The Joy Of Athletes Awkwardly Singing Holiday Songs

Some Celtics players and coach Brad Stevens visited Boston Children's Hospital earlier today, singing Christmas carols with the kids, and thanks to ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg, there's video. Everyone had fun, except for the little girl on the left of Kelly Olynyk, who seemed suspicious of the whole event.

With this, the 2013 Celtics have added another entry in the collection of awkward holiday-themed videos featuring athletes. These are an offshoot of awkward local commercials with athletes, in that they happen once a year, obviously, and usually involve more players, since it's a team thing. Whether the songs are impromptu or professionally produced, they're one of the best parts of the holiday season.

Here are a few examples from this year. The Washington Capitals didn't involve much singing, just instrument playing:

Arsenal:

The St. Louis Blues:

(The Nashville Predators had an excellent, non-embeddable one, too.)

Most of the time, the athletes have the acting abilities of a hostage being recorded for a ransom video, and the final product is always goofy, despite the video editor's best attempts. And we love them!

Is it because we like seeing athletes out of their environment? Does the humor come from their monotone voices performing at a worse skill level than an elementary school recital? It doesn't really matter. Whatever the reason, these videos are an excellent tradition that will hopefully never go away.

One final note: The best video of athletes awkwardly singing holiday songs happened in 2006, featuring the Pistons' Rasheed Wallace, Will Blalock, Amir Johnson, and Jason Maxiell. This is not up for debate.