Christmas Eve in the US is not only about the classic preparations for the holiday, but also about the ongoing matches of the major sports leagues in North America. On such days, the management tries to come up with special performances for the fans in order to maintain the New Year’s mood.

However, the basketball team of the University of Florida got into trouble this time. Americans, accustomed to powerful shows on the floor, had to endure the terrible performance of Santa Claus.

So the US anthem has not been mocked for a long time.

Work, not a holiday

Christmas in the United States is a national holiday, so many service industries and government agencies are closed on December 25th. But for athletes, such exceptions are not made. All the major leagues in the country continue to cash in on people’s desire to have fun during the Christmas week.

In this case, it absolutely does not matter what rank this or that star is. On the contrary, the cooler the player, the more likely he is to appear on the floor on December 25th. Poor LeBron James almost every season instead of a cozy dinner with his family goes to the next NBA game. The American is already so accustomed to such a plot that skipping a family holiday does not cause any emotions in him:

– Spend the evening with the family, unfortunately, will not work. Therefore, we do not have any holiday traditions. If I were at home, maybe they would have come up with something, – every time the four-time league champion gives out the usual words on the eve of the holiday.

Photo: © Ron Jenkins / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

This year was no exception: the NBA gave the audience a confrontation between Doncic and James, and the Slovenian’s Dallas ended up smashing the Lakers in the second half.

Before the start of the meeting, the Mavericks inaugurated a huge sculpture of club legend Dirk Nowitzki. The German himself, of course, was present at the ceremony and, together with the fans, could admire the scale of creation.

“Fun or weird?”

However, not all teams are capable of great shows before the match. And the point here is not so much in financial capabilities, but in a sense of taste. At the University of Florida, this is bad.

A few days before Christmas, the basketball club of the educational institution, which plays in the first division of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States), decided to start the game in a special way against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The team management invited a professional Santa Claus and entrusted him to… sing the US anthem.

Photo: © Eakin Howard / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Grandfather clearly had hearing problems, as almost all the notes of the national anthem were ignored by him. The epic situation was added by the fact that the invited guest sang, and the cappella – without musical accompaniment. The girls from the support group who were on the parquet tried in vain to hide their bewilderment, artificially smiling and exchanging glances.

The head coach of the hosts also felt shame, who greeted the end of the singing with a smirk. Well, a wave of negativity and even anger in social networks immediately covered the organizers of this evening:

– Fun or weird? Turn it on…and listen to Santa “sing” the national anthem at a basketball game. Santa’s singing left many in the crowd bewildered…and rightly so,” wrote popular sportswriter John Carlos Estrada.

“Absolute shame… @floridastate, you should be ashamed of yourself,” the team fan commented angrily.

Chris Kringle (this is the real name of Santa) did not hide and himself answered the accusations of unprofessionalism:

— Ho-ho-ho! Spread the holiday spirit and let’s make sure everyone feels the joy of the season,” the actor tried to smooth things over.

The game itself was better than Santa’s off-key singing. The hosts kept the advantage in the stubborn ending and won with a score of 73:72.