on december 11, 1969, the flyers introduced what became one of the team's best-known traditions: playing a recording of kate smith singing "god bless america" instead of "the star-spangled banner" before important games. the perception was that the team was more successful on these occasions, so the tradition grew. the move was initially done by flyers promotion director lou scheinfeld as a way to defray national tensions at the time of the vietnam war: scheinfeld noticed that people regularly left their seats and walk around during the anthem, but showed more respect and often sang along to "god bless america". to this day, the team plays the song before major playoff games, currently with lauren hart (daughter of hall of fame flyers broadcast announcer gene hart) performing the first part of the song, a recording of smith singing the second part, and lauren hart joining the recording for the finale. as of the close of the 2013–14 flyers season, the flyers have a record of 96–28–4 when "god bless america" is sung prior to home games.