Banff Hockey School

Sports are entertainment. There is no questioning about it. Sure, as a player, coach, or sports executive, you can learn a lot about people, money, and all facets of life, but at the end of the day, sports is about entertainment.

And that’s why sports and music almost go hand and hand. Music is the focal point of sports pre-game warm-ups, halftime shows, awards presentations, and even the athletes themselves tend to dibble and dabble in the world of music production.

Needless to say, sports wouldn’t be the same without music’s heavy influence on the games that we love to play and watch. Here are some of the songs that have come to be a big part of the sports world. And believe me, this is no comprehensive list. And feel free to post some of your favorites that I may have omitted.

My faves:

Queen – “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” – If you’re a youngin’, the first 15 seconds of this song will make you want to throw up incessantly. But even as a youngster, if you give it just a few more seconds, Queen hits you with one of the best ballads to every be introduced to the world of sports. And that soft, delicate, beginning serves as the perfect build up to the most beloved refrain in all of sports: “We are the champions, my friends…We will keep on fighting till the end… We are the champions… We are the champions… No time for losers, ’cause we are the champions, of the world!”

Is there any song that can make a sports champion feel better than that? Sure, it doesn’t do much for loser, but that’s what makes this song so great; it’s a direct mocking of the losing team. I know we’re not supposed to condone mocking, but if Queen can do it, why can’t the rest of the sports world!

Steam – “Na-Na, Hey-Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye” – It doesn’t get much sweeter than telling one of the key players of your favorite team’s archrival to be quite and take a seat, and while Steam may not have had that in mind when composing this song, I’ve never seen a song more tailored to one specific aspect of sports. Whether it’s telling a hockey player to take a seat in the penalty box, or waiving good bye to a basketball player on his 5^th or 6^th foul, …

I love going to sporting events and although being their in person is exciting, the thing that really makes the game is the music! It builds up the anticipation before the game and keeps you entertained during intermission. It allows the fans to celebrate their team’s gains or the other team’s losses when appropriate and wakes the fans up during slumps. If there was no music or a bad selection of music, live professional sports might not be as fun! Imagine going to a football game and no music is played until intermission. Then during intermission they play elevator muzak. That would be like going to Disney World during a torrential downpour. Fun because you’re there, but not that much fun.

The following is a top 10 list of favorite sports songs played at sporting events today:

1. 2 Unlimited-Get Ready for This-1991-Here is lively adrenaline booster! Its fast and get’s the crowd excited and ready for the action! It may possibly be the most popular and most frequently played songs at the beginning of sporting events.
2. Black Eyed Peas-Lets Gets it Started-2004-This hit was originally played for the2004 NBA playoffs. Has since been played at many sporting events at the beginning of the game. Its glorious beat gets the crowd pumped and is a great opener for any game.
3. Gary Glitter-Rock n’ Roll Part 2 1972 (The “Hey!” song)-This primal drum and chant piece is a favorite at sporting events and has become even more popular since its ability to be mixed with any other instrumental music or theme. It is upbeat fun and gets the fans going!
4. Tag Team-Whoomp! There it is-1993-This song is a favorite at sports venues everywhere. It is a simple and contagious multi use chant that can be used for anything from moral boosts to celebrating scores or successes.
5. Blur-Song 2-1997-This is a high energy song used to motivate the crowd. It gets the fans ready and eager for more action.
6. C & C Music Factory-Gonna Make You Sweat-1990-This song is high energy with a powerful beat. It is a crowd pleaser at any game! It can be played during any part of the game including intermission. This is a jock anthem that has held strong.
7. Twisted Sister-We’re Not Gonna’ Take it-1984-Great song when the home team is down then makes a dramatic comeback. This song boosts the moral of both team and fans.
8. Chumbawumba-Tubthumping-1997-This song is a great moral booster for the team who has fallen

Everybody loves sports cars. They’re fast, sleek, and eye catching, but not everybody loves the high gas prices. Many of today’s sports cars are plagued with gas guzzling engines to fuel the tremendous amount of horse power and torque the cars are capable of producing. Many of us are looking for a good balance of fuel efficiency with great sports car performance, so we present to you the top 10 most fuel efficient sports cars currently available on the market.

#10. 2014 BMW Z4

Mpg: 22 city/34 hwy

Price: $48,950

The 2014 BMW Z4 is a great luxurious 2-seat roadster with a 0-60 mph time of about 5.5 seconds.No matter your engine or transmission choice, the Z4 has been called “an exceptionally satisfying car to drive” time and time again. What makes this car a joy to drive is not only it’s zippy performance but it’s ability to go from top up to top down in 20 seconds flat. With the Z4’s power folding hardtop, you essentially get two cars in one that’s ready for any condition and climate.

