Kate and Lauren FTW!
The Flyers had to win tonight to stay alive in the playoffs, and they did it! w00t! I saw a guy getting off the train tonight, obviously on his way to the game, in an orange t-shirt that said, "Why Not Us?" Why not indeed.
I had my book group, and the trains were screwed up and running late. I had the game on the car radio and pulled into Barnes & Noble around 7:30, just as Lauren Hart started to sing "God Bless America." At the second verse, Kate Smith's voice came in and the Wachovia Center went nuts. Then Lauren's voice joined in (and she has a gorgeous voice, with power and style) and I was sitting there in the B&N parking lot in tears. For a lifelong Flyers fan, there's just so much history there and so much emotion. (Lauren's dad Gene was the Flyers' play-by-play announcer for many years.)
And the good luck charm worked, by the bye...Flyers 4, Pittsburgh 2. They live to fight another day.
Here's a 1975 article from the New York Times about Kate Smith singing before a Flyers playoff game. They won the Stanley Cup at that one. Not bad. :-) A former co-worker was at the 1976 game against the Soviet national team, sitting up near the roof of the Spectrum, and said when "God Bless America" was played before the game, the crowd was so loud that the beams were literally vibrating. Wow.
I had my book group, and the trains were screwed up and running late. I had the game on the car radio and pulled into Barnes & Noble around 7:30, just as Lauren Hart started to sing "God Bless America." At the second verse, Kate Smith's voice came in and the Wachovia Center went nuts. Then Lauren's voice joined in (and she has a gorgeous voice, with power and style) and I was sitting there in the B&N parking lot in tears. For a lifelong Flyers fan, there's just so much history there and so much emotion. (Lauren's dad Gene was the Flyers' play-by-play announcer for many years.)
And the good luck charm worked, by the bye...Flyers 4, Pittsburgh 2. They live to fight another day.
Here's a 1975 article from the New York Times about Kate Smith singing before a Flyers playoff game. They won the Stanley Cup at that one. Not bad. :-) A former co-worker was at the 1976 game against the Soviet national team, sitting up near the roof of the Spectrum, and said when "God Bless America" was played before the game, the crowd was so loud that the beams were literally vibrating. Wow.
