Jordin Sparks National Anthem Prerecorded?

I'm not much of an NFL fan, I'll admit that up front, but I always love a good Super Bowl party. I also always cheer for the underdog, so yesterday was all in all a pretty darn good day.

I thought I'd re-raise the controversial topic of National Anthem prerecording at the Super Bowl. There are plenty of comments on this issue going both ways today on YouTube sites, blogs and elsewhere of people being APPALLED at the idea that Jordin Spark's performance of the National Anthem was prerecorded. If you've read my post a while back about Clash of the Choirs and my views of the most obvious prerecording, or at the very least "sound sweetening" that is done on these shows, you will not be surprised to hear that I instantly called Spark's performance a lip sync. I did a bit of in depth research this morning on it - and found this book written by Don Weiss , the former NFL executive director who still directs Super Bowl game-day operations, called "The Making of the Super Bowl". Here is a quote from page 204. Which you can read most of it here on Google Books.

... we've insisted on prerecording the Anthem. We had prerecorded it on occasions in earlier years, but, beginning in 1993, we took no more chances. Frankly the networks prefer it that way because they know exactly how long it's going to take. Their timing is that precise. Many performers prefer it too, because some of them get incredibly nervous."

So, maybe this will quiet some of the skeptics out there about "What you hear isn't always what you are looking at" in the production performance industry. The truth is - they don't have a choice in most cases.