America, Fuck Yeah

There I was on Sunday night, minding my own business, getting ready to watch the Seattle Sounders take on the L.A. Galaxy in an MLS match with playoff implications. I was dicking around online, which is how I spend too many of my evenings, not really paying attention to the pregame festivities.

I heard a young voice start to sing the Star Spangled Banner, thought it was a cute little stunt by the Galaxy. Hot damn, but it was more than that. Take a listen to 7 year-old Malea Emma's rendition of our national anthem, and pay attention at the 1:15 mark.



I'm prone to hyperbole, it's been said. But it's no exaggeration for me to say that performance was among the top two or three versions of that song I've ever heard. Whitney Houston's Super Bowl effort sits atop the leaderboard, and Jimi's guitar at Woodstock probably the most memorable, but Malea Emma killed that notoriously challenging tune.

Even Zlatan loved it, and that dude's not even American.