A national anthem singer says her performance in the Men’s College World Series has been canceled because of her horns down gesture before the Women’s College World Series semifinals between Texas and Oklahoma State.
Zack Collier, a 27-year-old U.S. history teacher in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and a former student at Texas A&M, posted on Facebook this week that his performance has been nix.
Collier also allegedly posted a screenshot of an email from Omaha, Inc.’s College World Series, stating that the NCAA had contacted him because “we have evidence that he made offensive gestures and mocked the participating team … and we don’t do that to him.” It’s nice to be allowed to perform. “
Collier told ESPN on Tuesday that he has been singing the national anthem at sporting events for the past 10 years, including a number of Texas A&M sporting events, including the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers Games, while he was still at the college station. “I understand why someone might insult a gesture during a song performance,” he said.
“I’m a neutral party and showing my lack of support for a particular team after the national anthem, I can see that someone might be offended by this,” Collier said. “But the reason I posted was not that I was upset because they said, ‘Hey, you didn’t want to do that.’ Because he called Horns Down an offensive gesture. He said I made fun of the other team. These words specifically, why did I post about it. It’s ridiculous to say I’m making fun of the participating team because I threw Horn Down. “
An NCAA spokesman confirmed Tuesday that Collier’s appearance had been canceled following the incident.
The NCAA said in a statement that “performing the national anthem during the NCAA Championship event is a critical moment of reflection and mutual respect for all championship participants and fans present.” “After his national anthem performance during the Women’s College World Series – during which the performer improperly supported one participating team, taunted the other team and interrupted trying to communicate with the participating student-players and coaches – told him not to do the Men’s College World Series. Perform in the meantime. “
Collier said the scope of his interactions with any of the players was to say hello to the Oklahoma State player on the home plate next to him, to talk to each other, and in return the player said hello. He said a Texas assistant mentioned “keep that horn,” but he smiled and then walked away.
Collier said he was still surprised by the reaction, adding that he considered the gesture to be part of the hand gestures of Texas schools such as A&M, Texas or Texas Tech. As a result, he stated that his point was that the NCAA considered Horns Down offensive.
“Certainly not,” he said. “I believe it’s part of the competition. It’s part of college sports. I don’t believe Horns Down is more offensive than Gig M or Hook M or Rake M.”
Collier, whose wife is a TCU graduate, performed the national anthem twice at the NCAA Baseball Super Regional at College Station, once for the TCU-Louisiana game, during which he was in TCU gear to support his wife’s team. He said he also sang the national anthem before Texas A&M’s game against TCU, during which he changed all fire attire. He said he heard some questions about his flip-flops from the TCU dugout when he was running, but it was all fun, especially since TCU met Texas A&M three times before the post-season.
“I said, ‘Yeah, but I’m Aggie,'” he said. “And I wanted to get you all out of the tournament.”
In Oklahoma City, Collier said he has a similar atmosphere.
“I’m an Aggie; Texas was playing,” Collier said. “I was going to give them ‘Go Pox’ and then the horn down after the national anthem. And that’s what I did. And three hours after I sang the national anthem, I got an email that I hadn’t scheduled the song. No longer for the men’s college world series.
“I replied, ‘What kind of sport are you referring to?'” He said.
Contact from CWS responded with a comment from NCAA and a picture of him gesturing on the field.
Collier admitted that he was disappointed to have lost the opportunity to sing before Game 9 in Omaha, his planned location after the audition process, where he had applied for more than 100 applications from 17 states. But he has no regrets, even after losing Ages on his first trip to Omaha since 2017.
“You know, if I’m going to blow the horns, I’m going to blow the horns,” he said. “I don’t think anyone will stop me from doing that.”
