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BOSTON - The Cowsills hit all the right notes in their rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Saturday night before Game 3 in the American League Championship Series.
Then the former family band from Newport that had hit records in the 1960s and '70s watched along with a national television audience as the Boston Red Sox hit sour note after sour note in a 19-8 loss to the New York Yankees.
The embarrassing outcome for the local team didn't keep a large Cowsills entourage from having a memorable outing.
"There were at least 30 Cowsills, kids and grandkids and stuff like that," said Richard Cowsill, who lives in Middletown.
Members of the former band are scattered throughout the country. The Red Sox flew in some of them for the performance.
Richard Cowsill was impressed with the pre-anthem buildup for the group before it performed the national anthem.
After the anthem, the Cowsills performed "Hair," perhaps their most well-known song.
"They let a part of that go through, too," Richard Cowsill said about the lyrics going out nationally on Fox TV.
He also said the network allowed them to sing "The Rain, the Park and Other Things" and "We Can Fly."
Barry Cowsill, who wore a hat and played guitar, also had to wear unfamiliar earplugs. "I had to stop and turn it up," he said. "It was nerve-wracking to say the least. But it was all cool."
Richard Cowsill called the brief return to the national spotlight awesome. "My 30-year-old son Nathan saw it in Los Angeles. He called and said, 'Dad! It's you! It's you!' It was so cool."
Richard got a kick out of talking to Fox Network football commentators Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw as well as taking in the reactions of some of the Red Sox.
"We were watching the players and they were looking back wondering who the hell we were," Richard Cowsill said with a chuckle. "But the fans knew."
Derek Jeter didn't. New York's shortstop had a perplexed look on his face as he watched from the Yankees dugout.
The Cowsills clan watched the game from luxury boxes deep along the right-field line. "We had the windows open," Richard said. "We were screaming and yelling."
Singer/guitarist Bob Cowsill is perhaps the biggest Sox fan in the group.
Richard Cowsill said he has retired his Red Sox hats for the time being. "I have brought back my Yankee hat."
A Cowsill, a Yankees fan?
"Yeah," Richard answered, then hedged. "I'm everybody's fan."
Bryan, 18, another of his sons, wore a Yankees cap to the game. And took some abuse.
His most memorable moment might not have been watching his father and relatives singing on national television.
Before the game Bryan Cowsill shouted to Alex Rodriguez, "Hey, A-Rod, hit one over the Monster."
The Yankees slugger obliged with a monster shot over the Green Monster in left field as well as the Monster seats in New York's romp.
"That made my night," the younger Cowsill said. "Know what I mean?"
A-Rod might have been inspired by the teen's painted face. He had "Yankees" on his right side.
"Someone made him take it off," Barry Cowsill said with a laugh.
Barry said they stayed the whole nine innings of a game in which most of the seats were empty by the merciful ending ... on an evening that began on some well-struck notes by a familiar band.
"It was a little, bitty, New England nighttime sound, that we got to do," said Barry Cowsill, a Newport resident who plugged his next gig, a solo act Tuesday night at OverFlo's in Middletown. "It was fun, like winning the sweepstakes."
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