I never went to war, but I served alongside some real heroes and grew deeply loyal to the service of those who fought and died. To me, as you might guess, the United States flag and National Anthem represent solemn reverence to combat veterans, the fallen and their families.

Michael Caputo

I sang the National Anthem at Dodger Stadium - at a baseball game - which was crazy; there was, like, 60,000 people there, which is a huge deal in America - singing the National Anthem.

Adam DeVine

Which Them T

When you come out and know you're singing the national anthem, it gives you a buzz and gets you lifted for the game.

Ashley Cole

You Them Ted

Players who take a knee during the national anthem do so to protest injustice across the country - fulfilling a patriotic duty to never accept injustice, but to call it out when we see it.

Ayanna Pressley

Who Us UN

There is fireworks before the game; there is the national anthem before the game, so that is a huge difference to how it is in Germany: like, after the warmup, you touch the ball 20 minutes later. So that is a little bit different. The league, for example, the MLS is quite a young league, actually, but it is developing.

Bastian Schweinsteiger

Work War Young

Most people have to learn the words to the National Anthem before they sing it. I learned these words when I was a child in elementary school, so this is something that's been embedded in me ever since I was an adult.

BJ the Chicago Kid

Men Words Word

And now we have the formalities over, we'll have the National Anthems.

Brian Moore

Tie Them T

I've stood for the national anthem ever since grade school. It's a patriotic thing for me. I understand what Colin Kaepernick and others are doing, but it's not for me.

Bubba Wallace

Understand UN Trio

As a former NFL player, I am one American who will have nothing to do with any NFL Team that cannot find the corporate courage to stand for the millions of courageous past great Americans whose sacrifice gave meaning to our flag and national anthem and to the millions upon millions who still dream to come to its free shores.

Burgess Owens

Great Courage Age

The crudest thing I've done as a teacher was to require students to write a national anthem for their country and sing it themselves.

Chris Van Allsburg

Teacher Write UN

We're all Vanilla Ice. Look at Girl Talk and Danger Mouse. Look at William Burroughs, whose cut-up books antedate hip hop sampling by decades. Shakespeare remixed passages of Holinshed's 'Chronicles' in 'Henry VI.' Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' embeds the French national anthem.

David Shields

Anger Age William

I've been to New Zealand before, many times. And of course it has a significance to me because I do have something that's very special in New Zealand. I have '10 Guitars,' which is a very popular song, and I understand it's like the second national anthem over there.

Engelbert Humperdinck

Time Zealand Zeal

I am nervous all the way through the national anthem and the first play. Once I get up and down the court a few times, it fades.

Eric Bledsoe

Time Way Us

When athletes take a knee during the National Anthem, we must ignore President Trump's absurd claim that they're 'un-American' and instead understand that it's very American to peacefully protest systemic injustice.

Eric Swalwell

Peace Very Us

The Olympic Gold medal in 1968 was definitely the highest moment of my career. It was a dream come true. I was a 19-year-old boy, and it was just amazing to be standing on top of the podium and hearing the National Anthem in the background.

George Foreman

Mom Men Car

Some anthems are great for sports. You've got the Russian national anthem... 'O Canada,' how wonderful is that for hockey... but I chose the Italian national song because at my first World Cup, I saw the Italians play four times, and they won all four times - they won the championship.

George Vecsey

Time Sports Great

The thing that I really love to do, that I now only do in the shower, is to sing the national anthem.

Harris Faulkner

Love Thing Thin

My dad was the district attorney of New Orleans for about 30 years. And when he opened his campaign headquarters back in the early '70s, when I was 5 years old, my mother wanted me to play the national anthem. And they got an upright piano on the back of a flatbed truck and I played it.

Harry Connick, Jr.

Art Years Year

I went to see England against Switzerland at Wembley with my dad and brother, too. That was in 2008, Fabio Capello's first game in charge. Jermaine Jenas scored, and we won 2-1. I remember the national anthem was incredible. I sang it with pride - always do.

Harry Kane

Won Wit Ways

The most scared I'd ever been was the first time I sang at a rugby match, Australia versus New Zealand, in front of one hundred thousand people. I had a panic attack the night before because people have been booed off and never worked again... just singing one song, the national anthem.

Hugh Jackman

Work Time Car

You will be pleased to know I stand obediently for the national anthem, though of course I would defend your right to remain seated should you so decide.

Ira Glasser

Your You Would

When I represent the Under-21s and sing the national anthem, there is no better feeling.

James Maddison

I had a gig in Sweden. There were thousands of people there, and when I launched into 'I'm Yours,' they were all singing along. It was as if I was singing the Swedish national anthem. I was stunned.

