Or The Pitcher Has Two Songs!
Because this year’s National League Championship Series is a repeat of the 2008 contenders, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, and because the core of each team returns relatively intact, we won’t rehash every detail of the walk-up music for each team’s returning participants. Key match-ups will be revisited, when necessary, but for background reading I suggest you click here, here, here, here, and here.
Not all returning Dodgers and Phillies have stuck with their 2008 walk-up tunes, but let’s start with the turnover on each roster. Most significant for the Dodgers may be what tunes they’ve deleted from their playlist, both for the better and the worse. Dodgers fans may be a little queasy with the thought of 21-year-old Clayton Kershaw starting Game 1 in LA, but at least he packs a better theme song than last year’s Game 1 starter, now enjoying tee time with his Braves teammates, Derek Lowe and the lamest intro song in the history of the game, “Everytime We Touch,” by Cascada. Instead, Kershaw brings the sing-songy Red Hot Chili Peppers single “Snow.”
Upgrade over Lowe’s candy-ass dance tune? Sure, but that’s not saying much.
Meanwhile Phillies’ Game 1 starter, “Hollywood” Hamels will crank up his trusty mp3 of AC/DC‘s “Thunderstruck.”
Advantage: Phillies.
Wow, what an opening game.
I’ll say one thing: the Phils need to flush the toilet while Cole Hammels showers tonight. No one shows up Chase and Jimmy the way he did after that error! The Baseball Gods took care of him through Manny’s home run.
George Shirrell’s first taste of the postseason was nothing like his experiences closing in Baltimore. Raaauuuuuulllll!
I think a veteran like Matt Stairs needs to “talk” to Hamels and tell him the next time he does something like that he’s going to get his ass hammered and then stuffed in his locker
When I look at Cole, I see a young John Cleese. Seeing his displeasure with the blown double play, I assumed he was just recreating his exasperated pet shop customer in the dead parrot sketch. He was just lightening the tension.
Other random thoughts. Mary Hart is a true Dodgers fan. She sat through the whole game behind the plate. And she looks like she’s sitting with her Dad. New respect.
Anyone counting how many times we’ve been subjected to that awful Cat Stevens song for the phone commercial?
Don’t recall the products, but there were 2 muzak versions of Beatles songs played during commercials. Come Together (for Macy’s or Target, maybe?) and Hello Goodbye. What happened? I remember the huge deal it was to use the real Revolution for Nike. When did the flood gates for crapified versions used for commercials open?? Did Yoko die and I missed it? Or did some copyright expire??
The shitty Beatles covers in commercials thing has been happening for a few years now. I assume it had something to do with Sony getting the rights Michael Jackson had when he went broke.
My biggest musical pet peeve in sports right now is the overuse of that “Zombie Nation” song after homeruns and goals. That’s the “ooohh oooooh oooohh OOOOOOHHHH oooohh ooooh oh oh” song that makes it sound like the crowd is chanting in unison when they’re not. Total phony attempt to create a soccer-ish atmosphere. Almost as annoying as a game a few months earlier where the Mets played the “Cha-Cha Slide” (ev-ery-body-clap-your-hands) seemingly after every pitch.
The real development of last night’s game: before he got hurt a few weeks back, Chan Ho Park had started to struggle a bit after being one of their best pitchers out of the bullpen. This coincided with his curious decision to shave off what was, at the time, the single finest beard in professional sports. After he got hurt, Park went into hiding, and it turns out he put his time away to good use, because the beard was back in majestic form last night and Park was tremendous in relief as a result.
I think the deal with Beatles songs in commercials is this: Paul, George, Ringo and Yoko sued Nike for using the actual Beatles recording of “Revolution.” These re-recordings are not actionable.
Total agreement, Magic. Their hitters were flummoxed by the sight of an Asian man with a beautiful Just For Men style beard.
