Oh Scott, do you know the tradition of that "patriotic" song? Irving Berlin wrote it in 1918 for a musical review he was doing. It didn't quite fit the theme so he shelved it. In 1938, war was brewing in Euroupe so he brought it off of the shelves and made a few alterations. He then gave it to "DIVA" Kate Smith and she introduced it to America on Armistace Day in
1938. Ever since then the song God Bless America had become the unofficial national anthem of the United States.
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As for how it got introduced into the Flyers organization, well, that is another story. One I'm not too proud of. Officials noted that when the national anthem was played at the opening of Philadelphia Flyers' hockey games, the fans were not properly respectful, while then listened more quietly to Kate's record of God Bless America. Furthermore, a statistician noted that they won most games when the latter was played. Fans were given a surprise on October 11, 1973, at the season opener, when Kate Smith walked across the red carpet on the ice to sing her anthem in person. They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0. Announcer Gene Hart commented that Kate "brought chills and a standing ovation of three minutes.
It fully met the ultimate definition of the word triumph. At critical games Kate was driven down from New York to repeat the favor. When the Flyers clinched the championship and won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Boston Bruins 1-0, even the Bruins skated over to shake Kates hand. She was called their talisman and good luck charm; she loved the free publicity! She repeated the role the next season, and the Flyers defeated the New York Islanders to retain the Stanley Cup. In 1987 they erected a bronze statue in memory of their "rabbit's foot" or "secret ice weapon," who had died the previous year.
An interesting side note, the patriotic song sung before Canadien sporting events was just that until 23 years ago. O Canada was first sung in 1880 and was composed by Calixa Lavallée. It was not adopted as the official national anthem of Canada until 1980. Two great songs in my humble opinion.
Now, if it is true that the Duck's organization chose not to sing the National Anthem because it had the word "Stars" in it, well, I have just thrown all of my support in the direction of Texas as far as the west series goes!
As far as NJ goes, man, Stevens is one tough dude! The Devils look real sharp. Props to them.
LET'S GO FLYERS
Adam aka Big Dude