So we’ve all been to games and heard the players different walk up music either as they come up to bat or go to the mound to star their game. Most of the time the music seems to fit the player pretty well but at times you have to ask if they really picked the music or not. Today I’m going to breakdown 5 players songs they have chosen as their entrance music. For each player I’ll also pick my own song I think might be more fitting.

Now before I get into the meat and potatoes of this blog I’m going to toss up a bit of a warning. I have a pretty limited genre of music I listen to. I do not listen to country or any type of hip-hop at all. I realize there are probably going to be some very god choices from those genre’s for the players I’m going to look at but I wouldn’t even know here to start to find those songs. I’m really going to go off what I have on my Ipod and stick to what I know. So with that out of the way here we go.

Rickie Weeks

Song- Drop the World by Lil Wayne

So I’m listening to this song as I write this and I have to imagine that the Brewers either use the edited version to this song or decided not to use the vocals. I don’t know Weeks on a personal basis but I have a feeling this is one of his favorite songs. I think this song is fitting for him too. It’s a song about overcoming big odds and ignoring the pressure that is on you. Weeks has been a lightning rod since he joined the Brewers. All the talent in the world but hasn’t put it together or can’t stay healthy. Yet he keeps doing everything he needs to do and works hard to be the player we want him to be and just ignores all the negative press around him. Anyone who knows me knows that Weeks has been my favorite Brewer for a long time now and I’ve defended him till I’m blue in the face. I’m extremely happy to see him finally putting it al together.

My Song- Firestarter by Prodigy

As a leadoff hitter Weeks is the spark plug to the offense. He starts everyone off and sets the tone to start the game. In my opinion Weeks is the most exciting hitter to watch on the Brewers. You just never know what he’s going to do. Weeks has such a quick bat that you not always sure when he’s actually going to swing. We’ve all seen it where the pitch looks like it’s by him and then just a quick flick of the wrists and it’s a liner in the gap and he’s flying around the bases for a double or a triple. Next time he could just as easily turn on one and knock it out of the park. This sing is really fitting. It’s a high-energy heavy based song. The beat and the lyrics work perfectly to not only get him going for his at-bat but also pump up the rest of the team.

Ryan Braun

Song- All the Way, Turnt Up by Roscoe Dash

So I just proved how not hip I am as I wrote the title to this song. When I saw the title on the Brewers website written the way it was I just figured it was a typo and it was supposed to be titled “All the Way, Turn it Up”, not Turnt Up. So yeah, I’m an idiot. Beside the point this is a pretty good song that fits well with Braun. I like Braun a lot but he walks that fine line of very confidant and being cocky quite well. He has every right to be cocky with what he’s done so far in his career so I’m not going to knock him for that. This song has a good beat it’s a great song to not only get him going but also get the fans into it. When you have arguably you’re best player coming to bat you want some energy in the crowd. This is a song that should aid in providing that energy for the player and the crowd.

My Song- Re-Education (Through Labor) by Rise Against

I LOVE this song. Just the introduction is enough to get my up and off my feet (hell I just listen to it for this blog and I very quickly got up due to the energy this song brings, only to realize I stood up to fast and go that light headed feeling so I sat back down). This song has a lot of energy and I could just see Miller Park going nuts to hear this song come on in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and 2 on down by 2. I’ll admit this song needs to go for a bit to really get the full effect so Braun may need to adjust his gloves and shin guard and maybe toss in a few extra of those flex the elbows up move he does before his at bats (anyone have any idea what I’m talking about?).

Crain Counsell

Song- All Along the Watch Tower by Jimi Hendrix

So as one of the elder statesmen on the team Counsell goes classic rock with Hendrix. Great song by a great musician. I’m not going to knock the song and Counsell has earned the right to do whatever he wants. The fans love him and he’s a hometown guy so he can really do no wrong. I do really like this song but not as a baseball song this really just doesn’t do it for me. This song doesn’t make me want to get up and cheer when Counsell comes up for that clutch at bat at the end of the game.

My Song- Paranoid by Ozzy Osbourne

So I liked the idea of classic rock for Counsell, it’s fitting. I decided to go with something a bit more high energy. This song has a great start and it’s a song the fans can really get behind. I think the only issue with this song is fans love to sing along with songs they recognize. Most people have at some point heard this song and think they know the words to this song. Ozzy is hard to understand just talking better yet screaming into a microphone. Toss in the fact that a good chunk of people at Miller Park may have participated in the consumption of alcoholic beverages before and during the game, which may impair their speech volume and ability. If this song was used you may be the victim of some god awful signing in the seats behind you.

