My niece is singing the national anthem at the giants vs rangers game on the 8th.

That's a wonderful accomplishment, Santa! Please give her our best wishes.

Again Santa? Will try to tune in this time; we subscribe to MLB.

Yeah, they liked her because she is cute and can sing without doing runs and that crap. She just does the anthem straight.

I loathe the celebrities who try to put their own theme on our national anthem. It's admittedly a very difficult arrangement to sing. And there's a right way to sing it and a wrong way. And celebrities just put their own spin on it and it's a constant irritant to me. And most of the time their spin sucks.

My 8th grade music teacher taught us something that remains with me today. It drove him nuts when he heard the ending and folks singing, "Oh say does that star spangled ba-a-a-a-a-ner yet wave......"

He insisted that it must be sung, "Oh say does that star spangled ba-ner-her yet wave......"

It worked. I still remember it and most folks don't sing it correctly today. I'm pulling for your niece!

Not sure what Friday's schedule is yet, but I figure my Mets will be on Friday night; I'll be looking for the SF TR game on Friday too, just to hear your niece.

As long as she don't copy Roseanne Barr.

She plays it straight. A couple years ago her friends tried to get har to do runs and that bs that singers were always doing. The light opera music director told her it would ruin her voice so. She knocked it off.

I was in charge of the pre-event stuff at the Long Beach street race one year. Our boss OK'd some gal he met in a bar to sing the anthem. When she arrived she was so nervous didn't think she could to it. I told here don't worry. We didn't turn on her mike and played a recording. She just moved her lips.