Carolina Panthers

National anthem before Monday Night Football was so bad (Video)

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The playing of the national anthem on Monday Night Football before the Carolina Panthers’ home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was so bad it hurts.

With some of the United States watching, the playing of the national anthem before the Carolina Panthers’ home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was just plain awful. While Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge is a talented singer, the Bank of America Stadium staff did her absolutely no favors on Monday night in Charlotte.

The background keys playing behind Sledge were out of tune and shamelessly out of time. None of the in-stadium optics at Bank of America Stadium timed up with Sledge’s singing of the national anthem on Monday Night Football.

This was more disgraceful than kneeling… pic.twitter.com/Y3iYdI4gKm

— Josh Hill (@jdavhill) October 11, 2016

When the flares went up during ‘and the rockets red glare’, it was the deciding point to deem this one of the worst renditions of the national anthem in recent memory. It might be up there with Carl Lewis or Roseanne Barr. Sledge is too talented of a singer to be treated like that — it was beyond awful.

Bank of America Stadium knew that this was going to be a nationally televised event. The Panthers only get eight home games a year. How does the an NFL venue botch the national anthem optics this badly?

Maybe it is just foreshadowing the potentially awful play on the field. Both Carolina and Tampa Bay are 1-3 on the year and the Panthers are without star quarterback Cam Newton. He’s out with a concussion and Derek Anderson is the Panthers’ signal caller in this one.

With the division rival Atlanta Falcons moving to 4-1 on the year, this is a must-win for both NFC South teams. A 1-4 start almost ensures that the losing team will not catch Atlanta in the divisional race. The national anthem was another embarrassing moment for ESPN’s Monday Night Football. See if you can watch it all the way through just once…