Yet another reason for MLB to be embarassed.

Posted by bsalamon on 07/15/09 at 10:01 AM ET

Remember when they flew the Canadian flag upside down?  Canada will always be an afterthought for MLB.

Posted by JimH from the International Space Station on 07/15/09 at 10:31 AM ET

Since when did Sara Evans become Sheryl Crow?

Posted by clemshady from Greenwood, SC on 07/15/09 at 10:44 AM ET

Bah, my bad.  Sara Evans sang ‘God Bless America’ at the 7th inning stretch.

Posted by clemshady from Greenwood, SC on 07/15/09 at 10:48 AM ET

Wait, a league with “National” and “American” leagues neglects Canada?

Posted by MarkK from Maryland on 07/15/09 at 11:03 AM ET

This:

It’s simple, really: national anthems have no place being played before sports events. This isn’t the 40s. It is an anachronistic sop to feeble-minded nationalism.

I agree with.  No one plays the anthem before movies or theatre performances anymore.

But if you are going to do it out of tradition anyway, sing both of them.  “O, Canada” is pretty easy to sing, it isn’t very long, and they could have dragged out few Blues fans who probably knew it already and had them practice that morning, then picked the best one for the game that night.  Not a difficult thing to do.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/15/09 at 11:17 AM ET

Someone twittered, tweeted me, whatever you call it and suggested Manny Legace could have sang O Canada.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 07/15/09 at 11:19 AM ET

If the NHL did this it would be front page news for ESPN and all hockey hating main stream media TV geeks

Posted by kevin from boston on 07/15/09 at 11:19 AM ET

the way these ‘pop artists’ butcher the national anthem (as well as any other country’s national anthem), I’d prefer an instrumental rendition.  I have a hard time believing that these ‘artists’ are singing for the love of country instead of their own popularity.  I do find it interesting, though, than when most americans finish their desecration of the Star Spangled Banner, they don’t normally ruin the Canadian anthem, and I rarely see a Canadian national stray from the way their anthem is written.  However, I usually won’t watch these ‘performances’ anymore because I cannot stand seeing the disrespect to the anthems and the countries victimized by these performances.

Posted by mike from detroit on 07/15/09 at 11:35 AM ET

It’s simple, really: national anthems have no place being played before sports events.

I agree.  I doubt Latin, Russian or any other non-North American player in either the NHL or MLB really cares about the U.S. or Canadian anthems.

Posted by george from San Diego on 07/15/09 at 12:00 PM ET

To me national anthems do have their place before games, but only on international competitions.

In my state (São Paulo) we have a law that obligates the national anthem to be played before every cultural event; it’s ok on graduations and stuff, but on the field it’s kinda lame to see the anthem playing and the crowd singing their clubs anthem instead.

But it’s beautiful when we have international competitions (soccer World Cup qualifiers or Volley World League), specially because the organization have time limits for the anthem, which cut Brazilian’s in half, but usually the crowd (about 70000 on soccer games) finishes the anthem without the melody, only in voice.

Posted by Guilherme from Brazil on 07/15/09 at 12:13 PM ET

Justin Morneau just went up a couple of notches in my mind. He’s absolutly correct. Imagine a game in Toronto and they treated the U.S. national anthem that way. OMG!! It would be breaking news on Fox News Channel ,Bill O’reilly would go nuts. Also, Kevin is exactly right. If the NHL did this then ESPN would lead Sportcenter with the story.

Posted by Lindas1st on 07/15/09 at 02:44 PM ET

That’s beautiful, Guilherme.  I’ve seen Jimmy Cliff sing the Jamaican National Anthem right before his country’s match against England and the Jamaicans were dancing in the stands to their national anthem.  It was a beautiful thing.

Here in Las Vegas, Paul Villaluz is the primary singer for the Las Vegas Wranglers home games and he does a terrific a cappella rendition of both the American and Canadian national anthems.  It’s heartfelt.  It’s soulful.  It’s clean.  In other words, why the hell can’t any of these bigger mainstream singers do it as honestly as he can withOUT the frilly over-vocalizations and menissmas (or however way you spell it)?  I really hate that.  It’s one thing to sing with enormous pride for your country; it’s another thing to butcher it.

Posted by SYF from a "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on 07/15/09 at 02:48 PM ET

At least the fans in St. Louis didn’t boo Oh Canada, unlike fans in Montreal and Vancouver for the American anthem.

Posted by Tero from Tacoma on 07/15/09 at 09:03 PM ET