So I want to tell you a story about America,

about our country.

I went to the opening day of a soccer game

here in my hometown of San Diego, California,

going to see the San Diego Football Club.

It was the first game in the history of our club, and there was a lot of hype.

It was a completely sold-out game, and it was hyped by the local news and it was all over

the media and social media and whatnot.

And it was a big deal because

the people of San Diego, we were excited for our new professional team. And because it was such a

big event, they had a lot of ceremonial type activities before the game. There were local politicians in attendance. There was ribbon cutting and

there were some dedications. And there was all the pomp and circumstance of a momentous

occasion. And finally, the players took the field and the crowd was fully engaged and finally just prior to the game

it was time for our great American tradition before a sporting event it was time for the

singing of our national anthem.

Now this is a song that often brings tears to my eyes.

tears to my eyes as I remember the hundreds of thousands of men and women throughout our history who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our nation.

And of those hundreds of thousands of heroes, some of them were my friends, my brothers, that sacrificed their life and died defending our flag and our ideals.

So as I thought about those heroes,

I wondered who is going to have the

solemn and sacred duty of performing

the Star-Spangled Banner.

...