Signature Sports Songs

Every time I'm in my car and the Men at Work song "Down Under" comes on the radio, it immediately makes me think of the Sydney Olympics.  It's the song that was played at the swimming venue during those spectacular Games and was the de facto anthem of the Australia-USA rivalry in the pool.  Still, 25 years later, just hearing that song takes me back there.  And it's not the only song that brings a team, player or sporting event to the top of the mind.

Sports are unique in that way.  "Stadium rock" is a type of music, but that refers more to generic songs that you could hear in any random sporting venue anywhere.  What I'm talking about here are specific songs that are associated with a particular team or player.  Every team has at least one.  Some have more.  The Yankees, for example, are known for playing Frank Sinatra's version of "New York, New York" after wins, as well as "YMCA" after the sixth inning.  And, of course, Hall of Fame Yankees closer Mariano Rivera entered to the strains of Metallica's "Enter Sandman."

Rivera isn't the only Hall of Fame closer known for his entrance music.  For years, Trevor Hoffman had the equally-intimidating "Hell's Bells" when he came into the game.  There's something about heavy metal and closers that just feels right.  (Even fictional closers.  Ricky Vaughn had the just-as-awesome "Wild Thing" in Major League.)

During the Nationals' run to the World Series title in 2019, backup outfielder Gerardo Parra adopted "Baby Shark" as his walk-up song.  The fans absolutely loved it and ate it up every time Parra came to the plate!  Washington's manager admitted that sometimes he'd have Parra pinch hit just so they'd play his walk-up song and get the crowd into it.  They even had a "Baby Shark" dance.  Many a Nationals rally during that postseason run was started with a Parra at-bat.  That 2019 Nationals team will always be remembered for Gerardo Parra and "Baby Shark."

It isn't just players obviously.  Plenty of teams have their own songs that they've adopted as an anthem.  For the Boston Red Sox, it's Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," which they play during the eighth inning of every home game.  For the Los Angeles Dodgers, it's Randy Newman's "I Love LA" that's played after every home win.

The whole team anthem thing can be traced back to the 1979 Pirates and Sister Sledge's "We Are Family."  Willie Stargell (known as "Pops") picked it, and the team adopted it as their official theme song.  The "We Are Family" Pirates went on to win the World Series that season.

Another team that rode its adopted anthem to a championship was the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues.  They started off that season terribly and began playing the 80s song "Gloria" (for no apparent reason) after home victories in January.  The Blues went on a roll after that, culminating in their first Stanley Cup title.  During their playoff run, "Play Gloria" became a rallying cry.  And the song will forever be associated with that Blues team, especially since they stopped playing it after wins once the banner went up.

Besides, another tradition in St. Louis had already started by then.  They play John Denver's "Country Roads" during the third period of every home game.  The song is too long to play the whole thing, and they have to cut the music off when play resumes.  Blues fans don't need the music, though.  They sing the rest of it without the music even after play starts again.

Thanks to goal songs, hockey teams have always done a good job of taking popular songs and becoming immediately associated with them.  There are so many good goal songs in the NHL that are incredibly appropriate for the team and/or city.  The Nashville Predators use Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It."  When the Tampa Bay Lightning win, meanwhile, it's "Thunderstruck."

While if you ask 10 people who has the best goal song, you'll probably get 10 different answers.  For me, it's the Chicago Blackhawks and "Chelsea Dagger."  I didn't even know the name of the song until a few years ago.  I just knew it as the Blackhawks' goal song.  To this day, every time I hear it (whether it's on the radio, in a movie or played by a school band), I immediately go in my head, "Blackhawks goal scored by number 88 Patrick Kane, assisted by number 19 Jonathan Toews and number 51 Brian Campbell (with various other early 2010s Blackhawks sometimes substituted in)."

There is perhaps one song that will forever be associated with sports, but not with any specific team or player.  It's Hank Williams Jr.'s "All My Rowdy Friends," which for a generation of football fans will always be known as the Monday Night Football song.  Just like how whenever you hear Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself For Loving You" come on, you change the lyrics to "I've been waiting all day for Sunday night."

NBC understood the nostalgia and association that comes with fans and a certain sport.  That's why when they got the NBA back, they had to bring back "Roundball Rock" along with it.  That song is the NBA On NBC to so many people, immediately bringing back memories of Jordan's Bulls, Ewing's Knicks and the Shaq/Kobe Lakers.  The NBA On NBC wouldn't have been the same without the song and they knew it.

Then, of course, there's "One Shining Moment."  That song's a little different because the only time you ever hear it is in the montage at the end of the NCAA Tournament.  But it's also not the National Championship Game without it.  Players can't wait for "One Shining Moment" just to see if they made it into the package.  That's as big a thrill as actually playing in the Tournament.  And it signifies the end of March Madness.

Music and sports have always gone together and always will.  In many ways, it's a symbiotic relationship.  Which is why simply hearing a song sometimes makes you think of a player or a team or a sporting event.  Like "Down Under" and the Sydney Olympics, "Chelsea Dagger" and the Blackhawks, "Enter Sandman" and Mariano Rivera, and so many others.