I never liked or followed any professional sports (or teams) growing up. But music was always a huge interest to me, especially once I hit 13. Prior to that, it was just enjoying what the radio might play... in my teens I started doing some discriminating. ANYWAY, it wasn’t until my mid 40’s that I started to enjoy listening to baseball games on the radio. Something about sitting on the front porch on a summer evening listening to a game appeals to me now.

What was your relation to following sports vs following music?

Some idiotic ramblings:

I live in the northeast and when I started listening to baseball, I’d listen to mets, Yankees and Red Sox. Then people told me you COULDN’T like all three. Why the hell not? If I want to like Barry manilow and Black Flag, who cares? Never understood that exclusionary mentality.

I understand in sports the goal is to win. It’s clear who wins. We don’t really have that in music... winning could be a Grammy, or highest sales, or best reviews. Depends on your perspective, I guess.

In sports the players switch teams all the time. Only in jazz have I seen guys go from one group to another like that. I suppose in rock you get a guy like drummer Carmen Appice who’s been a member of tons of bands (or the guys in Toto who do the studio work).

It would be funny if there were trades in music. Imagine if the Cure traded their bassist to Santana for a keyboardist and two guitar techs.

Bip Wrote:

> In sports the players switch teams all the time.
> Only in jazz have I seen guys go from one group to
> another like that. I suppose in rock you get a
> guy like drummer Carmen Appice who’s been a member
> of tons of bands (or the guys in Toto who do the
> studio work).
>
I don't know about that. A lot of punk/hardcore bands have revolving doors with members. The Fall, UK Subs and Hawkwind have had over 50 members each! Robert Smith was in Siouxsie and the Banshees while he was getting the Cure off the ground. Just to name a few examples.

As for sports and music, I think there are some parallels - to some fans, Stones vs. Beatles is like the Yankees vs.Red Sox rivalry. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame comes from sports. Heck, the organist for the Red Sox is a member of the Bseball Project which is made up of members of different bands - Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Scott McCaughey (YFF), Mike Mills (REM).

Lastly, I can understand liking both the Mets and the Yankees but also the Red Sox? Who do you root for when they play each other? And since the Yankees and the Sox are in the same division - that's a lot.

"It would be funny if there were trades in music. Imagine if the Cure traded their bassist to Santana for a keyboardist and two guitar techs." That really did make me LOL.

The reason why fans rarely support more than one team often has to do with league history. I've been a Lakers fan since I was a wee lad, and any Laker fan knows that, despite the Purp'n'Yellow winning the West, The Boston Celtics often stood in the way of the Lakers going all the way to win the NBA championship Time and time again, decade after decade, those damned Celtics AGAIN?! And likewise for Boston fans when the Celts won the East, but were foiled in their title attempts by the Lake-show. So there is an intense rivalry. Or hatred, if you will. Hence it's impossible to support both.

> It would be funny if there were trades in music.
> Imagine if the Cure traded their bassist to
> Santana for a keyboardist and two guitar techs.

I remember an article in RS c. 1981 about how faceless a lot of the most popular bands in rock were. It opened with that very premise: the idea of REO Speedwagon and Foreigner swapping drummers, or Journey and Styx swapping bassists. The article posited that, for those fake-rock bands, such sports-team-style trades would make no difference.

As for my own relationship to sports, I didn't watch sports on television when I was growing up, mainly because my father didn't. The way he saw it, weekends were meant for getting things done around the house and yard, and he expected his sons to pitch in. Even Super Bowl Sunday was no big deal around our house. We did go to the Air Force hockey games at the Academy, with some regularity. Those always were fun.

Today, I'm rarely willing to watch sports on television; the commentators just bore the hell out of me. Being that I married a Southern woman, though, every Saturday in autumn is college football day at my house. But I usually can find something else to do. I haven't attended any major-league sporting event since moving to Washington. I'm pretty happy to go to the local minor-league baseball and hockey games, though. Even if the game doesn't sustain my interest, the crowd-watching usually is fun.

I guess that's why I do not get sports, then. I find it impossible to identify with something outside of myself, which looks to be the point of sports. Sports and religion look very similar to me. I just don't get the point of it all. And the time burnt up achieving nothing [several hours per game!] while indulging in those pursuits doesn't sit well with me. As a child I was incredulous that 1/4 of the time spent on news was to report on the outcome of games! I can understand participating in sports, if that's your thing, but not passively observing their outcomes and deriving a sense of worth from the work of others. The stories told through sports are rather severely limited, unlike art. As you may have guessed, there's not much of a competitive bone in my body. I don't enjoy playing games of any kind. I hold myself to a high standard, but don't understand deriving pleasure over dominating another person/team/nation.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

The only thing I am more passionate about than music is baseball. First playing and watching as a kid, then coaching (and watching) as an adult. My son is in high school and plays, and it has been a huge part of our family lives for the past 10+ years. When the time comes for him to stop playing, I will have huge hole in my life. It is extremely important to me.

That said, you all have been reading my posts here for the past several years and also know my love and passion for music, so the two can definitely co-exist!

