Video: Carrie Underwood, David Cook on Yahoo! Sports’ top 5 “American Idol” NBA Finals National Anthem performances
As previously reported, Season 11 “American Idol” runner-up Jessica Sanchez delivered an absolutely beautiful rendition of the National Anthem Tuesday night prior to Game 1 of the NBA Finals series pitting the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the Miami Heat.
Sanchez, 16, joins a long list of “Idol” winners or finalists to perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the NBA Finals. Yahoo! Sports today listed its top five “Idol” anthem performances on professional basketball’s brightest stage.
The two winners with Oklahoma ties – Checotah native Carrie Underwood and former Tulsa David Cook – both made the list, and I’ve posted videos of their “Banner” performances here. They performed the anthem at the NBA Finals in the weeks after they won “Idol” in 2005 for Underwood and 2008 for Cook, so these videos are quite a blast from the past.
Other “Idols” listed were Kris Allen, Jordin Sparks and Kelly Clarkson.
Today, NewsOK video personality Jennifer Matthews took to the streets of Bricktown to find out which Oklahoma stars Thunder fans would like to see perform the anthem during the series. Not surprisingly, Checotah’s favorite daughter – who has since performed the anthem at the Super Bowl and World Series – ranked high on the request list:
The Oklahoman’s Thunder beat writer Darnell Mayberry tweeted (@DarnellMayberry) today that country music star Sara Evans will perform the anthem before Game 2, tipping off at 8 p.m. Thursday at Chesapeake Arena. The game will air on ABC (KOCO-5), and her anthem performance will be broadcast about 10 minutes before the game starts.
-BAM
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IT IS ALWAYS NICE TO HEAR WHAT THESE YOUNG, TALENTED STARS ARE DOING. THEY ALL WORK HARD AND ARE EXTREMELY TALENTED IN THEIR FIELDS.