#9. 2014 Mini Cooper Roadster

Mpg: 28 city/35 hwy

Price: $25,550

The 2014 Mini Cooper Roadster is a great car if you’re looking for a small, open-air roadster that is as eye pleasing as it is fun to drive. This car is also perfect for you if you’re looking for something compact with great performance,as this roadster has sacrificed space for better performance and handling. If cost is also not an issue then you shouldn’t mind it’s price tag, although it can go up to the $30,000 dollar range.

#8. 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop

Mpg: 28 city/37 hwy

Price: $19,950

The 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop is a zippy little car that delivers a go-kart like drive with it’s sharp turning and quick acceleration response time. Many of the driving inputs like the ride, the braking and, especially, the steering feel more BMW than ever. If you like peace and quiet then you will love this little car as it delivers a near complete absence of wind noise at highway speeds. Even more impressive than it’s comforting ride experience is it’s ability to achieve up to 40 mpg highway on a good day.

#7. 2014 Mini Cooper Coupe

Mpg: 29 city/34 hwy

Price: $21,450

The 2014 Mini Cooper Coupe is the smallest of the Minis, it has modest truck space and adequate room for 6 footers, but delivers that fast responsiveness and quick handling …

Next to being a big time professional athlete, most sports fans dream of being a play-by-play announcer. Every fan has a voice that they grew up with. That person behind the microphone that describes the moments that we’ll always remember.

Ever wonder how they got there? Well, there’s no one set way. In fact, for as many people are working in the industry, there may be that many paths. But here are a few suggestions to help you land that job in the broadcast booth.

Take a class

Check the catalog at your local community college. Many of them offer broadcasting courses. It’s a good way to learn the basics of the play-by-play craft. Plus many of the classes are taught by people who have worked professionally and will critique your work. Depending on your ability, they may even have connections to help you find a job.

Make a resume tape

You can’t get a job if no one ever hears your work. Makes sense, right? But how do you put a tape together? It’s not as hard as you’d think. It can be as simple as watching a game on television and calling it into a handheld tape recorder.

However a better option is to spend a few bucks and head out to a local high school or junior college game. Make sure to grab a program or something that has rosters for both teams. You may want to find a seat away from the majority of the crowd – that way you won’t annoy the people around you and you’ll feel less self-conscious about your performance.

Make some friends

Now that you have a tape, it’s time to get your work out there. Send it out to working announcers you enjoy listening to and solicit their advice. Be patient, it may take time to get a response, but you’ll find many of them will be willing to share suggestions. Some may even offer up their time to talk to you personally.

In addition, make contacts with people working at the minor league level. Like you, they’re looking to advance their careers and can be good sources to find out about job openings. Knowing the right people goes a long way toward helping you advance in the industry. Do your best to be popular!

Stay on the search

Finding job openings may be the hardest part. You have several options in that respect. If you have the time and money, you …

The best sports songs to inspire a team, tend to be the ones that add fire (or adrenaline) to a player or crowd. When the high school or college team needs some instant adrenaline, don’t let the band play “Flight of the Bumble Bee.” That music does nothing to inspire a team to achieve greatness. Pull out the boom box, and crank up the volume with songs that will motivate any team.

Here are my suggestions of the top ten songs to motivate a team:

10) Welcome To The Jungle – Guns And Roses
9) The Boys Are Back In Town – Bruce Springsteen
8) Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor
7) Remember The Name – Fort Minor
6) Another One Bites The Dust – Queen
5) Wild Thing – The Troggs
4) Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen
3) Thunderstruck – AC/DC
2) We Will Rock You – Queen
1) We Are The Champions – Queen

I should also mention some other suggestions as honorable mentions.

Centerfield – John Mellencamp – I love that line “put me in coach. I’m ready to play today.”
Backfield In Motion – Mel & Tim
Rock and Roll Part 2 – Gary Glitter
Start Me Up – The Rolling Stones
Kiss Him Goodbye – Steam
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love – Van Halen
The Final Countdown – Europe
Tequila – The Champs
Let’s Get It Started – Black Eyed Peas
Glory Days – Bruce Springsteen
Hurts So Good – John Mellencamp
Tusk – Fleetwood Mac and the USC band

Now no victory is complete without the final song “Louie Louie.” As it says, “we gotta go now.”…

Music is something that can make you happy or sad. It can also turn a quiet crowd into roaring fans or make you want to finish the mile run when your legs feel weak. This top ten list needs to be in your iPod under best sport songs and played when you need a cheering section.

