that we got a fellow named Charles! who does a damn good job of singing the anthem before most of the games. With this he also asks the crowd to sing along with him, but he is still the primary singer. Tonight (4-6, the home closer of the regular season), was not the case.

As soon as the he finished the first line of "O! say can you see?" He stopped singing and held the mic up while the crowd, unphased, continued for the remainder of the anthem. It was truly one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen and heard when it comes to the singing or playing of any national anthem. The only thing that would have made it better, for me at least, is if the crowd had not substituted Blues for Brave like they always do.

I once asked my dad what the best version of the anthem he had ever heard done was and he responded that when he was younger, he heard James Earl Jones read the poem the lent its words to the Star-Spangled Banner. I would like to think that this would have been close to that.

I hope someone somewhere has a recording as it was the most moving thing I've heard, having nearly twenty thousand people singing the national anthem. This to me, was the perfect way of presenting the anthem. Perhaps, I was a little extra swayed by this as moments before there was a moment of silence for a young soldier in Afghanistan who lost his life this week who was apparently an avid Blues fan who would attend any game he could during leave. This moment was also remarkable as there was nothing to be heard except for a slight cough from someone near the end.

Update: Video, not the whole thing but really gives you sense of it:

St. Louis Blues fans sing national anthem (via SaraUSMC)