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Given the fervor now surrounding it, it's interesting to revisit how "The Star Spangled Banner" became the National Anthem.
You'd think based on the ferocity on the right, the country was born with that song attached to it (like ... I dunno ... slavery). Not true!
The Francis Scott Key ditty about a war no one remembers (the war of 1812) did become a popular military jingle after the Civil War.
Military bands would play it at events, and it would be played at patriotic picnics etc, but the country still had no national anthem.
Then in 1915, the daughter of Woodrow Wilson (Democratic president, unreconstructed racist) recorded the "banner" song and it became a hit.
The recording cracked the top ten in sheet music sales in 1915, part of the rah rah toward the end of World War I. books.google.com/books?id=hSCfB…
So like any doting dad, Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order making his daughter's hit song the national anthem. uspsconnection.com/cc_site/2009/0…
He could have picked any other song: "My Country Tis of Thee" was also popular at the time. But he liked his daughter's hit song the best.
Probably didn't hurt that the Francis Scott Key song was pro-slavery, given Wilson's venal racial views ... snopes.com/2016/08/29/sta…
Anyhoo, congress pretty much ignored Wilson's order, and the anthem remained informal until 1931, when a law was passed codifying it.
That law was signed by a guy named Herbert Hoover, who probably saw it as a feel good headline to replace ones like this: 
The bill to make "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem was introduced by a Maryland congressman (total coincidence, the song refers
to took place off Baltimore Harbor. And there was LOTS of pushback, esp since the tune was an old drinking song. history.house.gov/Historical-Hig…
And it was considered too hard for the average person to sing -- too many octaves.
People also thought there were better options, like "America the Beautiful" and other popular patriotic songs: latimes.com/entertainment/…
And that debate didn't end before or after it was designated. 
In other words far from revering it, Americans kept arguing over whether there even should be a national song, and if this was the best one.
Personally I could make a very strong case for "America the Beautiful," which is a prettier song, and more inclusive, but I'm just on TV...
Bottom line: people act like that song was handed down by God, or by the military. It wasn't. It was decreed by a POTUS hyping his daughter.
Meanwhile, it had absolutely NOTHING to do with professional football, which began with the creation of the NFL ... in 1920.
IOW, 13 years before that song was the national anthem.
