Head
Strong: Phillies get their game on, with the right background music
4.28.08
By Michael
Smerconish
Inquirer
Currents Columnist
For Barack Obama, it's Ben
Harper's "Better Way." Hillary Rodham Clinton relies on "You and
I," by Celine Dion. John McCain identifies with "Gonna Fly Now,"
the theme from Rocky.
It's a long campaign trail
with thousands of events to make and millions of votes to win. And each
presidential contender relies on his or her own psych music to help spark the
rally.
So, too, does the mayor of
Rollinsville.
For Jimmy Rollins, its "Umma Do Me," by Rocko. Rollins is not alone
in having a favored theme song. Virtually all the Phillies make that walk from
the on-deck circle - or the bullpen - with a personally specified track blaring
in the background.
Ensuring that J-Roll and his
teammates get their game face on is the responsibility of Phillies music
coordinator Mark Wyatt. He just might be the most important member of the
Phillies organization whom you've never heard of.
He's the Jam Master Jay of
the Fightin' Phils. The one with the biggest iPod in the
room, the guy who sets the soundtrack in Citizens Bank Park when the Phils hit
the field. He's similarly involved in the music coordination for the
Eagles, Flyers, Sixers, Wings and Soul, but only the Phillies have
individualized songs.
Think DJ, not DH.
"There is a lot more
that goes on than I think people realize," Wyatt told me recently.
"Pitchers, too, choose their warm-up music. If we are winning or losing,
there is some psychology of what we do with crowd prompts. More than I think
fans realize."
Indeed, the Philadelphia
fans have come a long way from gyrating in time to "Wild Thing, I think I
love you."
Wyatt, a graphic designer by
day, has been doing this for 10 years. Now he's part of a 25-member crew called
PhanaVision - guys with names like "Video" Dan Stephenson - that
oversees and integrates replays, music and video entertainment during games.
Wyatt told me each player
selects his own track. As I learned from Rollins himself during spring training
in Clearwater, Fla., it's a decision no player takes lightly. As impatient with
music as he is in the batter's box, Rollins told me he'll
stick with a song only for a month or so before moving on.
"Me and Ryan Howard
were actually thinking about coming out to the same song," Rollins told
me. "I told him, 'I'm the leadoff man, so I can actually beat [you] to
it,' but I don't know if I wanna do it to him. So, I've been researching, and I
haven't made up my mind yet."
Researching?
By the time of the Phils'
home opener on March 31, Rollins had settled on "Umma Do Me." It's
not on my iPod, but when I found the lyrics online, I could see why J-Roll
picked it:
You just do you
umma do me
wanna see how it's done?
then watch me do me.
Those lyrics could go a lot
of ways, but here's one way for certain: The National League's Most Valuable
Player for 2007 will show everyone how MVPs do - at least, he will, as
soon as he gets off the disabled list, where he landed Sunday for the first
time in his career.
As for Howard, the Phils'
2006 NL MVP, he has a few selections in his rotation: "Dey Know," by
Shawty Lo, "The Boss," by Rick Ross, and "The Second
Coming," by Juelz Santana.
As Howard lumbers toward
home plate at an imposing 6 feet, 4 inches and 256 pounds, Ross spits out the
lyrics: "I'm the biggest boss that you seen thus far.
. . . "
Even more significant on
Howard's playlist, though, might be the lyrics to Santana's "Second
Coming":
If you fall, get up and
try it again
If you drop, get up and
try it again
We tired of being runners
up
We
coming up.
Fitting for a team that
fought its way to a division title last year, only to lose in the playoffs. Now
they're tired of being runners-up.
Not that the liner-note
parallels stop there. Consider the selections of Pat Burrell, Chase Utley and
Shane Victorino.
Burrell fancies "Dirty
Laundry" by Don Henley:
I make my living off the
evening news
Just give me something -
something I can use
People love it when you
lose
They love dirty laundry.
Sounds like oft-maligned
left fielder's not-so-subtle dig at some of the local
fair-weather faithful.
Utley fancies
"Kashmir" from Led Zeppelin, an excellent, wise choice, fitting for a
player wise beyond his years, the consummate student of the game (and yes, that
is my classic-rock bias showing through).
Victorino has stuck with
"Buffalo Soldier" by Bob Marley - and who else but the guy from
Hawaii would approach the plate to trancelike Marley melodies?
Then there are the pitchers, a group Wyatt tells me is taking the whole
"entrance music" phenomenon to a new level. Typical are Brett Myers
and Brad Lidge, both of whom climb the mound with the heavy-metal ensemble
Drowning Pool blasting in the background.
In fact, Drowning Pool is
working on recording a song specifically for Myers' approach to the mound. Why?
The band got the idea to record a song for Myers when it heard Lidge was also
planning to take the field to either "Bodies" or
"Soldiers," two of its more popular songs.
How about Jamie Moyer?
When Moyer takes the field,
Wyatt usually plays "Overdrive," by Foo Fighters, not because Moyer
likes them, but because Wyatt does. Just as fitting as Rollins doing Rollins or
Pat Burrell airing his dirty laundry from the batter's box, the Phils' 45-year-old
elder statesman has never had a song.
I guess you can't teach an
old southpaw new tricks.
Michael Smerconish's column
appears on Thursdays in The Daily News and on Sundays in Currents. Michael can
be heard from 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays on "The Big Talker," WPHT-AM
(1210). Contact him via the Web at http://www.mastalk.com.