Day 6 (Part II) - The Importance of Music

I decided to bring my iPod for the ride to our run through practice yesterday and it made all the difference in my mood.  I had been dragging a bit during the day because of so much down time, but one I put on those headphones I was a lot happier.  I put on my "Workout" playlist and it helped me concentrate and get ready to run around.  I could see a lot of other players getting into their music - the ones that I know listen to music a lot are Ham, Keenya, Pam, Hedwig, and probably a few others that really get into it.  On game days, headphones abound as we get into game mode and focus on what we need to do in the game before us.  I have a few songs that really get me into that zone, but it changes with each tour and I'll let you know once I find it.

At the jersey ceremony today, we had a lot of friends and family there to be part of it.  At the end of the ceremony, we got together to sing the anthem and it was AWESOME.  It was so moving that myself and a few others cried as we were singing.   It was really one of the most powerful moments I've experienced - 30 people that have worked so hard to get here and represent our country, all singing this incredibly patriotic song about the defense of Fort McHenry.  Although we only sing the first stanza, here are all four original stanzas:

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming!

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep.

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream

'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n - rescued land

Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,

And this be our motto--"In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

We'll take all of that emotion and pride into our own battle against England tomorrow.