As some of you may know, in my spare time when I'm not listening to tuneage, I enjoy sports. Since I'm based in Wisconsin I mostly enjoy the Brewers, Packers, Bucks, Badgers etc... I still play sports in my free time too - and between my playing and my watching, I notice there is one thing that kind of unites all sports and their players - music!! Knowing how many football players operate (including friends who played), almost all players get jacked up listening to tunes. This happens in a couple different scenarios: 1) Many guys have a 'pre-game anthem'. One person I know listened to 'Paint It Black' by the Stones before every game. It got him all ready to go and hit somebody. 2) In the weight room. When you're trying to muster the strength to put up that last rep of 250 on the bench, your favorite lyric or hardcore guitar riff may give you the drive to make it.
In baseball, one of my new favorite things to do at the park is listen to the 'at bat' song choice. Most guys pick newer, typically hip hop type songs - but some guys make different choices. Since I only really know the Brewers, I'll share about them. Corey Hart always picks a summer country melody. Jody Gerut picks 'Groove Me' by King Floyd. Craig Counsell has used Hendrix's 'All Along The Watchtower' for as long as I can recall. The cool thing about that is it's a little extra pump you up before an at bat. And with baseball being one of the more superstitious sports, if you have a hot streak going with it, many guys will go back to older songs because they hit well with them when the track was popular. Prince Fielder for instance has gone back to 'Can't Tell Me Nothing' by Kanye West. Song is obviously 3 years old or whatever, but he brought it back.
The list goes on, runners use music to give them the motivation to complete that last mile. Basketball players use the same hype up method as football. Music can make you feel invincible if the song fits your needs. Music has that intense ability to completely change your state of mind and make you feel exactly what you need to feel. They could probably easily do a quick study on this and take someone hitting a baseball or something with and without their favorite music. I'm guessing the performance in almost every case would go up with the background tracks. This my friends is what gets me going so much on music. I can come into work, be tired, be sick - just feeling like garbage in general. The last thing I could want to do is sit here and work. Music can turn all that around.
So just remember - next time you go to any game, try to focus on the music surrounding you. It's playing for a reason. And next time you're playing in your rec sports league, pump yourself up by listening to something in the car as loud as possible on the drive over. I'm betting you'll feel the difference and perform because of it.
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