Well, the fat lady sang, but the national anthem will live.

You must dwell three miles underground if you haven’t heard the story yet of how comedienne-whiner-indescribable-nuisance Roseanne Barr murdered the national anthem in full view of about 40,000 San Diego Padres fans.

She thought it was funny. Everybody else didn’t.

She sang way off key and screeched her way through the entire song on purpose, and then, to carry the joke even further, she grabbed her crotch and spit on homeplate when she was done.

Everyone from baseball people to political people (even President Bush) expressed their disappoint concerning the incident. They’ve said it was a disgracful desecration of a symbolic song, putting it in the same league as a flag burning.

All the ravings were enough to squeeze a half-hearted apology out of Barr. Perhaps it was due because of the bad taste Barr exhibited, but those who want to see the incident as a Nightline topic should calm themselves. The national anthem will survive Roseanne Barr.

Also, there can’t very well be a constitutional ammendment against people who can’t carry a tune. The song isn’t even American-born. (The melody was stolen from an 18th Century Welsh beer-drinking song.) It didn’t become the national anthem until the early 1900s, and wasn’t the first choice.

The fat lady sang. Now let’s let it be over.