Jay Cutler made an appearance at the Chicago Cubs – Arizona Diamondbacks game on Saturday, both throwing out the first pitch and leading the fans in his version of Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch.
The pitch was solid – Cutler was an All State High School football and basketball player at Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City, Ind, and was also honorable mention All State in baseball). As good as the pitch was, the song was more memorable. It was one of the uglier versions of Take Me Out to the Ballgame you are likely to hear. The full video is available HERE.
But since Cutler doesn’t make his living as a singer, we should cut him some slack. The rendition did bring to mind some of the highlights and lowlights of celebrities singing the national anthem before sporting events, and after reviewing the archives, Cutler doesn’t even come close on this list. So here’s our best and worst:
First, the worst national anthem performance by an athlete goes to Carl Lewis, before an NBA game:
And while that might not have been good, the worst performance EVER of the national anthem is still the exclusive property of Roseanne Barr for this abomination:
Finally, to end on a more positive note, here is perhaps the greatest version of our national anthem ever performed before a sporting event, courtesy of Whitney Houston before the Giants-Bills Super Bowl in 1991: