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                     What's Your At-Bat Song?

                            By: Deli Staff

 

April 27, 2009 - Ask the Deli Staff: What's Your At-Bat Song?

Want to get to know the Davis Sports Deli staff better? Well, here's your opportunity. Each week we'll be asking a different question of the DSD staff and posting the answers here. If you'd like to participate in this segment, send a sports-related question to me, Patrick Crawley, at pecrawley@gmail.com.

 

 

Question: Say you're a Major League Baseball player and you can choose any song you like to represent you before at-bats. What song do you choose?

 

King Tong - "Teardrops on My Guitar" (Taylor Swift)

Multitude of reasons why I chose this song. First of all, it’s by Taylor Swift, who is my wife. Second of all, I wanted something that the female fans of mine can relate to when they see me walking up to the plate. They need a song to swoon to. And lastly, it’s pretty catchy. Therefore, the other team will be too preoccupied thinking of this song to concentrate on the game. They’ll keep pondering about the meaning behind the song. It’s a song about a universal subject…love. All players will relate to it and I want them to get nostalgic and look back on their past loves. Next thing you know, a line drive will go zipping past them. This at-bat song isn’t just a mindless instrumental. It will elicit emotions, and that’s what I’m going for.

Aaron Fischman - "Don't Stop Believin' " (Journey)

No, I wasn’t “born and raised in South Detroit” and I’m certainly not “a small town girl” who “took the midnight train going anywhere”, but I do love this song. It’s a song about striving to achieve your goals regardless of the circumstances. Things will get tough and one must weather the storm. It may seem corny, but once one stops believing, a serious problem emerges that can take far too long and far too much effort to correct. This catchy chorus reminds everyone to strive for their dreams no matter how difficult life’s challenges become. I also like the song because it’s not overly optimistic. It actually has quite an existential feel with lyrics such as “strangers waiting up and down the boulevard” and “livin’ just to find emotion”. The song explains that some people win, but it also concedes the point that “some will lose, some are born to sing the blues.” That line reminds me of the great discipline of sports. There are always losers, but as long as the team/individuals doesn’t stop believing, it/the person will always be able to look forward to next season. In this figurative language, next season translates to the next opportunity. There are always more opportunities if you keep searching for them, big dawgs!

I was going to choose Fort Minor’s Remember The Name, because that song would just pump me up every at bat. The problem is that the lyrics of the chorus make very little sense to me. The percentages do add up to 100%, so I’ll give them that. It’s not like an interviewed athlete or coach, who claims that the team gave 110% (say what?), but still…the percentages are way too arbitrary for me. I know it’s just a song, but why is it 20% skill and a whopping 80% fear? Why is concentrated power of will only 15%, whereas pain is 50%? I do like the verses though and the beat as well as flow of the song. I also love the line “100% reason to remember the name!” With that said, that song is hot, but it won’t be my at-bat song this season.

Patrick Crawley - "Drunken Lullabies" (Flogging Molly)

My pick is the intro to 'Drunken Lullabies' by Flogging Molly. What can I say? It gets me pumped up. Really pumped up. Like a can of Red Bull in the form of drums, guitars and fiddle. Plus, I have a sneaky suspicion that it would start a mosh pit in the bleachers during Irish Night and that would definitely make it on Sports Center. Which is the ultimate goal of every hitter, right? Making it on Sports Center. Anyway, that's my pick.

Thanks for reading everybody. Check back with us next Sunday for our next installment of Ask the Deli Staff.