The National Anthem

"Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hail'd, at the twilight's last gleaming." The United States National Anthem. The most sacred song I know. It still gives me chills every time I hear it sung. Also it is the one song in this country that everyone can respect.

Standing on the infield line, hand behind my back and my hat nailed to my heart. I listen at Veterans Memorial standing next to my visiting side dugout. I stand in between the visiting coaches and we all have a face of respect towards the flag and the singer. Then the song ends and everyone cheers, the hair on my arm stands up, and we play baseball.

The national anthem is not only symbolic to our nation but also to our sporting world. We play the song during the Olympics so that our nation is represented, it is played before every professional game, and is played before most every high school game. The song holds some weight. What does it actually stand for though?

The National Anthem stands for the fight we accomplished to win freedom in this nation. It describes the views from the front lines, and the feeling that the men had when they lifted our flag into the air, on that cold night when we thought we were defeated. The national anthem is history.

The moment that the National Anthem got really real for me was the first state playoff football game last year. When my team stood on the end zone line, helmets in hand, and stared at our flag waving in the air at midfield. Probably four thousand people were in the stands ready to watch us play our game, and I felt like it was the Super Bowl. I now knew how it felt to be in that position, when it feels like all eyes are on you. When the student section roared at the end, I thought I flashed to heaven and back. It was surreal. Then when we made the championship game the feeling was even greater. More people were in the stands and the game was state televised. The feeling during that song is different for everyone but I think of it as a calm before a storm. When I listen to the national anthem on television, I think that song is the only thing at that moment keeping the players sane. After the last note, the storms coming. That song marks the last time we are all on the same team until after the game is over. After all, the song is about war.

To wonder what that feeling was holding our nations flag on their back during the war is incomprehensible. If I got that sort of feeling from a high school football game, how would it feel to have a whole nation behind you? "For the land of the free, and the home of the brave."