This Time It Was a ‘Star Mangled Banner’

Poor Caroline Marcil.

Singing -- or trying to sing -- “The Star-Spangled Banner” in front of thousands of sports fans is one of the most nerve-racking assignments in North America. And when the singer is not familiar with the piece ... well, Robert Goulet messed up one word at a heavyweight title fight in 1965 and has been answering for it ever since.

Marcil, a Canadian, was supposed to sing the national anthems of the participating nations before Friday night’s exhibition hockey game between the United States and Canada in Quebec City. She tried the U.S. anthem twice, both times forgetting the words. She retreated to get the lyrics, then, returning, tripped and fell on the carpet on the ice. Enough was enough, and the game was played, anthem-free.

But Marcil was invited by ABC to finish the job on Monday’s “Good Morning America.” This led to a clever line by Associated Press: “By the dawn’s early light, Caroline Marcil finally finished on national TV what she started at a hockey game ... “

Trivia question: Who were the San Diego Padres playing the night of Roseanne Barr’s controversial “rendition” of the national anthem in 1990?

Corner kicks: Suddenly, there are soccer movies everywhere -- “Kicking & Screaming,” a comedy; “The Game of Their Lives,” a drama based on a real-life event; and “Hooligans,” a drama based on reality. Elijah Wood stars in “Hooligans,” playing an American who was kicked out of Harvard before moving to England to become an extreme “supporter,” joining a gang of West Ham fans. Wood, naturally, was exposed to some hard-core soccer hooligans.

“Some are cool and collected,” he told Premiere magazine. “Those are the most dangerous ones. It’s the live wires you don’t have to worry about. It’s a lot of ... talk.”

Do’s and don’ts: San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler’s words of “advice” for the newly minted 49er quarterback, Alex Smith: “Don’t sweat the manners. Coach Nolan said he is impressed with your politeness, like how you pull your chair out for your mother.

“ ‘That’s huge to me,’ ” Nolan said. “ ‘It speaks to his coachability.’

“Even more impressive, you pulled out your mother’s chair in 2.32 seconds.

“However, once you join the team, you can dial back the etiquette. You don’t have to pull out Tim Rattay’s chair. In the NFL, excessive politeness is seen as a sign of weakness. For instance, you’ll notice that when offensive linemen eat, they don’t use their hands.”

Trivia answer: The Cincinnati Reds.

And finally: NASCAR driver Ken Schrader explained his racing philosophy to Speedway.com:

“If I know this guy in front of me is not going to do anything stupid, at least for the first 470 miles, then I’m probably more willing to follow him around.

“Then, on the other hand, some guys believe the white flag comes out on Lap 7, and they’re going to be taking risks early and often. That’s fine as long as it works, but as soon as it doesn’t, they’re going to be rolling about 10 cars in on a wrecker or a rollback.”