Former NFL outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware sang the national anthem ahead of Thursday night’s first 2023 preseason game against the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns.
Why he did so might be the coolest thing to come out of the first night of the NFL season by a mile.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Ware chose to sing the national anthem ahead of Thursday’s game in honor of his late Denver Broncos teammate Demaryius Thomas, who tragically died in 2021.
The two reportedly sang it together on the sideline while in Denver.
“You can never be ready for that,” Ware told the publication of singing the anthem. “There’s ways you can prepare for it and have ample amount of vocal lessons. But when you get up there and when the crowd goes silent, it’s your turn to get up there and sing to the whole United States of America on what it stands for. And that is huge.”
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee DeMarcus Ware sings the National Anthem ahead of kickoff! pic.twitter.com/rP5XXNxXr1
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) August 4, 2023
You have to give Ware props for tackling such a hard thing as singing the national anthem publicly for such a moving reason.
As he gets enshrined in Canton, Ohio, this weekend for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he’ll have plenty of memories to take for this important week.