Although this would be appropriate in Goldtop's thread today, I'm not going to step on it. To this day, this is the most spine-tingling version of the national anthem I've ever heard. You can take Whitney Houston's lip-sync'ed version and draw it a big warm bath - it doesn't put a patch on this version. Wayne Messmer at the 1991 NHL All-Star game in Chicago, a few days after the start of Desert Storm. Messmer was later shot in the throat, and at the final game in Chicago Stadium, they brought his wife in to represent him while they played a tape of his version of the anthem. Messmer recovered and sang the anthem at the opener in the new arena in Chicago, but for some reason, they switched to another anthem singer (who sings it the same way Messmer did).
In 1994, Messmer was fired by Blackhawks' owner, the late Bill Wirtz, because he began singing the anthem for the minor league Chicago Wolves hockey team. He was brought back to sing the anthem at the last Hawks game at the Chicago Stadium.
That's right - I'd totally forgotten that. It's not polite to speak ill of the dead, but that franchise really turned around once he was out of the picture.
