You knew the second you heard those first few notes you were about to feel real patriotic. Aretha Franklin kicked off today’s NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions at Detroit’s Ford Field with what might be the longest version of “The Star-Spangled Banner†in recent memory, mainly because Aretha slowly erased the memory of every other version you’ve ever heard over the course of the song. Honestly, they probably should have just started the game and let the teams play around her piano platform. We could still be listening to Aretha. We are still listening to Aretha.
