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19,000 St. Louis Fans Band Together To Sing A Moving National Anthem For Veterans Day

Elsewhere in the sporting world, a 36-year veteran was united with a very, very good dog.

 Penn Collins
11.10.16

Veterans Day may fall on a Friday, but many sports teams conduct their celebrations a little earlier in the week if their schedules don’t allow for a proper celebration the day of. Last night, the St. Louis fans continued their annual tradition of engaging in a moving and impassioned rendition of the national anthem to honor America’s veterans. Just one day removed from a divisive national election, the 19,000 fans at the sold-out match put forth an effort that was both moving and genuine. Here they are at the Scottrade Center on the occassion they dubbed Military Appreciation Night. Don’t fight the goosebumps.

Amidst so much turmoil accross the national landscape, even a purely symbolic gesture like this can go a long way towards managing perspective and perhaps cooling a few heads. While this anthem was being sung, protests over the election results were taking place in several U.S. cities.

Over a thousand miles away, one particular veteran of 36 years, Retired U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Luciano Yulfo was treated to a less spontaneous but no less thrilling surprise as he was met and rewarded with his own service dog, Murphy. The event took place on the court of Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Knicks’ “Hoops for Troops” program.

Meet both Yulfo and Murphy in the video below.

The celebration of veterans is expected to continue across all sports throughout the weekend, so you can expect more moments like these in the coming days.

Sports

A former Miss World contestant was disqualified for being a mom. Now she's fighting back.

Some beauty pageants, like the Miss America competition, have done away with the swimsuit portions of the competitions, thus dipping their toes in the 21st century. Other aspects of beauty pageants remain stuck in the 1950s, and we're not even talking about the whole "judging women mostly on their looks" thing. One beauty pageant winner was disqualified for being a mom, as if you can't be beautiful after you've had a kid. Now she's trying to get the Miss World competition to update their rules.

Veronika Didusenko won the Miss Ukraine pageant in 2018. After four days, she was disqualified because pageant officials found out she was a mom to 5-year-old son Alex, and had been married. Didusenko said she had been aware of Miss World's rule barring mother from competing, but was encouraged to compete anyways by pageant organizers.

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NASA's solar probe sent back its first findings, and it's more incredible than we thought

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One mystery in our universe is a step closer to being solved. NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched last year to help scientists understand the sun. Now, it has returned its first findings. Four papers were published in the journal Nature detailing the findings of Parker's first two flybys. It's one small step for a solar probe, one giant leap for mankind.



It is astounding that we've advanced to the point where we've managed to build a probe capable of flying within 15 million miles from the surface of the sun, but here we are. Parker can withstand temperatures of up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit and travels at 430,000 miles per hour. It's the fastest human-made vehicle, and no other human-made object has been so close to the sun.

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The Army's football program ditched a team motto after learning it's used by white supremacists

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Since the mid '90s the phrase "God Forgives, Brothers Don't" has been part of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point's football team's lexicon.

Over the past few years, the team has taken the field flying a black skull-and-crossbones flag with an acronym for the phrase, "GFBD" on the skull's upper lip. Supporters of the team also use it on social media as #GFBD.

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