It's not too often that I contribute nearly anything at all in regards to baseball discussion, but that's mostly due to the fact that I don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about on the topic. I don't consider myself a baseball fan, but that's not to take away from the sport itself or any fan devoted to America's pastime. I, like a large portion of sports fans, lack the patience for such long games and such a long season. Playoff baseball is a whole different beast; it certainly keeps even the bandwagon fans on the edge of their seats.
But even as a technically "non-fan" of the MLB, the game still provides one of the best atmospheres for attending a game. I personally believe college football tops any atmosphere in all of sports, but it's more of the day-long tailgating and pre-kickoff traditions that really push it in front of the others. Attending a baseball game, though, is just a fantastic experience. Ironically enough, the slow, casual pace of a game is a major positive aspect of being in the crowd. A summer night drinking $9 beers calls for relaxed vibes, which is precisely what a baseball stadium provides.
More than any other sport, baseball stadiums just have an aura to them that makes you want to spend a game at every possible venue. Even the newer stadiums, the non-Fenway/Wrigleys of the world, are a legitimate attraction.
But enough about the intangibles, the thing I love the most about live baseball games is the execution of music. There's nothing worse than the over saturation of sound effects during play of an NBA game. It's awful. College sports have the bands tearing it up with the brass instruments, beating the drums, playing the school's fight song. That's all fine and dandy, but what's tight about MLB stadiums is the personal soundtrack aspect. Songs selected by and tailored to individual players really allows them to reinforce their brand. To assist in creating an identity for each player and his hometown fans.
Which brings me to walk up songs: The ultimate "all eyes on me" moment. I've been trying to contemplate what exactly my walk up song would be, had I not been an atrocious baseball player and made it to the bigs, and it's harder than I thought. So I thought I'd list three, perhaps to switch up between during the everlasting baseball season:
Always a classic, gets the crowd going. However, you can't be some chump with a minimal contract walking up to this. You need to have one of those headlining salaries, letting everyone know how many bands you've got in your multiple mansions.
I'm not entirely sure exactly how long a walk up song plays for before they shut it off, but all I'd need is the intro to this all-time great jam. You'd be the smoothest dude in the league walking up to the plate with this blaring throughout the stadium.
Just an adrenaline rush of an intro. The type of intro that perks your ears up and leads into immediate head bobbing.
What I find to be more intense and personal than walk up songs is a song dedicated to the closer as he makes his way from the bullpen. Only happens once a game, and it's always in the most crucial moment. Now obviously "Major League" crushed this for Charlie Sheen with Wild Thing,
but hands down, no discussion, without a doubt, walking out of the bullpen and tossing a few warmups to Voodoo Child would get a crowd rocking like you've never seen before.
Slowly walking from the bullpen to the mound during the build up of Hendrix shredding would be incredible. Not to mention that closers seem like a bunch of dudes that would be into voodoo practices. Whatever mountain is up to bat across from you, your chopping that sucker down with the edge of your hand. Picturing this really makes me wish I didn't suck so badly at baseball and didn't throw like a toddler playing catch in the yard with his dad.
And while we're on the topic of personal intro songs, I'm sticking by my claim that if I were to ever walk from the tunnel to the UFC octagon, you can bet that I'd stick with a stadium classic/college football tradition in Enter Sandman
So yeah, kind of an odd rant that had very little to do with actual baseball, but still an interesting topic of discussion.
What would your walk up/closer song be?
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