David Cook sang the National Anthem - "The Star Spangled Banner" during the NBA finals two days ago. Of course, knowing that Archuleta had sung the National Anthem a little more than a month ago during his homecoming to Utah, comparison will surely pop-up from somewhere. Unsurprisingly enough, it did. Even before the actual day, both parties (the Arch Angels and Cook's Cougars) were already starting to speculate/compare. Archuleta's fans (even some of Cook's fans) already knew how well Archuleta delivered their National Anthem - pure, heartelt and just simply stunning.

Cook actually had a chance to sing the National Anthem during his homecoming trip, like Archuleta, but for some reason, sang "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" instead. Anyway, Cook's fans knew that their favourite David will have to live up to that, with him winning the American Idol title and all. They expected Cook to be his usual rocker-self, with his signature of changing the song arrangement to fit him more. Everyone anticipated Cook's performance. In the end, it all came down to this (see left). Archuleta's performance is on the right. The following paragraph or two after the videos will talk about Cook's performance.


I must admit, it wasn't spectacular. Well, it wasn't downright horrible either. Except for that pitchy start, he did the song quite well. Despite the speculations of him changing the song's arrangement, he did the exact opposite of it. No extra runs, no 'making it his own'. He sang it exactly how the the National Anthem was originally written. If you observe, at around 1:12, you can vaguely hear a man shouting "Cook, you suck!" and a couple of jeers/boos following it by other Americans. That surely was uncalled for. Even myself, being a rabid fan of Archuleta, would never say such unthinkable things. Constructive critisicms in discussion boards may well still be tolerated but hollering an opinion as blunt as that was just plain rude.

YouTube comments, BuddyTV boards and other general websites are full of discussions about Cook's 'rendition' of the National Anthem. Regarding the Buddy TV boards, a heated discussion was started when a Senior Writer there named Oscar Dahl wrote a biased but an unofficial (thank God) article a day before Cook's performance, saying that whatever happens with Cook's performance the next day, it would always be better if Archuleta ever perform it. Why? He said that it was because of Archuleta's usual "cheesiness" and "disney-esque" performances. Of course, this caused a cyber riot between him, Archuleta's fans and other Americans. They bombarded Oscar with hateful remarks, mainly on how he should've done research before writing such an offensive article because apparently, he has not seen Archuleta's National Anthem video before. The 'if' (see above) is a clear evidence of that claim.

I must admit, I enjoyed reading those people's comments. I loved seeing Mr. Dahl getting embarrassed by the minute. Funnily enough, Dahl watched Archuleta's video the next day after he watched Cook's performance on TV and wrote another article. This is a fair one, he assured. Although, his readers still hate him. In the end, he gave Cook a 'C' and Archuleta a 'B+'. If I were him, which I never hope to be, I would have given Archuleta an 'A-' considering that his performance was pitch-perfect, and Cook, a 'C+'. But... that's not my place. I'm not a critic, aren't I? I'm not being biased either. You heard them yourself!

Until now, arguments between fans and the non-fans are still going on. As expected, Cook's fans sided with Cook and Archuleta's fans sided with Archuleta. Cook's fans are blaming us Archuleta fans for saying such horrible comments to the YouTube video (above). In my defence, how can they be sure that those people are Archuleta fans? They could just be some random American who just so happens to stumble upon Cook's National Anthem video. And comments such as "Hmm... I thought he could've done a little better," are considered rude? What if we are just stating the truth? Nobody's perfect. Everyone is bound to make mistakes at some point of their life, even Cook and Archuleta. Well, obviously, Cook made a mistake. We know Archuleta has made mistakes (eg. forgetting his song lyrics) but that never fazed him or his fans. So Cookies, just... chill.

And for the record, Cook shouldn't even be compared to Archuleta. They both have their own genre and should be respected as they are.

- Jeneva Marielle Apolinar