I’m a baseball fan above all else, but I have to say, my hometown team’s recent trade for Shaquille O’Neal has me pretty excited to watch more Phoenix Suns basketball. The Suns are the second best team in basketball as it is - thanks in large part to the guy they just traded away to the Heat - Shawn Marion. But something tells me things are going to get even better with Shaq on our side. And you Heat fans must be a happy bunch picking up someone of the caliber of Marion.
This of course segues into sports music. The only basketball song I can think of is Kurtis Blow’s “Basketball”, with his shout out to the greats of the day: “Dantley and Wilkins are on the scene, And Ralph Sampson is really mean!” Who’s Dantley?
Are there any other basketball songs out there? For baseball, all I can think of off the top of my head are “Centerfield” by John Fogerty, and Bob Dylan’s “Catfish”. Football…. yep, the “Super Bowl Shuffle”. Ah - Steve Earle’s “No. 29″. What else in the way of pop/rock sports-themed tunes?
Kurtis Blow - Basketball (LastFM)
Bob Dylan - Catfish (LastFM)
John Fogerty - Centerfield (LastFM)
18 responses so far ↓
1 stewrat // Feb 13, 2008 at 6:56 am
How about the Pernice Brother’s ode to Manny Ramierez: “Moonshot Manny (Pega Luna)”?
2 Jim // Feb 13, 2008 at 7:22 am
That’s Mr. Kurtis Blow.
Hey Pete, ask Larry Luv about his days at the Funkadelic with Kurtis et al.
3 jazzmaster // Feb 13, 2008 at 7:48 am
Ha! I haven’t heard Mr. Kurtis Blow since I was in college (my roommate loved that song).
Here’s a G Love tune that makes a lot of ‘76ers references (even though the song is actually about an interstate).
http://www.last.fm/music/G.%2BLove%2B%2526%2BSpecial%2BSauce/_/I-76?autostart
4 Michael // Feb 13, 2008 at 7:51 am
I guess Miami decided to finally stop hoarding all the overpriced missed freethrows…
5 Pete // Feb 13, 2008 at 8:20 am
Cool G Love tune Jazz- thanks - - -
Stewrat I’ll have to track down that Pernice tune…can’t find it on LastFM.
Jim - you’re telling me Larry used to hang with the go-go Kurtis Blow?
Michael - yeah yeah whateveeerr
6 Pete // Feb 13, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Dan kindly emailed me a lost classic…. Cheech & Chong’s “Basketball Jones”
7 Ace Cowboy // Feb 13, 2008 at 6:10 pm
What about Shaq’s rap with Fu Schnickens?! That was a classic. Can we rock?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q7bpMiiVlA
8 Brian // Feb 13, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Off the top of my head, there’s Pearl Jam’s “Sweet Lou” about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Basically, Kareem was Jeff Ament’s idol and he got to met him at a celebrity basketball game, and K A-J totally blew him off. Ament was crushed. You can find it on “Lost Dogs”
This story rings true with me as I worked on a PSA with K A-J in the late 80’s. He was as aloof and arrogant man as I’ve ever met. Sometimes meeting your childhood heroes is not desirable.
And then there’s a song from Larry Bird’s days at Indiana State (I grew up in Terre Haute when LB played there- 2nd row season tickets, baby!) , the lamentable “Indiana Has A New State Bird”. The less said about it the better.
9 Brian // Feb 13, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Oops, that should be “Sweet Lew”. I blame Tito’s Handmade Vodka for the error.
10 Pete // Feb 13, 2008 at 9:20 pm
And here is Sweet Lew…. http://www.last.fm/music/Pearl+Jam/_/Sweet+Lew
So Brian, you’re telling me Kareem has the same temperament as Roger Murdock, his character in Airplane?
11 Brian // Feb 13, 2008 at 9:57 pm
No, Roger had a legitimate beef. Carrying Bob Lanier and Bill Walton down the court every night must have been grueling. However, all Kareem had to do for this PSA ( a Reading I Fundamental thing, if I remember correctly) was to show up wearing a shirt without a corporate logo. So instead, he showed up in a Polo shirt with orange juice stains.
That being said, everyone has bad days and he’s doing a freaking unbelievable job with Andrew Bynum, so I’m willing to forget about it if he is.
12 Pete // Feb 13, 2008 at 10:22 pm
brian - when I watch the Suns-Lakers game next Wednesday, I want to see you and Kareem hugging it out on the sidelines. Just don’t let me catch you making out with Dyan Cannon.
13 Jim // Feb 14, 2008 at 7:09 am
Pete: ask Larry about the Funkadelic in Frankfurt. I would post the link, but the site is messed up right now. The host page keeps poking through.
I think Dantley is Adrian Dantley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Dantley) The time line is right. Don’t trust me on anything Sports, though!
14 jazzmaster // Feb 14, 2008 at 7:48 am
“Basketball Jones”! Classic!!!
15 Pete // Feb 14, 2008 at 10:20 am
Jim - Larry clued me in to the Frankfurt / Kurtis Blow connection… veeeery interesting…
16 Eric // Feb 14, 2008 at 7:59 pm
someone already clued you in to “Basketball Jones,” my first thought. There’s also the Public Enemy semi-soundtrack to “He Got Game.” A lot of that stuff is about how basketball is like modern-day slavery, though. Not really uplifting, but damn good with the beats.
17 thescott // Feb 15, 2008 at 6:56 am
There’s always the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Magic Johnson” off Mother’s Milk: http://www.last.fm/music/Red+Hot+Chili+Peppers/_/Magic+Johnson
18 ger // Feb 16, 2008 at 7:40 pm
We have a rather long history of hockey songs up here in Canada (what a surprise, I know). The Tragically Hip, Stompin’ Tom Connors, The Shuffle Demons, Grievous Angels all have a hockey song or two, but my all time fave is ‘Hockey’ by Jane Siberry. Nice little song about being 8 and playing hockey on the river. Best line: ‘This stick was signed by Jean Beliveau, so don’t fuckin’ tell me where to fuckin’ go. Ohohohoh, Sunday afternoon’.
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