Before Game 3 of the NBA Finals in Cleveland Wednesday night, singer Jessica Ruiz asked the crowd to join her in singing the national anthem.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Here’s an example of crowdsourcing – real crowdsourcing – that played out last night at Quicken loans Arena in Cleveland. It was the start of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Singer Jessica Ruiz asked the huge crowd to join her in the national anthem. She began to sing.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER”)

JESSICA RUIZ: (Singing) O, say, can you see…

SHAPIRO: And then lowered her microphone.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) …By the dawn’s early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming.

SIEGEL: Tracy Marek is chief marketing officer with the Cavs.

TRACY MAREK: Usually, this time of year, we’re spending a lot of time thinking about which celebrity to bring in and who could really help just to create a very dynamic memorable national anthem. And it occurred to us that maybe instead of having one national anthem singer, it might be more exciting to have 20,562 people singing the song.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER”)

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air…

SHAPIRO: The tradition of having the crowd do the singing began in Cleveland during the playoffs. The Cavs won last night’s finals game 120-to-90.

SIEGEL: The Warriors still lead the series two-to-one. Thanks to cleveland.com for the recording of the Cavs fans singing.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER”)

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) O, say, does that star-spangled banner…

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