Randy Wolf

Song- Bottom by Tool

So I really like Tool  but I do not think its good baseball music. It’s a bit too dark and long to be a good baseball song. To be honest I’ve never realized starting pitchers had entrance music. I know relievers do but I’ve never actually paid attention to starters entering. I would have never guessed this type of music for a guy like Wolf either. I guess I just view him as a more laid back, easy going type of guy who might pick something a bit more livelily. It’s another song I really like but just not as a baseball song.

My Song- Dashboard by Modest Mouse

So this lighter, yet higher energy song. As a starter it’s important to keep your emotions in check and maintain your focus as you take the mound. You don’t want to get too amped up and start over throwing the ball but you need good energy to start the game and set the tone. This is a faster paced song that stay that way throughout but is not a heavy song that might get someone too amped up. Plus I like this song and think it’s a fun song to hear inside Miller Park.

Jeff Suppan

Song- Baba O’Riley by The Who

I’m not a big fan of The Who, I personally think they’re a bit overrated and over-used. As far as classic rock goes I just don’t think The Who brings a lot to the table. Anytime I hear The Who on the radio I get a little happy because I know the song, we’ve all heard their hits at some point, but very soon into the song I get tired of it and just turn it off. This song is the same way. It starts off real nice and you think “Yeah! I know this song, I like this song” but it just ends up disapointing and eventually you’ll turn it off. The song just tends to drag on and get worse and worse as it goes. With all that being said it’s a perfect song for Jeff Suppan. He’s overrated and over priced. You have that hope that his next start will be the start that gets him on track. Yet 3 or 4 innings into the game you’ll realize that it’s the same Suppan as always and the Brewers are down by 5 runs.

My Song- Shame, Shame, Shame by Kenny Wayne Shepherd

I think all you need to know about this song is the title and it’s a blues song. Essentially every time I’ll look back on Jeff Suppans career in Milwaukee I’ll hear this song in my head. I’ll be honest and say I liked the move when it was first made. I knew at the time we overpaid for him but I thought it was worth it. I looked at his career numbers and just figured he’d give us that solid veteran pitcher we needed to eat up innings and help mentor some of our younger pitchers. I never thought he’d an all-star or a top end starter but a really solid three. First two years he was pretty good but the last two he’s just been awful. If he were just a bad pitcher I wouldn’t have so much angst towards him. It’s that he just won’t own up to the fact that he’s struggling or pitching poorly. I can’t count the amount of times I saw his interviews after a horrid outing and he just appeared like he didn’t care. I’m sure he cares but I’d just like to see him act like it once in awhile.

-Ross

Random Baseball Thought

So I saw what happened to Chris Jakubauskas yesterday and I just cringe every time I see something like that. I also become an instant fan of that player and just really hope he can make it all the way back. I heard Tim Kurkjian talk about a pitcher that had a similar experience (for the life of me I cannot remember his name) and he just never made it back. Kurkjian talked about how he was flinching a lot during his delivery and would pull off his curve balls so he could get set to field the ball. For me that’s just a sick feeling to even think about. I really hope Jakabauskas can not only comeback but have a solid career, its always a great story to see guys comeback from that.

So it’s finally here, Opening Day 2010. I’m not quite sure how this happened but I’ve been a life-long Brewers fan and it took me 26 years to finally make my first opening day. My girlfriend Ashley surprised me with tickets for Christmas this year so needless to say I’ve been looking forward to this day for quite some time. So here’s how my day went.

7:00am- Ashley’s alarm goes off and I wake up just to fall right back to bed.

7:30am- I wasn’t completely ready to get up but my dog Mack had other ideas so I was up. Quickly the fact I got very little sleep faded away and the excitement on the day took over. First thing first though, I needed to run out to Waukesha to print off the tickets from my parents house. I was quite excited about the whole day so staying under the speed limit was a chore. I decided to set myself behind a semi to keep myself in check. I got to my parents, kicked my mom off her computer (sorry mom) got my tickets and took off.

8:30am- I get back home and quickly get myself ready to go. I toss on my Gallardo jersey and wait on Ashley to get ready for the game. Now understand when her and I first met she not only had never been to a game but really knew nothing about baseball. Now by no stretch does she have a wealth of knowledge about the game after 17 months with me but she’s now decked out in a Ryan Braun jersey and a Brewers hoodie, genuinely excited to head out to a baseball game. I couldn’t ask for anymore then that.

