When a crowd at a Fresno, California, baseball game was told that the park had no intention of playing the Star-Spangled Banner prior to the game, the crowd rose to their feet and sang it anyway.
A video of the incident shows the crowd breaking out into boos when they collectively realize that the national anthem is not going to be played. But soon the boos give way to voices rising in unison to sing the anthem whether the park planned it or not, Fox News reported.
The incident happened at a high school softball championship game at Fresno State’s Margie Wright Diamond on Friday night as the Clovis High Cougars faced (and later defeated 6-3) the Buchanan High Bears.
Baseball fan Tiffany Marquez told the Fresno Bee that she was shocked when the announcer said the anthem was canceled. “Within seconds, you could hear people in the crowd singing and the volume of their voices building. There I was, standing in the middle of a true testament to unity and patriotism,” she added triumphantly.
Event coordinator Bob Kayajanian insisted that “normally” the anthem is only played at the earliest game if there are several games played during the same event on the same day.
“It’s all a learning experience for everyone and (going forward) we’re playing the national anthem at every game,” Kayajanian added before saying he thought it was “obviously a wonderful thing” that the crowd sang the song anyway.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.