Monday, September 25, 2006

Closers

In honor of Trevor Hoffman's record-breaking 479th career save, I took a dive into my music library to figure out my entrance song were I a closer. There are a few songs that I went ahead and took out of the running because of their association with a current closer:
"Enter Sandman" - Mariano Rivera, and to a lesser extent Billy Wagner
"Hell's Bells" - Trevor Hoffman
"Wild Thing" - Ricky Vaughn

Here's the criteria I used:

  • #1 most important thing - it has to have a distinctive opening bar. People have to be able to hear it and immediately recognize it, so as to tell the opposition "Here I come. This game is over."
  • Any song with too much profanity are out, not because I give a shit, but because I'm pretty sure the club would make me use a clean version and I can't get psyched if every other word is missing.
  • Another thing to consider, I think, is tempo and instruments. It has to be hard and fast for at least as long as it takes me to get to the mound. Even if it pulls some "Layla"-esqe switch to a piano solo, it can still make the cut if the change happens deep enough into the song.
  • Lyrics get some consideration, but not as much as, say, a bitchin' guitar solo.
  • Also the song has to be popular enough that at least a good portion of the stadium has heard it, but I'd like to stay away from such bands as AC/DC and Metallica because of their overuse as closer music.
Here's what I've come up with:
  • "Bat Country" - Avenged Sevenfold
  • "Fly From The Inside" - Shinedown
  • "Coming Undone" - Korn
  • "Zombie Nation Remix" - Kernkraft 4000
  • "Shaft" - Isaac Hayes, because that's exactly what the batters are getting.
  • "Best of You" - Foo Fighters
  • "Save Tonigh" - Eagle Eye Cherry. The title is just too perfect, plus I love this song.
  • "Superfly" - Curtis Mayfield. It says "I'm just too cool to be messing with you clowns."
  • "Raise Your Rifles" - Autopilot Off
  • "Don't Tread on This" - Clint Dempsey
What about your closer song?

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