Amanita.net

The annual telecast of the Super Bowl always includes the national anthem, and every year certain themes are prominent: football players mouthing the words, a jet fighter fly-over, and – in recent years – shots of troops overseas preparing to watch the game. Since 1992, there has been another element of the Super Bowl’s national anthem that is not always shown: the American Sign Language rendition. (John Lee Clark has an extended history of the song’s performance in ASL.) For 20 years, there have been ASL performers alongside the vocalists, but they are usually only shown in fleeting glimpses, if at all. Prior to the 2012 Super Bowl, the National Association of the Deaf announced that the reigning Miss Deaf America, Rachel Mazique, would perform alongside singer Kelly Clarkson. Following Clarkson’s performance of The Star Spangled Banner last night, Twitter lit up with deaf people wondering where Rachel was – had she missed due to illness? Was she late? Or did NBC simply decide to skip over her? Unfortunately, a quick look back at the NAD press release announcing Rachel’s participation indicated only that it was “hoped” she would be shown, leaving the deaf community to realize, yet again, that ASL wasn’t focused on. Now, there were a lot of faces to include in this year’s broadcast, as a children’s choir provided backup vocals for the song – but couldn’t they have given us just a tiny peek?

I decided to review the past 20 years of telecasts, to determine just how often the national broadcast lets the ASL rendition slip by unnoticed by television viewers.