There is an interesting podcast that covers this very topic that I listened to recently: https://www.theringer.com/2020/3/4/21164442/music-exists-where-do-sports-music-meet

I love sports, and used to play soccer (badly) in high school, and baseball (relatively well) as a Little Leaguer, etc. Those two remain my favorite sports to play, although I enjoy watching most sports on TV except for golf (argh) and motor racing (I grew up in Indianapolis!) and track and field. I see a lot of musicians who clearly love sports, especially baseball — there is a clear indie rock-baseball alignment. It amuses me to some extent when I see musicians rhapsodize about sports; Joe Pernice is a really big baseball fan and a deeply committed road rider who records in his own personal bike shop. Lloyd Cole is very knowledgeable about cycling as well, and apparently a fantastic golfer. Mike Mills' love of baseball is well known. I find it humanizes the musicians. Notably, I don't think of football or basketball as innately aligned with my musical interests although I enjoy watching both, now basketball more than football.

Basketball=hip-hop
Baseball=rock
Football (thanks to Hank Jr) and NASCAR=country

Does hockey have a musical corollary?

(Oh, and:
Surfing=surf)

MrFab Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Does hockey have a musical corollary?
>
Hockey - Punk (Hanson Brothers)
Pro Wrestling - Metal (Motorhead)

Heff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MrFab Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> > Does hockey have a musical corollary?
> >
> Hockey - Punk (Hanson Brothers)
> Pro Wrestling - Metal (Motorhead)

Yes, for Hockey = Punk, but the MOST OBVIOUS correlation [who are Hanson Brothers?] was THE ZAMBONIS!!! Duuuuh!

Post-Punk Monk Wrote:
>
> Yes, for Hockey = Punk, but the MOST OBVIOUS
> correlation [who are Hanson Brothers?] was
> THE
> ZAMBONIS!!! Duuuuh!

Hanson Brothers were the three nerdy/thug brothers in the movie 'Slapshot' - I'm not much of a fan of the movie but it is regarded as one of the best hockey movies.

I forgot about the Zambonis. Interesting that both of these bands are side projects for bigger (I use that term loosely) groups: Nomeansno (Hanson Brothers) and Philistine's Jr. (Zambonis).

Well, I'm OLD, so I don't know Nomeansno. Do have a Zambonis album, though! Didn't know about Philistine's Jr. but that whole Tarquin Records scene [looks on Discogs] is obviously a tightly inbred circle of overlapping bands/concepts with the same members. For what it's worth, The Zamobonis seem to have the greatest number of releases.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

MrFab Wrote:
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> Baseball=rock

I'm not sure where you got that, not saying you're necessarily wrong....but if you go by batters' walk up music, the Latino players mostly play reggaeton and urbano. Just checked and the percentage of Latino major leaguers is almost 30%.

True, it just seems like any songs I’ve heard *about* baseball are rock. But yup, Latino culture is certainly important to “beisbol”.

Ahh, gotcha!

I have always loved both. But one aspect of the two merging has always fascinated me - English professional football and the tunes played right before the match and the walkout. Not to mention the songs fans sing during the games, often they take popular songs and insert players/coaches names. Manchester United with the Stone Roses' This is the One is iconic. They did not start using until like 1999 or so but it is now a staple of home games and just sets the scene so beautifully. Also love love love Chelsea using Liquidator by the Harry J All Stars. I had the song on a reggae/dub compilation I purchased in the early 90's, always thought it was a cool little diddy. But once I heard it at a soccer game it toook it to a whole different level. Liverpool using You'll Never Walk Alone is a great tribute to the Mersey beat era.

A sidenote, for a couple of years my sons high school soccer team got to do individual walk out songs, just quick snippets as the starters were introduced. But it kind of said a lot about what the kid like to to listen to or inspires them. Skrillex, AC/DC, Metallica, one kid played a Dokken song in 2016 (huh?) My son chose Started from the Bottom Now We're Here by Drake which I think is decent to get riled up. Now my youngest son is in high school and the new coach axed the walkouts saying it deterred from the team concept.

To help out Mr Fab, bicycling is clearly kraftwerk.

I guess when I started the topic, I was curious to see if there was any correlation to one’s love for music and possible disinterest in sports. We here are kind of all over the map... thanks for taking part in my psychological experiment, but we’ve all failed miserably!

I DO believe that the type of mind that ‘geeks out’ over band members, producers, alternate b-sides and remixes is the SAME type of mind that pours over batting averages, player trades, how to score games, etc...

I think I just have learned to enjoy the aesthetic of ‘listening to a ballgame on the radio’. (same aesthetic that would make me listen to old episodes of Jack Benny and Fibber McGhee).

I’m thankful I haven’t gotten caught up in ‘hating’ teams and their fans... it seems like a fool’s errand. Like arguing with your coworker who won’t be voting the way you will in November. Not worth the aggravation arrrghhh!!!!!!

First baseball game of season tomorrow night!

If you played baseball professionally, what song would you want played when you step up to bat?

For me, it'd be "TV Eye." Iggy's bellowing scream would wake 'em up!

In his memoir A Cure for Gravity, Joe Jackson admits that as a child who focused on music, he often saw himself as diametrically opposed to the kids who cared more about sports. He carried that attitude into his twenties, but eventually realized that professional athletes and professional musicians are more alike than he had realized. They both spend hours a day practicing, at tasks that, very strictly speaking, have no purely practical value. They often work together in combination (teams or groups), and their career choice often involves a lot of travel. All that, in order to achieve personal and professional satisfaction, and to bring entertainment and gratification to their audiences.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2021 11:05PM by That One Guy.