{"id":2704,"date":"2025-05-03T10:50:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T10:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=2704"},"modified":"2025-05-03T10:50:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T10:50:20","slug":"the-first-note-hit-the-air-and-the-stadium-went-silent-draped-in-a-simple-white-blouse-and-jeans-fresh-faced-carrie-underwood-stepped-up-to-the-mic-at-pittsburghs-pnc-park-no-fir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=2704","title":{"rendered":"The first note hit the air \u2014 and the stadium went silent. Draped in a simple white blouse and jeans, fresh-faced Carrie Underwood stepped up to the mic at Pittsburgh\u2019s PNC Park. No fireworks. No backup choir. Just Carrie. And in seconds, she owned the moment. The 2006 MLB All-Star Game crowd, packed with tens of thousands of roaring fans, fell into a hush so complete you could hear the flags flapping in the breeze. Then Carrie sang. And jaws dropped."},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-22398\" class=\"post-22398 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-uncategorized\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"963\" data-end=\"1194\">From the opening line \u2014\u00a0<em data-start=\"987\" data-end=\"1013\">\u201cOh, say can you see\u2026\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 it was clear: this wasn\u2019t going to be just another celebrity anthem.<br data-start=\"1084\" data-end=\"1087\" \/>Underwood\u2019s voice soared pure and powerful, slicing through the humid July air with spine-tingling clarity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1196\" data-end=\"1280\">Fans clutched their hearts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-4\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1196\" data-end=\"1280\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/aOc56Wy0xNk\/maxresdefault.jpg\" alt=\"2006 ASG: Carrie Underwood sings national anthem\" \/><br data-start=\"1223\" data-end=\"1226\" \/>Players removed their caps, eyes narrowing in respect.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1282\" data-end=\"1374\"><em data-start=\"1282\" data-end=\"1340\">\u201cYou could feel the goosebumps rolling down the aisles,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0one sports reporter later gushed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-5\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1376\" data-end=\"1482\">Another fan tweeted,\u00a0<em data-start=\"1397\" data-end=\"1482\">\u201cCarrie Underwood just sang the national anthem like she was built for it. Unreal.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"\" data-start=\"1484\" data-end=\"1487\" \/>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1489\" data-end=\"1528\"><strong data-start=\"1489\" data-end=\"1528\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"2006 ASG: Carrie Underwood sings national anthem\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aOc56Wy0xNk\" width=\"350\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-origwidth=\"350\" data-origheight=\"235\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1530\" data-end=\"1750\">It had barely been a year since Underwood was crowned\u00a0<em data-start=\"1584\" data-end=\"1599\">American Idol<\/em>\u00a0champion.<br data-start=\"1609\" data-end=\"1612\" \/>Now, standing center stage at one of the biggest events in American sports, she didn\u2019t just live up to expectations \u2014 she demolished them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1752\" data-end=\"1888\">Broadcasters scrambled to capture the moment, with one NBC announcer murmuring,\u00a0<em data-start=\"1832\" data-end=\"1888\">\u201cThat\u2019s not a rising star \u2014 that\u2019s a star fully born.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1890\" data-end=\"2073\">Carrie hit the final, towering\u00a0<em data-start=\"1921\" data-end=\"1948\">\u201cland of the freeeeee\u2026\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and the stadium erupted.<br data-start=\"1973\" data-end=\"1976\" \/>Fans shot to their feet.<br data-start=\"2000\" data-end=\"2003\" \/>Players clapped.<br data-start=\"2019\" data-end=\"2022\" \/>Even tough, seasoned MLB veterans wiped away tears.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2075\" data-end=\"2170\">Fireworks lit the Pittsburgh sky \u2014 but nothing shone brighter than Carrie Underwood that night.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-2\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2220\" data-end=\"2334\">Years later, sports fans and music lovers still point to Carrie\u2019s 2006 anthem as one of the best in modern memory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2336\" data-end=\"2467\"><em data-start=\"2336\" data-end=\"2357\">\u201cIt wasn\u2019t flashy,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0one longtime All-Star attendee recalled.\u00a0<em data-start=\"2399\" data-end=\"2467\">\u201cIt was raw. It was real. It was everything the anthem should be.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2469\" data-end=\"2647\">For Carrie Underwood, it was more than a performance.<br data-start=\"2522\" data-end=\"2525\" \/>It was a statement.<br data-start=\"2544\" data-end=\"2547\" \/>She wasn\u2019t just a reality show winner.<br data-start=\"2585\" data-end=\"2588\" \/>She was America\u2019s voice \u2014 clear, strong, and unforgettable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2649\" data-end=\"2796\">And under the lights of PNC Park, with the whole nation watching, Carrie Underwood became something even bigger than a star.<br data-start=\"2773\" data-end=\"2776\" \/>She became a symbol.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the opening line \u2014\u00a0\u201cOh, say can you see\u2026\u201d\u00a0\u2014 it was clear: this wasn\u2019t going to be just another celebrity anthem.Underwood\u2019s voice soared pure and powerful, slicing&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2706,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704\/revisions\/2706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}