Should Lauren Hart pull out God Bless America tonight?

by Travis Hughes on Apr 2, 2010 3:07 PM EDT in Commentary

Lauren Hart's rendition of God Bless America is a tradition typically reserved for big games. It's usually sung at the home opener, always in the playoffs, and on certain occasions, gigantic regular season contests. Sometimes, Hart will perform the chill-inducing duet with Kate Smith, as seen in the video above.

The last really, really big regular season game I can remember the Flyers breaking out the duet came on a Friday night back in April of 2008. With just two-games left in the regular season, the Flyers were down-trodden. People were afraid the team would miss the playoffs for the second year in a row.

But the feeling in the building that night was pretty special. At home, against a rival, the Flyers had a chance to clinch a postseason berth with a victory. It started with Lauren Hart and Kate Smith, and the energy just snowballed.

I'll let R.J. Umberger take it away from there.

"We wanted to set the tone right away. We were excited," said Umberger. "We were fired up and ready to go in the locker room before the game. "The crowd came here early. They were excited and fired up too, and that just helped with the energy."

Is tonight's game against the Montreal Canadiens as big as that night against the Devils? No, it's not. The Flyers can't clinch a playoff berth tonight. But there are similarities. We don't like Montreal. We're directly competing with them for the playoffs and two points tonight could go a really, really long way towards solidifying the playoffs this season.

So, should Lauren Hart pull out the secret weapon tonight?

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Comments

Absolutely not.

by MarioD on Apr 2, 2010 3:09 PM EDT reply actions

Why?

by EREX21 on Apr 2, 2010 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Using Kate tonight would be like wearing a tuxedo to a rodeo.

by MarioD on Apr 2, 2010 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

I enjoy this comment immensely.

Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.

by Travis Hughes on Apr 2, 2010 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Fair enough. I was just curious.

by EREX21 on Apr 2, 2010 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions

agreed

Kate Smith is for playoff games not maybe must win games where victory, most likely than not, only delay another seeming inevitable early playoff exit to Cindy Crosby and the god damn Penguins.

by chrislanci on Apr 2, 2010 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions

I miss RJ.

by EREX21 on Apr 2, 2010 3:12 PM EDT reply actions

Pulling out god bless america is just more example of this franchise and it’s fans living the 70s. I am tired of all of it. Maybe they can show the Gene Hart countdown on the jumbotron as well. The only time they should ever play that again is if this team ever gets into a game 7 of a Stanley Cup final.

Just Call Me "M"!

by MJDII on Apr 2, 2010 3:38 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

Maybe we can start a new tradition, let’s have Lauren sing “My Country Tis of Thee.”

Oh, This is bound to be good
You can't, but you thought that You could

by jello44 on Apr 2, 2010 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions

I find absolutely nothing wrong with this tradition. Just because we won in the 70s and haven’t won since means we should completely lose the organization’s sense of history?

Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.

by Travis Hughes on Apr 2, 2010 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Not lose it but stop living in it. We get blamed as an organization and a fan base of not getting away from that bullies mentality and we say don’t hold us to those days and that lure but we keep dragging in out

Just Call Me "M"!

by MJDII on Apr 2, 2010 4:06 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I think we should make the distinction between Kate Smith singing God Bless America and the style of hockey the Flyers played in the 70s.

Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.

by Travis Hughes on Apr 2, 2010 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Let’s call that distinction “Dichotomy.”

by Snevik on Apr 2, 2010 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I put them in the total package of the old days. Kate has nothing to do with fighting but that is that mindset. And this is for me not everyone. I was young but remember those days and was in the house back then so for me it is the past.

Just Call Me "M"!

by MJDII on Apr 2, 2010 5:28 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

They could have Beyonce come out and sing the hokey pokey naked and the Flyers would still be fucked.

by Angrycoder on Apr 2, 2010 4:26 PM EDT reply actions

Don’t waste the song on this team – this year…they are undeserving to be Flyers, and have no heart.

Just another blip on the radar…

by golds1 on Apr 2, 2010 5:11 PM EDT reply actions

Bartulis is playing wing on the 4th line? Amazing.

by EREX21 on Apr 2, 2010 6:32 PM EDT reply actions

what a bunch of fake ass Flyer fans. Its not about what YOU want to hear at the game, its about what that song means to the PLAYERS. That song represents faith in the team. And yeah, they mostly suck right now, but a true Flyers fan would want the team to be inspired by something at this point, especially if Boucher is attempting to be a goaltender tonight.

by paintedguy on Apr 2, 2010 6:42 PM EDT reply actions

Oh, hey. Welcome to the site.

I agree with most of what you said, but to be honest, the Smith/Hart rendition isn’t meant to inspire the players directly. It’s meant to inspire the fans, and the effect of that should rub off on the players.

Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.

by Travis Hughes on Apr 2, 2010 7:00 PM EDT up reply actions