The Morning According to Us

Let's give it up for the year's best rock anthem.

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McCready, in a more airborn moment.

It's not hard to find truly awkward, generally lovely, or just versions of the National Anthem so mind-bendingly bad they could make the Britney stage voice seem ideal.

But now and then you get a gem, which is what occurred yesterday when Mike McCready, the longtime guitarist for Pearl Jam, performed the National Anthem before the Mariners game in Seattle. It's not Hendrix, but that was also a wake-up call. Literally.

We have a thing for Pearl Jam, and not just because there's some Washington roots involved, or "Ten" was one of our first albums, or even because we think Citizen Dick is a stunningly good cinematic version. Jeff Ament, another lifer in the band, spoke to us last spring about his dearly soon-to-be-departed Sonics, and the band is frankly pretty engaged in things. So nice work, McCready, swing by here and hand out some lessons anytime.

Elsewhere…

A 14-year-old English goalkeeper scores twice in one game from her own penalty box.

Turkish soccer ref banned from officiating because he's gay.

Vancouver prostitutes receive media training for 2010 Games.

A new record for snails stuck to a face? Sure.

Shaq is getting his broadcast chops primed and ready.

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