Since the bulk of contemporary comment on the national anthem serves only to flip the Donald Trump/u200bColin Kaepernick see-saw one way or the other according to the pundit’s rusted viewpoint, I think we’re overdue an anthem essay based largely on, um, anything but that.
All right, but look, I’m doing it anyway.
The idea came from watching Steven Brault, an actual Pirates relief pitcher, singing the always-treacherous Star Spangled Banner before an actual Pirates game, thus becoming the first player in club history to do so.
Brault essentially nailed it. The two lowest notes were muddy maybe, but all the rest were fastballs smack in the middle of the tonal plate, his voice ringing with enough sweetness and heart to draw a warm response from the small weeknight crowd, you’ll excuse the redundancy.