‘American Idol’ Kris Allen to sing national anthem at Lakers game Sunday

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‘American Idol’ 2009 winner Kris Allen will sing the national anthem Sunday at Staples Center before Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Orlando Magic.

Allen, an upset winner over San Diego’s Adam Lambert, admits he is not a Laker fan from way back or anything. Allen is from Conway, Ark., and he is an all-things-Arkansas fan and he was on hand when USC gave the Razorbacks a good, old-fashioned beating in Arkansas a few years ago. ‘It was bad,’ Allen said.

He also has no plans to add any extra touches to the anthem so no reprise of the Tyrese Gibson debacle. Tyrese, who sang the anthem at Staples during the Western Conference finals series against Denver, opted to change some lyrics from ‘our flag was still there,’ to ‘our Lakers were still there.’ This displeased many including our own Bill Plaschke who sent several Twitter messages exclaiming his displeasure.

Allen said he had never sung the anthem in public before and has nothing planned. ‘I just want to get through it and not make any mistakes,’ he said today. Allen said he would also love to meet Kobe Bryant.

It is becoming a tradition for ‘Idol’ contestants to sing at the Finals. Since 2004, David Cook, Jordin Sparks, Taylor Hicks, Carrie Underwood, Ruben Studdard, Elliot Yamin and Kelly Clarkson have performed.

Now if only someone could figure out how to have ‘Dancing With the Stars’ winner Shawn Johnson waltz through the anthem and a reality television crossover event.

-- Diane Pucin