• 1992 – Lori Hilary, the very first performer of the National Anthem in ASL at the Super Bowl, graciously uploaded her footage for the world to see! She performed on the field a little ways away from Harry Connick, Jr. Lori says that he was rude to her during the rehearsal, and insisted that she stand at least 30 yards away from the stage. Although Lori had performed the anthem for the Minnesota Vikings for two years (prompting the NFL to request her for the Super Bowl) and was shown on the Jumbotron every time, she was not shown for the Super Bowl, which makes you wonder…how could anybody see her from their seats way up in the stadium? She was invited to attend a party for “volunteers” before the game, but she was not even given a parking pass or anything else…not even a thank you after her performance. She does have several seconds of appearance on camera though (“o’er the ramparts…so gallantly streaming”) and she is quite beautiful. But they didn’t even announce her name or what she was doing, so this first ASL anthem went largely unnoticed by most people…except the deaf football fans watching the game, I bet they jumped out of their chairs when they saw her!
• 1993 – Marlee Matlin is shown throughout. Not only is she standing right next to Garth Brooks, but when the camera pans away, she is kept in a bubble in the corner. She tweeted this morning that NBC execs wanted her off-screen, and Brooks had to insist that she was shown.
• 1994 – Natalie Cole turns in a great performance, but Atlanta Falcons cheerleader Courtney Keel Foley is nowhere to be seen.
• 1995 – Perhaps owing to her status as reigning Miss America, Heather Whitestone is shown in a bubble the entire time; it’s not clear how close she is to vocalist Kathie Lee Gifford.
• 1996 – Based on this photo from Mary Kim Titla’s Facebook page, it would appear she was right next to Vanessa Williams. Unfortunately, she isn’t shown in the broadcast. Link updated, previous video was removed.
• 1997 – There is a brief glimpse of Erika Rachael Schwarz at the beginning, before she has started signing; she is not shown at all during Luther Vandross’s performance. Link updated, previous video was removed.
• 1998 – Tony award-winning actress Phyllis Frelich is shown way off to the side during Jewel’s performance; she can be seen at the lines “bursting in air” and “o’er the land.” You can’t tell who it is, you just see someone is signing. Update! 15 Feb: Because the previous link was removed, I went looking for another video. I was surprised to find that Phyllis Frelich was shown in a bubble the whole time during Jewel’s performance. The previous video didn’t have any words on the screen, but this one did, so I think this was the version shown on TV. So we have added a video to the list of those that showed the ASL performance!
• 1999 – Cher is accompanied by the group Speaking Hands, which turns in a very artistic performance. They are shown in a bubble throughout, but the bubble is too small to get the full feeling of their unique style.
• 2000 – The deaf and hard of hearing program at Briarlake Elementary School sent their choir to perform alongside Faith Hill. They are shown throughout, and this time there are cuts and you can see both individual performers and the group as a whole.
• 2001 – Tom Cooney is seen signing “ramparts” but that’s it. Presumably he signed along with the entire Backstreet Boys performance, but all we get is a good full shot of him signing “ramparts.”
• 2002 – New Orleans police officer Joe Narcisse is shown at the beginning, but has not yet started to sign. Perhaps Mariah Carey insisted the camera focus only on her and no other performers.
• 2003 – The Dixie Chicks perform but Janet Maxwell is not shown at all. Link updated, previous video was removed.
• 2004 – Suzanna Christy is completely left out of Beyonce’s performance.
• 2005 – There are a lot of people to get on camera, as many combined military choirs perform. There is a tiny glimpse of Wesley Tallent after the line “bombs bursting in air,” just after the camera pans over the veterans in red coats. He’s standing in the middle of the field, and you can barely see him, but you can tell he’s signing. Link updated, previous video was removed.
• 2006 – There is a tiny glimpse of Angela LaGuardia as Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin sing “o’er the ramparts,” but that’s it.
• 2007 – After years of being almost completely ignored, Marlee Matlin finally brings the spotlight back on ASL. She is shown for several seconds, as Billy Joel sings “the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air.” She’s not onstage as she was with Garth Brooks, though – she’s on the field. Link updated, previous video was removed. Although the video is from NHK Japan, they cut to CBS footage a few seconds into the video.
• 2008 – Here’s where we finally learn why they even bother with an ASL performance: turns out everybody in the stadium gets to see it on the Jumbotron! As Jordin Sparks sings “our flag was still there,” a shot that includes the Jumbotron reveals it’s showing A Dreamer, an instructor in the Interpreter Preparation Program at Phoenix College.
• 2009 – Kristen Santos is shown on the Jumbotron too, during Jennifer Hudson’s performance. She is seen at the line “dawn’s early light.” Link updated, previous video was removed.
• 2010 – The Jumbotron brings us Kinesha Battles, shown in split-screen with Carrie Underwood. Battles can be seen a few times, including during the line “gave proof through the night.” Link updated, previous video was removed.
• 2011 – Candice Villesca is nowhere to be seen…perhaps just as well, considering Christina Aguilera’s notorious mistakes, that undoubtedly confused Villesca – as they did everyone else shown on screen during the performance. (See below for more info.)
• 2012 – I sought this one out even though it was just last night, because I thought maybe everyone had missed a Jumbotron appearance. Nope – Rachel Mazique just isn’t there. Kelly Clarkson’s bangs are instead!

Maybe next year I’ll get to update this post and congratulate the network for including ASL prominently in the telecast?

Added: A friend of mine chatted with Rachel Mazique the evening of the Super Bowl. My friend had watched the game on the NBC Sports website, which showed multiple angles, and did catch a glimpse of the ASL performance. Rachel is frustrated and very unhappy with what happened, and she wants to make sure this doesn’t happen again! Let’s cross our fingers for a 1993-style side-by-side for next year, shall we?

Added: The media coverage begins with the Daily Herald’s article, published this morning. Don’t miss the petition to get ASL recognized by NBC and the NFL commissioners!

Added: It looks like Candice Villesca, the 2011 performer, may have been shown after all. There’s a news article here, with captions, that shows her performing on the field, but it’s unclear what the source of that clip is – the news article is from a Fox affiliate, and the Super Bowl was broadcast on Fox in 2011, so perhaps it’s footage that was shown nationwide – or maybe it’s just from their vaults. At any rate, it’s great to have a bit of her signing on video! You can also catch a vlogger’s interview with Candice about her Super Bowl experience here. Thanks to commenters Chris and Sam for the video links!