I was never athletic enough to play any sort of sport in college — other than one semester of intramural flag football — so the closest I got to the sporting action was my time in the Mississippi State marching band.

We were expected to perform a pregame show in addition to our halftime show, and sometimes things were thrown at us at the last minute, including having to play background music for the national anthem when we had a surprise singer, most of the time then-MSU football coach Jackie Sherrill’s daughter, Bonnie.

Now Bonnie wasn’t exactly the greatest singer in the world and her singing the national anthem at Mississippi State was kind of a joke among us band members.

During practice a couple of days before a home football game my junior year, the band director made an announcement.

“We have a special guest singing the national anthem on Saturday, Bonnie Sherrill,” she said.

The entire band commenced to groan at once, knowing what we were in store for on Saturday.

“And she’s here now to practice it with us,” the director continued, leading to sheepish grins and twinges of embarrassment from us.

That story is usually good for a laugh when I tell it, but I hope that Bonnie wasn’t offended by our lack of respect, because, compared to numerous others who have sung the Star Spangled Banner, she was an American Idol.

Why does it always seem that the singing of our national anthem turns into a bad night at a karaoke bar?

It seems that the only time we hear the national anthem anymore is before a sporting event. Every sporting event that takes place in this nation, from youth baseball to high school football to professional sports, begins with the playing or singing of the Star Spangled Banner.

It should be an honor to be chosen to perform the song that means so much to so many people across this country, but for many of the recording artists who sing it, it’s not about the song, it’s all about them.

No other song in the history of the United States is as butchered as our national anthem. Singers seem to either not know the music, or think the notes are only a suggestion. The final third of the song is especially butchered, with every note either taken up an octive or completely ignored with a couple of “oooo’s” or “whoa’s” thrown in for good measure.

The latest perpetrator to the massacre of this great song was a “20-year-old pop sensation” (the public address announcer’s words, not mine) Kat DeLuna, who performed the song before last week’s Monday night NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys.

DeLuna was so intent on showing off her vocal abilities near the end of the song that she changed keys on one note and her voice cracked on another. When the ear-splitting experience was finally over, DeLuna received resounding boos from the Dallas crowd for her efforts.

DeLuna isn’t the only one who has made a mockery of the national anthem, only the latest. Who can forget Carl Lewis’s voice cracking rendition of the song before an NBA game in the early 90s, one that was so bad that the players were laughing out loud.

Or how about the young lady who forgot the words at a NHL game a few years ago, went off the ice to get the words and then slipped and fell after she came back. She left the ice in shame and the Star Spangled Banner was presumably not performed that night.

And then there’s the granddaddy of all national anthem disasters, Roseanne Barr’s shameful rendition before a game in the 1990 World Series, which she basically screamed through the song, then grabbed her crotch and spit after it was over.

The song has a great history. Everyone knows the story on how it came about. Francis Scott Key, penned the poem after witnessing an inspiring battle in the Revolutionary War, when the American forces held off a British naval barrage throughout the night.

It’s a beautiful song with an inspiring message, and can bring those who really think about the lyrics almost to tears. However, when put into the hands of selfish singer who only wants to show off, the song is cringe-worthy.

We don’t hear the national anthem that much, so is it too much to ask for people who sing it to actually follow the music? The song is great enough for it to stand on its own. We don’t need you to add your own little flair to it.

And when I think back to it, I realize we shouldn’t have groaned when Bonnie Sherrill sung the national anthem. She might not have been the greatest singer in the world, but at least she sung the song correctly. And that makes her better than many other so-called professionals who aren’t able to do so.

Jeff Edwards is the sports editor for The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3632 or jeff.edwards@natchezdemocrat.com