Jason Mraz

I thought, 'Maybe if I become a cheerleader, I can meet managers or agents. Maybe I can sing the national anthem at a game, and someone in the industry will hear me.' I saw everything as an opportunity to further my music. I was literally the cheerleader who had a mixtape in between her pom-poms at events.

Jessie Reyez

I learned 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' the national anthem. I always wanted to play it before the Bulls game, but I always thought, like, Coach would be like, 'You're not focused on the game!' So I never really asked.

Jimmy Butler

To sing the national anthem is wonderful, but it's far from the sign of a strong team and it is absolutely no indication of a lack of desire to fight.

Joachim Low

I'm a part of major league rugby. We had a league meeting to decide what to do with anthem protests, and even though I personally agree with what they say they are protesting as inequality and judicial system and incarceration rates among minorities, we decided all should stand and respect every national anthem.

John Layfield

I didn't mean for it to cause such a furor, but I was the first guy to ever do the national anthem with a guitar. Everyone else had the big brass band. Nowadays it's tracks that they sing to, but in my day, we had no tracks. And I was the only orchestra that I knew that was the best orchestra and that was me and my guitar.

Jose Feliciano

I felt bad about the controversy because they stopped playing my songs on American radio stations. But there was nothing wrong with what I did. Now everybody sings the national anthem the way they want.

Jose Feliciano

I have no regrets, though I was the first artist to stylize the national anthem, and I got a lot of protests for it. I have no regrets. America has been good to me. I'm glad that I'm here.

Jose Feliciano

Now everybody has been doing the national anthem in their own style, but in 1968 I was the one that took the heat. It cut my career for quite a while.

Jose Feliciano

I got tired of seeing people rush through the national anthem so they could have their popcorn and get to the game. Nobody ever sang the anthem with soul. It was always done clinically and they always stuck to the original. I put feeling into it. I sang it in a soulful manner.

Jose Feliciano

I don't know if it's a legacy, but I love it. In my mind and other people's minds, they know I was the first to stylize the national anthem.

Jose Feliciano

I was the first artist to put the national anthem on the charts, and I'm thrilled.

Jose Feliciano

I sang the National Anthem with soul.

Jose Feliciano

When I did the national anthem, I did a soulful, kind of gospel-y version, but it was controversial with the war veterans, just the people who wanted to hear it the old, clinical, atmospheric way, and I didn't want to sing it like that.

Jose Feliciano

Saying Kaepernick is a distraction is based largely on opinion. You could say his decision to kneel for the national anthem was detrimental to the team. If that is so, I would hope you'd note that Kaepernick's teammates gave him the Len Eshmont Award at the end of the season.

Joy Taylor

I like traditions, and the national anthem is important.

Kate Mara

I've never been more nervous in my life than singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.

Kelly Clarkson

The thing about the national anthem is that it's actually a pretty difficult song to sing for anybody.

Kevin Olusola

I believe it's not 100 percent right to kneel during the national anthem, because you have to respect what many have done for this nation. I think kneeling prior to the anthem, like the Dallas Cowboys have done, is right.

Kevin-Prince Boateng

If you forget the words to your own song, you can always claim artistic license. Forget the words to the national anthem, and you're screwed.

Lyle Lovett

If you know anything about the issues in our country, you know we have a lot of deep-rooted anger and anxieties that spark a lot of passion. When you talk about our national anthem or the flag or race relations or the criminal justice system, it brings up a lot of those fears and insecurities.

Malcolm Jenkins

For centuries in this country, black people were seen as three-fifths of a person. So when you hear the national anthem or you see an American flag as an African American person who has experienced the effects of that dehumanizing existence, it's not going to mean the same.

Maya Moore

I feel in my heart it is right to continue to kneel during the national anthem, and I will do whatever I can to be part of the solution.

Megan Rapinoe

I never went to war, but I served alongside some real heroes and grew deeply loyal to the service of those who fought and died. To me, as you might guess, the United States flag and National Anthem represent solemn reverence to combat veterans, the fallen and their families.

Michael Caputo

And, you know, being able to wear the stars and stripes, when you step up on one of the blocks or, you know, when you step off of an airplane or when you hear the national anthem play, you know, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world because you know that there are people at home who are supporting you and watching you.

Michael Phelps

To me, there's two symbols for Team U.S.A.: the national anthem and the American flag.

Mike Schultz

There's a time in everyone's career where you go, 'Ah, this is hard - how long am I going to have to do this?' But the rewards are so great. Who gets to go on the podium and hear the national anthem? The whole nation singing! Money can't buy you that.

Mo Farah

I didn't really get sidetracked into being a singer. It was just something I started to do for fun in school, like singing the national anthem.

Mya

That first game was so hyped up, and it was obviously my first experience of a crowd in a World Cup. When I first walked out and heard the national anthem, it was just an unreal experience. I didn't expect a crowd like that.

Nikita Parris