Enrico Polazzo Would Be Proud...Sort Of

I consider myself a fairly patriotic person. I love admiring the sight of the American flag flapping in the wind. Watching fireworks every July 4th isn't just about the ooo-ing and ahh-ing for me. But above either of these, I get a chill when I hear the national anthem.

One of the most iconic renditions of the national anthem I've ever seen or heard was Whitney Houston, when she had sung it at the Super Bowl in 1991. It was particularly moving since the U.S. at that time had just gone to war with Iraq, and she brought the house down in a moving and patriotic performance. She didn't overdo it, which is actually somewhat easy to do.

Christina Aguilera could have learned a lot from Whitney Houston's performance. Aguilera sang the anthem at Super Bowl XLV, and while I will never deny that she has some serious vocal talents, she tends to show off her skills for no reason at all. Where Houston gave a performance for the ages because of how great she sang, Aguilera gave a performance for the ages for the complete opposite of reasons. She actually messed up a line in the anthem, which is beyond embarrassing on such a stage. She tried rebounding as much as possible, but her performance rivals - if not surpasses - Roseanne's performance as the single worst singing of the national anthem ever.

Two things come to mind here. First, I can't help but suspect that Aguilera messed the song up because she was so focused on showing off her vocal range more than anything else while singing. She's far from the only vocalist out there to do so, which is really a sign of the times. Houston has a beautiful singing voice, but part of the reason why she's so successful is because she carries a note, not constantly shifting tone and pitch. Aguilera can sing just as well, but she's constantly going up and down on her scale. Singing the national anthem does not need that!

Second, and before I'm accused of trying to sound like Simon Cowell here, her performance reminded me of another famous fumbling of the national anthem: Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin as Enrico Polazzo in The Naked Gun. In my opinion, his performance of the national anthem at a baseball game late in the movie is one of the funniest scenes in any movie ever.

The ultimate irony to Aguilera's performance is that right before she sang, one of the cast members of Glee sang "America the Beautiful" and absolutely nailed it. She really brought the house down, and she didn't go over the top in her performance. Less truly can be more sometimes, and I think this is one of those times.

But hey, even though Aguilera blew her moment in the spotlight, at least the Packers won the game.