Emotions were running high for Nick Sirianni Sunday night.
Prior to the start of Super Bowl LVII between the Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, country music star Chris Stapleton performed an unconventional version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that wowed fans in the stands, impressed folks on social media, and brought a head coach to tears.
As Stapleton performed his quietly powerful version of the national anthem, Fox’s camera caught the emotional face of the Eagles head coach as tears rushed down.
During Fox’s pregame show, Tom Rinaldi reported that Sirianni would listen to Whitney Houston’s rendition of the national anthem during Super Bowl XXV at the beginning of every season in the hopes he would be on the field one day to hear it performed.
It’s not the first time Eagles fans have seen Sirianni emotional. During the Eagles’ comeback win against the Indianapolis Colts earlier this season, Sirianni leaped onto a bench and shouted toward nearby fans: “That [crap] was for Frank Reich!”
Reich had been fired by the Colts prior to the Eagles game, and Sirianni spent three years under him as the team’s offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2010.
“I’ve always kind of been emotional. That doesn’t mean that — too much of anything is not a good thing, right?” Sirianni told reporters following the game. “It’s an emotional game. … Me yelling to our fans after the game, whether I’m yelling to them after an Indy game or thanking them after the Houston game or the Arizona game, I just think that’s something that the people that went to the game and who are Eagles fans that are traveling to the game, I can show my appreciation to them on that.”
This is the third straight Super Bowl that’s featured a country singer performing the national anthem. In Super Bowl LV, the NFL split the duties between Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan. Last year, the NFL tapped Mickey Guyton.
Other pregame performers included R&B legend Babyface singing “America the Beautiful” and Abbott Elementary star Sarah Lee Ralph performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Here’s Stapleton’s full rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”:
___
(c)2023 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