Alexmagic, great point about the return of Chan Ho’s beard. What’s especially cool about it – and I’ll say this at the risk of sounding highly inappropriate – is that he’s got not only a thick beard fit for a movie set in Medieval times or a Bee Gees album cover shot, but he’s an Asian guy with such a beard! It’s not often you see an Asian man with anything but a wispy beard, like Ichiro’s or that Japanese musician Hrrundivbakshi once tried to place into his Holy Trinity of Rock.
chickenfrank, you know what the Dodgers should do for Mary Hart when she’s seated behind home plate? Put a spotlight on her gams!
It’s shame she can’t be sitting behind a desk behind home plate.
Pedro today!
That Blackberry commercial with the rerecording of All You Need Is Love makes me want to blow up the TV. Just now in the 8th inning break in the Yankees/Angels game, I heard that, some muzak version of Be My Baby for Cialis, and some product with the original Yes recording of, is it Roundabout? I guess they don’t expect anyone under 50 to be watching. Now McCarver is giving me another reason to turn the sound off. He’s worse than Joe Morgan, I swear. (Christ, he just called Damon a gamer, give me the remote!) But seeing ARod get upended at home plate cheered me up.
Yeah, I forget what Yes song it is they play on a commercial. That was really weird to hear. The version of “All You Need Is Love” for Blackberry is terrible, and what annoys me most is watching the “drummer” not have a clue how to sync up and air drum with that lousy arrangement.
Pharmaceutical ads are typically mystifying. Viagra makes sense: the guy is getting some action again and he’s walking tall, but most other pharma ads make me wonder what they’re thinking. There’s one with a woman talking about some drug while she’s in silouette the whole time, even while walking through a well-lit, animated set. How can she be credible when she’s portrayed as a Mob turncoat?
Sammy, did you get the message Shane sent you tonight? The hex is broken!
I clicked over to the link for the 2008 NLCS Rate-A-Record, and look what I saw:
I’m surprised I haven’t heard more crowing.
I tried crowing for a while, but nobody believed, or remembered, or cared about, my incredible 2008 ESBP prediction. Foolish mortals!
Incidentally, Townsman Rick, I found this today and for some reason — after cleaning up the mess from my spit-take — I thought of you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0XEi-hJMbs
Mr. Mod, I’ve been seeing Dodgers propaganda on the RTH heading at various times today. Who is putting out this subversive material? Someone who actually believes that the World F**king Champions can actually be beaten by the Dodgers?
P.S.: It was a drag seeing Pedro’s effort go for naught.
I’m no Dodgers fan, but I did bust out laughing at the homoerotic Abercrombie & Fitch Phillies billboard at the top of the page. For shame! (Snort.)
Hmmmm….I see that the weisenheimers who put up the pictures on the RTH masthead have just suddenly changed their tune & have started putting up Yankees porn after continuing w/the Dodgers stuff up to this AM. A not-so-subtle rebuke to the authority of Mr. Mod, perhaps?
Sammy, maybe you’d like to add this shot to the banner. I know it’s a former Phillies player, but it’s in the same spirit as your one-track-mind perception of our boys:
http://philliesphollowers.mlblogs.com/Burrell%20p.jpg
Is that from your Phillies 2008 calendar you carry around with you?
That pic is so porn-like. I couldn’t believe how much the recent Eagles cheerleader’s calendar looked like a seventies Penthouse…
I have no idea why youthought of me, Hrrundi, but I love it – especially with the pictures!
I guess I thought you’d get a kick out of it in the same way you’ve always appreciated the Phil Lynott stage banter that precedes “The Rocker.”
Oh, no, no, no-no-no-no-NO!
Phillies Fans interruption!
What was the point of forming a man crush on Cliff Lee?? He’s gone. Traded to pick up Halladay. Lee was stunning in the series. If Halladay stumbles even a little, he’ll be compared unfavorably. Hope you didn’t buy a Lee jersey this year.
I’m following this closely, chick – too closely. More thoughts later.