9:30am- Ashley and I take off to the Miller Parkway Pick ‘n Save to grab some burgers and some snacks for tailgating. As we walk towards the entrance a couple employees are outside cooking up some brats and hot dogs to sell as people stop by. I see SEVERAL people decked out in Brewers gear and a few people tailgating in the parking lot, at the grocery store, I love baseball!!

10:00am- We get back on Miller Parkway and head towards the stadium. On a regular day it is about a 5 minute drive to the stadium.

10:45am- We have now just passed IHOP near the stadium so we’ve only moved a few blocks in 45 minutes. Ashley and I are getting more and more excited with every inch we move towards the stadium.

11:15am- We are in the final line to enter the parking lot on Canal Street. As we get closer and closer to where we’d normally pay for our parking pass I realize they’re sending half of the cars towards the casino and the other half into the lot. It hits me that we needed to get advance parking and we were not going to park in the actual parking lot. Instead they direct us under the 35th street bridge near the Palermo’s Pizza’s offices. The ironic thing about this is I live on 30th street. We drove all the way to Miller Park only to be parked within a couple of blocks of my house. At first I was a bit upset about the whole thing but I was not alone, several cars took over the street for parking and we did not have to pay to park, so that was a win. I bust out the grill and lay out my match light charcoal. I toss a match on to get it going and nothing happens. I light up another one to get it going and still, no fire. I then remember I still had some lighter fluid in my trunk from last season. The result? I think the pictures basically tell the story.

12:00pm- I could have easily had a couple more burgers but I did not want to miss the start of the game so I packed everything up and we headed to the stadium. Even though we parked quite aways away from the stadium we arrived into the parking lot in no time. We made our way through the crowd observing the vast variety of outfits and tailgating techniques. No matter how many times I see it, it’s still quite the sight to see before each game.

12:45pm- After entering the stadium we make the quick climb to the upper deck and arrive at our seats. Yes we were about 10 rows from the top of the stadium but in my opinion if the view isn’t obstructed there isn’t a bad seat in the house. We arrived just before player intorductions. Just 15 minutes before the stadium was still pretty empty. From our seats we had a great view of the bridge just outside of the stadium
 and it was obvious in about 5 minutes it was going to be full.

1:15pm- Mark Attanasio’s father sings the national anthem and then this:
Video-0001.3gp. Sorry for the poor sound quality and the far out view but it was from my phone. It was great to see the first pitch was a strike and to hear the crowd explode after the call was made.

 
The Actual Game- I’m going to scrap the time thing at this point mainly because I really wasn’t checking my watch during the game. If you’re reading this you know the result and you know what happened so I’m not going to sum up the game for you. All I’ll say about the game was we lacked timely hitting. Lots of runners on all day but simply failed to get that big hit to tie up the game.

For me what can make or break a game is the people I get seated next too. I love it when I’m sitting next to people who I can talk baseball with and simply enjoy the game. It’s even better when it’s a fan of the opposing team who has a good sense of humor so you can go back and forth with them during the game. For this game we really didn’t have a lively bunch around us. A lot of people who had way too much to drink but were for the most part quiet and did not ruin the game for anyone in the area. It was a good chance to talk some baseball with Ashley so I took advantage of that.

It was also odd sitting in those seats because I had a hard time judging the ball. When Braun laced that double down the line I thought that was long gone. When it hit off the wall I felt a bit stupid for going as crazy as I did after he hit it, but not nearly as dumb as the kid sitting next to me. When the Crew had the bases loaded with McGehee up the crowd was at a frenzy. When he made contact with that last pitch the kid next to me went nits and started looking for high fives from anyone in the area. When he saw Tulowitzki catch the ball just behind the mound he quickly sat down and got really quiet, it was quite funny.

When the Brewers rallied in the 9th it looked like things were setting up nicely or a dramatic opening day ending. When both Fielder and Edmonds line drives were snagged out of the air it was all she wrote. Overall the actual game itself was a bit slow and frustrating. The experience was great though. Just the energy in the stadium was so much fun to be apart of and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend this day any differently.

5:00pm- Ashley and I arrive home and I’m still a little bummed out the Crew lost I quickly take the dogs outside and feed them and head to the living room. I turn on the TV and see Atlanta Braves 13, Chicago Cubs- 5. All was well again.

-Ross

Random Baseball Thought

So I’m watching MLB tonight on the MLB Network as I write this blog. They just showed Jason Heyward get the shaving cream pie to the face. I love when this happens. I’ve seen it 1,000 times and it still makes me laugh every time. It’s part of what makes baseball great. It is such a laid back and relaxed sport you get stuff like that and the bubble gum on the hat antics during the game. You get to see grown men act like kids and really enjoy themselves unlike any other sport out there.