
Before the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons kicked off Super Bowl LI on Sunday evening in Houston, Luke Bryan took the field to deliver "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Prior to his performance, Bryan made his rooting interest clear. It was little surprise the Leesburg, Georgia, native strongly supports the Falcons:
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The over/under for Sunday's anthem was two minutes, nine seconds, according to OddsShark. ESPN's Darren Rovell tweeted that Bryan completed his rendition in 2:04, narrowly hitting the under.
IHeartRadio congratulated all the fans who padded their bank accounts:
"If you bet I'd sing the national anthem In less than 2 minutes and 15 seconds, you won. ๏@LukeBryanOnline #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/EUalvMOOVZ
โ iHeartRadio (@iHeartRadio) February 5, 2017"
A few notes into the song, CBSSports.com's Will Brinson was confident Bryan would soar beyond the over:
Similarly, MTV's Holly Anderson thought Bryan made sure to savor every moment of his time on the field:
The NFL shared a replay of his full performance:
NASCAR driver Austin Dillon, country singerย Rodney Atkins and talk show hostย Ellen DeGeneres allย praised Bryan's effort:
Barstool Sports' PFT Commenter is already looking ahead to Super Bowl LII's national anthem:
At the very least, Bryan's performance went better than his last foray into the sports world for a marquee event. He sparked a minor controversy in 2012 when he was spotted glancing at his hand for guidance while singing the national anthem before the MLB All-Star Game.
The traditional Air Force flyover followed the national anthem. Brody Logan of Fox 5 in Washington, D.C., and Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee made light of the fact the NRG Stadium roof was closed during the ceremony:
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson added his two cents about how to improve the flyover:
With the anthem out of the way, Bryan can focus on watching the Falcons potentially bring home their first Super Bowl title in franchise history.
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