Music and sports are like peanut butter and jelly
Songs really enhance the game experience
When was the last time you attended or watched a sporting event? Regardless, it is likely that music will have an important part in creating the atmosphere leading up to the event and building spectator anticipation.
Music and sports are indelibly linked. Like peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese or French fries and gravy, there are very few sporting events where music is not part of the game experience.
As is the case at all junior hockey games, music is played during the warm-up. I am told that, on some teams, players select the music that is played prior to game time. A variety of music genres including rock, hip hop, heavy metal, rap, country or pop often make up the repertoire. Anything to get the players motivated and prepared to put forth a top-notch performance might make the pre-game playlist.
Prior to the start of a game, it has become customary to perform the national anthem. At this year’s Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, country entertainment icon Reba McEntire sang the anthem. But when was the anthem first played prior to a sporting event?
Historians have traced the connection all the way back to the American Civil War. The playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” first occurred at a ball game on May 15, 1862. It was at the opening game of the Union Grounds Ballpark in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the band in attendance for the festivities began the musical proceedings by playing the anthem.
In a Sept. 26, 2017, article written by author and hockey historian Eric Zweig, “God Save the King” was played prior to a 1910 hockey game in his fictional novel, “Hockey
Night in the Dominion of Canada.”
Zweig confirms, however, that, early in the 1918-19 National Hockey League season, the national anthem was definitely played prior to the opening home game of the Ottawa Senators and the defending Stanley Cup champions from Toronto. The game was played on Dec. 26, 1918, just a few weeks after the signing of the armistice that ended the First World War.
Zweig writes that previous governors general had often attended games in Ottawa but, on this occasion, the Duke of Devonshire was in attendance. Newspapers reported “the hockey season was ushered in under viceregal patronage.” “When the Duke and his party arrived just prior to game time, the Gov. General’s Foot Guard played the National Anthem and every person in the arena stood up.”
At the 1942 Paris Olympics, anthems were played after every event winner, and national anthems started to become a regular feature at sporting events. Today, playing the national anthem has become so entrenched at sporting events, mega music artists are often recruited to perform.
At the 1996 Memorial Cup, Peterborough’s own Sebastian Bach, then lead singer for glam metal band Skid Row, performed the national anthem at the Memorial Centre.
Following the anthem, game night music directors spring into action, playing music at breaks in the action, during televised commercials and during intermissions when there are often planned activities to enhance the fan experience. Tunes are often accompanied by video on digital display screens that are choreographed to entertain and engage the fans.
Whether you are at a hockey arena, a college football game, the Grey Cup or Super Bowl or at a local community sporting event, music is likely to be part of the experience. The next time you attend a sporting event, pay particular attention to the way music enhances your game experience.
By the way, what did you think of Usher’s halftime Super Bowl performance?
GARY BALDWIN IS A RETIRED
TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL, LONGTIME HOCKEY COACH, REFEREE AND CITY COUNCILLOR. HIS SPORTS COLUMN APPEARS EACH SATURDAY IN THE EXAMINER AND IS NOT INTENDED
AS A POLITICAL ENDORSEMENT.