Jerry Stackhouse, the ageless forward for the Brooklyn Nets, sang the Star Spangled Banner on Saturday in their meeting against the Chicago Bulls. Now, Stackhouse is no Marvin Gaye, but were there some parts of his performance reminiscent of one of the best renditions of the American national anthem?
Stackhouse, who's wrapping up his 18th season in the NBA, stole the pregame festivities as he gave the national anthem some flavor in his vebrato-filled and soulful rendition. Stackhouse sang the anthem and then immediately became a locker room jock high-fiving teammates and giving chestbumps confident in his performance and in his team's chances of defeating an injury riddled Bulls team.
Now, as mentioned above, Stackhouse is no Marvin Gaye, but he had everbody's attention. Here's Stackhouse's rendition from Saturday evening.
You know you've done something great when you're hearing whistles in between the stanzas. Also, at the conclusion of his performance, he might as well have hit a go-ahead three as the fans cheered for Stackhouse as he successfully sang the song with conviction without any troubles. Some people like to sing a long, but Stackhouse had every listening.
Maybe comparing it to Gaye's version is an overstatement, but both guys brought their on feeling to the anthem we've heard over and over again and at times can group monotonous in pregame ceremonies. Here's what Gaye did that even had one viewer comment "Only Marvin could turn that into a song you want to have sex to. LOL!"
Kind of makes you want to hear it again no? When was the last time you head fans clapping along to the national anthem? This is probably the most unique rendition of all and some consider it the best. Nothing against Whitney Houston's Super Bowl performance, but Gaye really made it his own. Houston's version was probably the most beautiful, dynamic and inspiring performance. It's almost like you can throw that version into a Disney movie and not notice she was singing the American anthem.
It'll be interesting to see if Stackhouse will continue singing the national anthem as the Nets played very well in Game 1 against the Bull. Game 2 is Monday night at 8 p.m. ET.
