Ingrid Andress Admits She Was Drunk During Home Run Derby National Anthem, Says She’s Checking Herself Into Rehab

Aaron Ryan·
COUNTRY MUSIC
·
Ingrid Andress
ESPN

Admitting that she needs help.

Everybody is talking about the national anthem performance from Ingrid Andress at last night’s MLB Home Run Derby – and that’s not a good thing.

The performance immediately drew comparisons to Fergie’s infamous disaster of a performance a few years ago, and many online were calling it one of the worst Star Spangled Banner performances they’ve ever heard.

In case you missed it and are morbidly curious, here’s the now-viral performance:

There was plenty of criticism for Ingrid, especially after she was introduced as a 4-time Grammy nominee and then delivered a…well, not-Grammy worthy performance. And there was also speculation about what had gone wrong, whether it was an audio issue or whether she was sick. We know that Ingrid can sing, so the whole performance was baffling.

Well now we have an explanation for Ingrid herself.

The artist posted on her social media to address the performance, admitting that she was drunk and is checking herself into rehab to get the help that she needs:

“I’m not gonna bullshit y’all, I was drunk last night. I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need. That was not me last night. I apologize to MLB, all the fans, and this country I love so much for that rendition. I’ll let y’all know how rehab is I hear it’s super fun.”

Not gonna lie, kind of weird energy to say that “rehab is super fun,” but you have to give Ingrid credit for recognizing that she needs help and be willing to publicly admit it.

Obviously we’re all cheering for her and hope that this turns into a positive.

Worst National Anthem Performances

The internet commentary was brutal and many people began comparing it to some of memorable for all the wrong reasons National Anthem performances, so without further adieu, let’s take a walk down memory lane and relive a few times the pre-game ritual went all wrong.

Roseanne Barr

Carl Lewis

Fergie

Jesse McCartney

R. Kelly

Michael Bolton

Paul Skenes Named NL Starting Pitcher

It was a bummer last week when Pittsburgh Pirates rookie ace Paul Skenes wasn’t allowed to continue his no-hit bid through seven innings. Making up for that on Friday was National League All-Star manager Torey Lovullo publicly declaring Skenes as the starter for his team.

While Skenes was doing an interview on The Dan Patrick Show, the Arizona Diamondbacks skipper hopped on the horn to break the news to Skenes in real time:

The concept for this sort of stunt was probably better than its overall execution. Once Lovullo hung up the horn, Skenes didn’t really know how to react as Patrick soldiered through the rest of his questions. It’s got to be surreal for Skenes. Despite how much hype and public exposure he’s gotten — in no small part thanks to dating Livvy Dunne — already getting the nod as an All-Star Game starter is literally unprecedented for somebody so inexperienced at the MLB level.

Watch him for a mere inning, though, and it’s clear why Skenes is getting the ball for the NL for Tuesday’s showdown against the American League at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Just look at the ridiculous variation in velocities of Skenes’ pitches.

The 22-year-old has two no-hit appearances thanks to Thursday’s latest gem versus the Brewers, adding to the six no-no frames he pitched in just his second start against the Cubs. I’ve seen some pretty ridiculous stats in my days covering sports. Baseball is notorious for getting into the nitty-gritty and mining every piece of sabermetrics and advanced data to better explain what’s going on. This is pretty straightforward, though, and straight-up silly:

So yeah, it was a no-brainer choice by Lovullo to make Skenes his starter. He has the most special stuff of anyone in the sport, and will get eyeballs on the exhibition tilt more so than anyone else could conceive of doing at this particular point in time.

Thank goodness for Paul Skenes. Where would baseball be without him right now? He’s keeping the sport relevant almost by himself during a period where everyone in America is just dying for football to come back and the Summer Olympics are fast approaching. Skenes could be responsible for getting folks to actually tune in live on Tuesday night, rather than just checking out the highlights later on.

PS, decent take here by Livvy Dunne on her boyfriend getting pulled during his no-hitter — even if I disagree with it.

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