National Anthem Pulse
Teams discuss how they approach
the National Anthem, including song selection, standard
proceedure, league rules and singer selection.
Thanks to our Game Operations Professionals
for their time and insight.
Tony Dufek
River City Lancers Hockey Club
Do you use pyrotechnics,
dim the lights, use spotlights, or other special
effect enhancements?
The Lancers dim the lights, use spotlights to showcase the singer
and we put the singer on the video board along with an American
flag blowing in the wind.
Do you ever tie in the performance
of the national anthem with ticket sales (groups
who sell tickets perform, like a high school choir)?
Yes, we try and get surrounding communities to come out to the
game and give them a chance to sing the anthem.
Do
you hold an audition for all interested singers prior
to the season?
We just ask for audio tapes.
Do you sound check prior
to the game?
Yes
Do you ever use alternate
songs like America the Beautiful in lieu of the national
anthem (why or why not)?
Yes, because we have a rival team named the Stars and their fans
like to yell Stars to coincide with the national anthem.
Do you have a back-up plan
if your anthem singer no-shows?
We do have a back up loaded in our system.
When performing the anthem,
can your singer see the words on a matrix or scoreboard?
No, we do not have the words on the video board.
De Borah Wells
Chicago Bulls
Breifly describe your presentation
of the national anthem.
The Chicago Bulls' National Anthem presentation includes a Color
Guard ceremony along with the singing/performance of the Star
Spangled Banner.
Do you use pyrotechnics,
dim the lights, use spotlights, or other special
effect enhancements?
The Bulls go lights-out for the National Anthem presentation.
Spotlights are used for the flag, performer and the Color Guard
unit. Stars and flag gobo images are projected onto the
court. Patriotic images are scrolled through waving flag images
on the LED Ribbon Boards. Waving flag images are displayed along
with the names of the performers and the Color Guard Unit. The
video board pans the flag, performer, color guard, and players
faces during the presentation. The building flag waves when the
performer reaches the part of the song referencing the waving
of the Banner. Pyrotechnics are not used during the National
Anthem presentation because they are used in the player intros.
Do you ever tie in the performance
of the national anthem with ticket sales (groups
who sell tickets perform, like a high school choir)?
No.
Do you hold an audition
for all interested singers prior to the season?
The Bulls put heavy emphasis high quality in all aspects
of our game presentation. To help guarantee that the National
Anthem performances meet that standard, we select members of
the Lyric Opera Chicago to sing the Anthem. We have done this
for three seasons and have enjoyed the arrangement. While a few
exceptions have been made throughout the years, we do not plan
to make this opportunity open to the public.
Do you sound check prior
to the game?
No.
Do you ever use alternate
songs like America the Beautiful in lieu of the national
anthem (why or why not)?
We have, during special presentations, included the performance
of "God Bless America," but it was not sung in lieu
of the Star Spangled Banner.
Do you have a back-up plan
if your anthem singer no-shows?
In the event of a no-show we have several recorded versions of
the National Anthem.
When performing the anthem,
can your singer see the words on a matrix or scoreboard?
No.
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Todd Bosma
Portland Trail Blazers
Breifly describe your presentation
of the national anthem.
Blow-off happens, we welcome everyone to arena. Then we
go "Half House" or boxing lighting when we introduce
the group doing the color guard for that night. While being
spot-lit hey walk from the baseline to center court, they
turn to face our PA Announcer and walk a third onto the court. Then
we announce our National Anthem Performer - We give name and
where they are from. They start on the sideline in front
of our PA Announcer and walk a third out into the court facing
the Color Guard. They sing then the lights come back up.
Do you use pyrotechnics,
dim the lights, use spotlights, or other special
effect enhancements?
We go half-house during the entire thing, we use spotlights
and we use our Gobo lights under our scoreboard to shine red
white and blue stars on the court while they are singing. We
feel that it adds to the drama of the song as well as highlight
our performer for that night.
Do you ever tie in the performance
of the national anthem with ticket sales (groups
who sell tickets perform, like a high school choir)?