10) The Pittsburgh Polka
Jimmy Psihoulis

You may be thinking how can a polka get you “pumped up” for a game. If you’re of a fan of the six time world champion Pittsburgh Steelers, you know why. Maybe, it’s because this song talks of an unprecedented decade in football. Maybe, it’s the memories of listening to this song as a child. Whatever the reason, when Pittsburgh hears this song they are ready for some hard-hitting Steeler football!
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lyrics

9) We are the Champions
Queen

There isn’t anything better than when the team you are cheering for is about to win the game and this Queen song comes on and fills the stadium with sound. As the crowd stands and starts to sing it’s like they have been transformed into a family.
listen
lyrics

8) Glory Days
Bruce Springstein

Bruce Springstein just has a way of singing that gets people excited. His story of his friend’s short lived baseball career and days gone by, is no exception
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lyrics

7) All My Rowdy Friends are Coming Over Tonight (Monday Night Football)
Hanks Williams Jr.

This song is so synonymous with Monday Night Football most people just call it the Monday Night Football song. When you hear this song you know you are in for a great evening of football. So invite over all your rowdy friends and listen to this song to get ready for the game!
listen
lyrics

6) Who let the dogs out
Baja Men

When this song came out teams all over the country, that had dogs as mascots, jumped to make it their own. Even teams that didn’t have dog mascots blasted it through stadium speakers. Players barking as they took the field became a nationwide phenomenon, that’s why this song has to be on any top ten list.
listen
lyrics

5) Centerfield
John Fogerty

The theme song for all of those little league players that spend more time warming the bench than playing in the field. This song reaches that child in all of us.
listen
lyrics

4) Another One Bites the Dust
Queen

This is a great song when …

Las Vegas isn’t only about the gambling and the buffets, they have a wide range of other activities to do and enjoy. If you like to take a walk on the wild side, you might want to check out some of the extreme sports that are available for you to do in Sin City. This article will point you to five extreme sports that will get your blood pumping.

Where to Find Extreme Sports in Las Vegas #1: SkyDiveLasVegas.com

SkyDiveLasVegas.com offers skydiving for advanced and first time sky divers. Sky diving is where you jump out of an airplane and let yourself free fall towards the ground and then open your parachute for a safe landing to the ground. When you skydive with SkyDiveLasVegas.com, you skydive with a skilled instructor who will make sure your dive is safe and problem free. You can choose a 3 or 1 mile skydive. A 3 mile skydive is $249 dollars and the 1 mile is $199. SkyDiveLasVegas.com does have specials on occasion so you might be able to sky dive cheaper by checking out their website beforehand. They even offer the option of having pictures taken while you skydive for an extra fee. In order to skydive, you have to have a picture ID and be 18 years old. You also have to be less than 240 pounds, be in good health and not be under the influence of drugs or alcohol the day you are diving. If you’d like to make a reservation to skydiving visit the website or call (702) SKY-DIVE. They are located at 1401 Airport Road, Boulder City, NV 89005.

Where to Find Extreme Sports in Las Vegas #2: Red Rock Climbing

There are several places where you can go rock climbing outside in Las Vegas but if you want to escape the weather, you can always go rock climbing indoors. Red Rock Climbing is an indoor facility for rock climbers. They have top rope and lead climbing, start with what you’re comfortable with. You can buy a day pass for $15 dollars but the gear you need to rock climb costs extra and ranges from $1 to $10 dollars. Red Rock Climbing is open Monday through Friday 10 AM to 10 PM and Saturday – Sunday 9 AM to 9 PM. They are located at 8201 W Charleston Blvd Ste 150 Las Vegas, NV 89117 and their phone number is (702) 254-5604.

Where to Find Extreme Sports in Las Vegas…

The third in my “Biggest D-Bags in Sports” series, and the second reader/fan-nominated choice

When you would rather go to jail than just admit the truth about something that happened years ago, the word “d-bag” just doesn’t completely describe you. This remains a website that generates revenue via advertisements, though, so “d-bag” will have to do when writing about Roger Clemens. The fall of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens does not officially begin when he is arraigned on charges of lying to Congress. Clemens has been a d-bag for decades. Red Sox fans knew it. Yankees fans knew it. Mets fans knew it. Honestly, we’re all just glad the rest of you have finally caught up.

Clemens is special in that he is a five-level d-bag, a feat achieved only by those truly devoted to their craft. When you break it down, Clemens may actually be a bigger d-bag than LeBron James and Brett Favre combined (see end of piece for more).

Exhibit A: Clemens, like other “accused” roidheads, magically got better as he got older. Just when his career was thought to be on the downside, Clemens became the most dominant pitcher of his generation, winning more awards in his 30s than in his 20s. That sort of thing happens all the time with fire-ballin’ Major League Baseball pitchers, though, so I guess this example doesn’t really count.

Exhibit B: Clemens was the cause of arguably the most visible, non-funny “what the hell was he thinking?” moment in World Series history when he threw a piece of a broken baseball bat at catcher Mike Piazza in 2000. Mets fans have been calling Clemens a d-bag ever since.

Exhibit C: The special treatment Clemens demanded while with the Astros and Yankees made him a d-bag as a baseball player, professional athlete and a man. Not traveling with the team. Showing up during the season whenever he felt like it (hmm, I wonder why…). The “d” in “d-bag” doesn’t stand for diva, but Clemens decided to live that gimmick, anyway.

Exhibit D: Hollywood Brett Favre has out-Clemensed the Rocket in retirement speeches, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Clemens did the whole “I’m gone, no I’m back, nah I’m done, oh wait” spiel first. Has Clemens ever officially retired from baseball? I’d ask some of you to look it up and get back to me, but I couldn’t care less.

Exhibit E: Clemens’ testimony before Congress could be …

Guess who has the best record in the NBA (at press time)?

No, it is not the defending champion Boston Celtics.

No, it is not LeBron’s Cavaliers competing in Cleveland.

Nope, it is not even the much heralded Lakers of LA led by Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant.

These Big Three receive the bulk of the media coverage, perhaps rightly so. But another team sits atop the NBA standings.

The NBA is A League of Dominant Teams

Teams like Boston and LA historically have dominated the NBA in terms of number of championships won. A perusal of the list of champions at NBA.com shows that Boston has won 17 championships and the Lakers have won 14 championships (9 in Los Angeles, 5 in Minneapolis). The Chicago Bulls are third with their Michael Jordan-led 6 championships in the 1990’s.

That means three teams have combined to win 59% of the championships in a league that currently sports 30 teams. Heck, take out the Bulls for a moment and we see that the Celtics and Lakers have won 31 out of 62 championships. That’s 50% folks. Half the time either Boston or LA wins.

What teams were in the Finals last year? The Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers. Hmmm. Unfortunately for the rest of the NBA, chances of winning the NBA Finals are not very strong.

The NBA is a League of Superstars

Before Michael Jordan was drafted by the Bulls, the NBA was a league of teams. The New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento (Kansas City) Kings, Detroit Pistons, Phoenix Suns, Celtics, Lakers and others all had strong histories of solid teams. A few individual players made names for themselves such as Julius Erving and Wilt Chamberlain, but in a team game even these stars submitted their skills to the betterment of their squads.

Michael Jordan’s arrival and subsequent success and stardom revolutionized the mindset of the league and its future players. One on one play became more popular. Players became superstars. Fans glorified the Jordans, Shaqs, and Ewings of the world.

The point: for a team to succeed it needs a superstar or two.

The Team with the Best Record in the NBA Standings Bucks One Trend While Affirming the Other

The team with the current best record in the NBA is not a historically dominant team. That does not bode well for them to play into June. However, occasionally a team outside of the triad Bulls/Celtics/Lakers has won …

For fans of women’s college basketball who will be in Indianapolis for the 2011 NCAA Women’s Final Four, there are sports bars downtown for the faithful of all four teams left in the tournament. Click on the hyperlinked restaurant names to reach their websites.

(NOTE: The author is a graduate of Texas A&M; University who lives in the Indianapolis metropolitan area.)

Texas A&M;

The designated bar for Aggie fans is Scotty’s Brewhouse, located at 1 Virginia Avenue, just one block north of Conseco Fieldhouse, at the intersection of Virginia Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Scotty’s has no fewer than about eleventy-three bazillion high-definition TV’s throughout the place, including one at every table, all around the bar, and in the restrooms. They also have a nice big outdoor patio for those who’d like to experience spring in Indiana first-hand. (A word of warning to my Aggie brethren, though: wear layers. It’s just a smidge cooler here than you’re used to back in College Station.)

Take a gander at their beer menu and you will find, among many options, Shiner Bock! You read it right, Ags! The nectar from the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas, is available here in the Circle City! They should probably just back the Shiner truck up to the front door.

Scotty’s will have no idea what hit it when Aggies start humpin’ it and whooping. Put on those Aggie rings, pack the house with maroon and white, and yell our Lady Aggies to victory! Gig ’em!

Notre Dame

I’m guessing there may be one or two Notre Dame fans in town, since South Bend is just a few hours north of Indianapolis. Just a guess.

Irish fans, you’ll want to head on over to the Ram Restaurant and Brewery, located at 140 S. Illinois Street, near the intersection of Illinois Street and Michigan Street, about two blocks west of Conseco Fieldhouse. The Ram has a 120-inch (yes, ten FEET) high-def projection TV, along with six other high-def plasma TV’s on which to watch your beloved green and gold.

The food at the Ram is spectacular. I particularly enjoy the Ram Ribeye Steak and the Reuben. For the especially hungry, try the Behemoth Burger. Go ahead. I dare you. It’s over 5 pounds of meat with a ton of toppings. Survive it in one sitting and earn yourself a t-shirt!

The Ram brews its own beer, too. My personal favorite is the Ole St. Mick’s Irish Red, but order a sampler …