May 19, 2015
Prior to the third game of the NCAA softball regionals between the home team Louisiana-Lafayette and Baylor, fans were told there would be no National Anthem, because they had already played it earlier in the day and were hoping to save some time.
[UPDATE, 1:51 p.m.] - According to the NCAA, they did not "skip" the National Anthem prior to the game. As is their custom, they played the anthem prior to the first game of the day. I wasn't accusing them of being unpatriotic, but figured it was important to point out that not playing the anthem prior to each game of a double or triple-header is standard operating procedure.
The National Anthem was not skipped at Sunday's Lafayette Regional. As is custom, it was played before the first full game of the session.
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) May 19, 2015
Per Luke Johnson of Rajin' Cajun Report, the patriotic fans made sure the game didn't begin without the traditional singing of the anthem:
The hometown crowd was not having any of that though.
After some failed attempts to get the PA booth to play the anthem for a second time, the fans decided to take it into their own hands. [blogs.theadvocate.com]
Here's what it looked and sounded like as the packed house sang the Star Spangled Banner as the two teams warmed up:
Cajuns fans, upset that the national anthem wouldn't be played a second time today, just started singing. Awesome. pic.twitter.com/5jLsLTDU9d
— Luke Johnson (@LukeJohnsonAdv) May 17, 2015
Pretty cool. No matter what your political ideologies are, it's hard not to appreciate that.