At times, but it is rare. If we do this, we need to hear the
group (they send in a tape) before we agree to it.
Do you hold an audition
for all interested singers prior to the season?
Yes we do - It is a day of Hell - It is usually in September. We
actually used to do two days and the first day all the media
came to cover it so we were there all night the next night
since everyone saw it on the news the night before. We only
promote it through our website though, but we still have over
200 people there.
Do you sound check prior
to the game?
We have all our anthems arrive to the arena for a 5:00pm
sound check
Do you ever use alternate
songs like America the Beautiful in lieu of the national
anthem (why or why not)?
We do - We have one singer who is pretty good, but they want
to sing God Bless America - Other than that, we ask them do
the anthem
Do you have a back-up plan
if your anthem singer no-shows?
In the past we have the crowd sing the anthem - We put the words
up on the screen and have the whole crowd sing it - It works pretty
good.
When
performing the anthem, can your singer see the words
on a matrix or scoreboard?
Yeah - this is new this year though - We had to do that after
our Playoff National Anthem miscue with the girl who
forgot the words. (See News Links below)
Jay Moore
Cleveland Cavaliers
Breifly describe your presentation
of the national anthem.
Performer(s) sing at center court, facing the color guard who
is also at center court.
Do you use pyrotechnics,
dim the lights, use spotlights, or other special
effect enhancements?
We do not use pyrotechnics (budget concerns). We do not dim the
lights (we prefer to hold off on going lights out until the player
introductions to maximize the dramatic effect). We do use spot
lights on the performer(s) and color guard.
Do you ever tie in the performance
of the national anthem with ticket sales (groups
who sell tickets perform, like a high school choir)?
Yes, we do so about 10-15 out of the 41 home games.
Do you hold an audition
for all interested singers prior to the season?
I have done so in the past, but we get so many applicants who
send in CD's and tapes that it is not necessary to do live auditions.
Do you sound check prior
to the game?
Yes.
Do you ever use alternate
songs like America the Beautiful in lieu of the national
anthem (why or why not)?
No. Fans expect the regular anthem, so that is what we perform.
Once a year we have a soloist who performs and alternate verse
of the anthem.
Do you have a back-up plan
if your anthem singer no-shows?
We keep a list of good local singers that live close by. We also
have a dance team member who can sing the anthem. The final option
is to play a track and encourage fans to sing along.
When performing the anthem,
can your singer see the words on a matrix or scoreboard?
Yes...on the matrix boards.
Josh Richardson
New Orleans Hornets
Breifly describe your presentation
of the national anthem.
The Anthem singer walks out onto center court with a handheld
wireless microphone and we show the name of the singer on the
lower third graphics with a live shot.
Do you use pyrotechnics,
dim the lights, use spotlights, or other special
effect enhancements?
I use four spotlights to shoot the anthem singer, display Patriotic
Images on the BuzzVision screen (going back and forth from the
singer), LED Board has an American Flag and fireworks displayed
during the Anthem, and the Message Boards have the National Anthem
Verbiage.
Do you ever tie in the performance
of the national anthem with ticket sales (groups
who sell tickets perform, like a high school choir)?
We try to utilize local New Orleans schools, CYO's and Church
groups to sell group tickets as an incentive for a large group
to come and sing the National Anthem.
Do
you hold an audition for all interested singers prior
to the season?
We have National Anthem try-outs in August or September before
each season.
Do you sound check prior
to the game?
We do a souncheck 30 minutes before doors opening
Do you ever use alternate
songs like America the Beautiful in lieu of the national
anthem (why or why not)?
No, the NBA has it listed in the Game Operations Manual what
we should sing to keep it uniform around the league and for timing
purposes (TV and Radio Broadcast).
Do you have a back-up plan
if your anthem singer no-shows?
We have an usher in-arena that can sing and I have a back-up
track on our music system.
When performing the anthem,
can your singer see the words on a matrix or scoreboard?
Yes
