Yahoo Sports 
Soak in perhaps the most, uh, unique national anthem you’ll ever hear
Before Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Daytona, Madison Rising, the band who played the national anthem before the race, was described as "patriotic and guitar heavy."
And as they were introduced to the crowd, they were called "America's most patriotic rock band."
And then they did this:
Patriotic is certainly one way to describe the anthem in the video above. You don't hear just any anthem rendition with the lead singer holding a folded flag to his heart. Or with guitar players going full-concert finale in the middle of the anthem. Or with anything in it, really.
We're half-convinced that Madison Rising is a Spinal Tapified Creed cover band dabbling with American flags.
There's just no other way to describe that song. Thankfully for everyone in attendance -- especially the drivers about to explode with laughter on pit road, the Daytona version was only about 1:45 long, nowhere near their 4:09 spectacle on YouTube.
Madison Rising lead singer Dave Bray admitted that the band took some liberties with the performance.
''Yes, we took some liberties, but we were already taking some liberties with it musically and melodically. We wanted to make it a rock song people could sing and enjoy. The reverence is still there, but it has sort of taken on the death march in a way. It's very sullen and sung in a very sullen way. We thought it should be more of a celebratory rock anthem.''
Taking a look through Madison Rising's catalog, their political bent is quite obvious. One song talks about the glory days of the Ronald Reagan presidency and mentions the lack of class of the First Lady, presumably Michelle Obama. Another song references a family unable to get to the hospital because of anti-war protesters.
Aloe Blacc, the scheduled performer of the national anthem for Sunday's Daytona 500, has got quite the act to follow. Though we think Blacc should follow the advice of Brad Keselowski, who preached the simple method. The 2012 Sprint Cup Series champion offered up this gem:
"I wish they'd just sing the damn song," Keselowski said.
- - - - - - -
is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
