Sirianni said leading up to the Super Bowl that he’s been imagine that moment for 32 years.
Emotions were already on full display before Super Bowl LVII between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs had even been kicked off.
Look no further than Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, who was visibly moved by the national anthem performed by Chris Stapleton:
Sirianni’s connection to the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ goes back three decades, to Super Bowl XXV in January 1991. That day, Whitney Houston delivered arguably the most iconic rendition of the song — one that left a lasting impact on then 9-year-old Nick.
32 years later, Sirianni now finds himself in the Super Bowl, listening to the national anthem from the sidelines.
“That’s something that I’ve always thought about — what it might be like to hear the national anthem at a Super Bowl,” he said leading up to the game, via the Buffalo News. “You get the goosebumps thinking about it.”
For Sirianni, the national anthem does not just represent his arrival on the sport’s biggest stage, though. He also views it as an opportunity to reflect on the road that brought him to this point.
“You think about being in that moment of the Super Bowl, listening to the national anthem, how much that’s going to mean,” he added. “It makes you think about all the hard work that you had to go through to get to the moment that you’re in right now. It will be a good feeling. I’m not going to let myself get wrapped up in that feeling, because right after that, we’re going to have a job to do.
“But I will let myself enjoy that moment for a second and enjoy that feeling, because there was a lot of hard work by a lot of people. Everyone is going to feel this way. There are a lot of people who helped me get to this spot that I’m in right now. It will be cool to listen to it and get to work.”
