Having heard Ingrid Andress' performance at the MLB Home Run Derby Monday night, I think we may now be able to retire the coveted trophy for Worst Rendition of the National Anthem at a Major US Sporting Event. Have a listen.
To my ears, it is considerably worse—more grotesquely out of tune—than the only real competition, Fergie's rendition at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game. [I have eliminated Roseanne Barr's spectacularly awful 1990 performance before a San Diego Padres game from consideration because she clearly wanted it to be awful, and that violates the rules of the competition.]
I don't mean to pile too much criticism onto Ms. Andress, who admitted after the performance that she had been drunk. She's got, obviously, a pretty serious alcohol problem—to get drunk before the most important performance, by far, of your life is a pretty terrifyingly self-destructive act. She has subsequently checked herself into rehab, and I genuinely wish her well, although the message she sent out on Instagram announcing her decision was not encouraging, and was meant, I hope, to be taken as sarcasm:
