Confidential to London Knights dj: Some songs for your team

Here are some song ideas for when your goalie makes a big save, or a player makes a big move, etc. Pardon the puns.

• Night Moves / Bob Seger
  
• Don't You Know What the Night Can Do / Steve Winwood
• Wonderful Night / Fatboy Slim
  
• Another Night (Another Dream) / Whigfield
• Fun Night / Andrew W.K.
  

Confidential to Kitchener Rangers dj: If you're lucky enough to have a game back in Kitchener on Sunday, how about:

• Hard Day's Night / The Beatles
• No More Lonely Nights / Paul McCartney & Wings (for when one of the London players is alone in the box)
• Scorpions / Lonely Nights
  
• Help Me Make it Through The Night / Sammi Smith
  

Singer fined for messing up the anthem

From last November, as reported on ABC News International:

A woman who fumbled a few phrases of Mexico's national anthem while singing the song before a soccer game in Guadalajara has been fined $40 for the blunder.

Guadalupe Madrigal acknowledged she got the words wrong while singing before an Oct. 30 soccer match between teams from Guadalajara and Monterrey, Mexico's Interior Department announced Saturday in a written statement.

Madrigal, who could not immediately be reached for comment, could have been fined as much as $880 under Mexican law regarding the national seal, flag and hymn.

Read the article...

Anthem singer forgets words to Star Spangled Banner

You've probably seen the video of this by now:

Singer Carol Marcil was the anthem singer for an exhibition game between Canada and the U.S. in Quebec City last Friday. She forgot the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner -- twice -- so she left the ice to grab a lyric sheet. But when she stepped back onto the ice, she slipped and fell -- and the game started without the national anthems.

Then on Sunday, she redeemed herself by singing the Star Spangled Banner on Good Morning America -- on tape, with a teleprompter as a back-up.

Article:

• Globe & Mail: Star-pangled blunder gets U.S. redemption
  
• CTV.ca: Canadian gets national anthem right for U.S. TV
• CBC: Quebec singer recovers from anthem slip

Did you know: Carol is the daughter of Rene Marcil, the past president of Hockey Quebec. (Source: Edmonton Sun)

Mother's Day baseball at 5:30am

The latest promo from Mike Veeck and the Saint Paul Saints: On Mother's Day this year, the Saints will start a home game at 5:30am. It's believed to be the earliest scheduled start ever for a professional baseball game. Veeck says he hopes the early start time will let fans and players spend more time with their moms. The sun will rise during the game -- as opposed to the normal sunset.

Link: Saint Paul Saints

Did you know: Actor Bill Murray is co-owner of the Saints.

Ottawa 67's playoffs: What music are we using?

The 67's are two wins away from the OHL Championships. Here's a sampling of some of the music we have in 'high rotation' this spring:

• Queen / We Will Rock You. Yes, we've always used We Will Rock You. But until late in the regular season, we were using just a loop of the "boom boom clap" part of the song. Now, we've started using the the full version of the song, lyrics and all, at least once per game. We also found a cool remix that was used in an Evian commercial, by "Water Boy".
  
• Van Halen / Right Now. The soundtrack to our opening video in the first and second rounds. (With a transition to Fatboy Slim's Right Here Right Now partway through.)
  
• AC/DC / Thunderstruck. The soundtrack to our third round playoff video. The buildup creates great atmosphere, plus it ties in to our thunderstick promotion.
• The Fables / Heave Away. Ian Robinson (from the Halifax Mooseheads) sent us this suggestion a while back, and it's a big hit at the Ottawa Civic Centre.
  
• The Zambonis / Drop That Puck. We use this at the start of every game for the opening face-off, right after the National Anthem. I heard fans chanting the song before we started playing it, in anticipation. Cool.
• Loverboy / Lovin' Every Minute of It. A great song that we've been using after some of our goals ... gives a great feeling in the rink.
• Batman (old TV Theme). A pun on our goaltender's name (Danny Battochio). We'll play this once or twice per game, supported with a video graphic featuring Battochio's name inside a Batman logo.
  

Another note: We're hardly using any "top 40" or "filler" music in our playoff games -- it's all call-response and situational. Our fans are eager to clap along, thanks in part to a thunderstick giveaway, so we're catering to that.

(More hockey music via hockeymusic.ca)

Ottawa's Spartacat mascot visits Wisconsin

From an Ottawa Senators press release:

"The Ottawa Senators mascot and Ambassador of Fun, Spartacat, is
taking the popular Senators' education programs - Spelling with Sparty
and Scotiabank Read to Succeed - to 135 students at Chain O'Lakes
Elementary School in Waupaca, Wis. Tuesday, April 19 and Wednesday,
April 20."

Read more...

"Screech the Eagle" is the new mascot for Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals introduced "Screech the Eagle" on Sunday as their new mascot. Perhaps inspired by the San Diego Chicken's debut, Screech busted out of an egg before the game at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.

Screech is a friendly-looking bird, with long yellow legs, a white Nationals jersey, and a really big, round white head.

From the Washington Post: "Team officials would not provide information about the person inside the Screech costume, or let that person be interviewed, saying they did not want to distract from Screech's personality and character. Although that person never will speak in his or her own voice from inside the costume, it is possible that the mascot will at some point make some kind of screeching noise to cheer the team on, the officials said."

• Video feed from NBC4.com
• Washington Post: The Newest Eagle Has Landed
• Washington Examiner: Nats hatch a new mascot
  

Did you know:

• The Nationals are the third Washignton pro team to use an eagle as their mascots. The Washington Capitals have had Slapshot since 1995, and Talon was introduced in 1996 by D.C. United soccer.
• UPDATE: At least two other teams have used an eagle, according to an anonymous comment on this site: "The Washington Freedom (WUSA Womens Soccer) also had an Eagle Mascot, and so does American University. (NCAA Div 1) Thatsalotta Eagles!"

Mets game delayed due to scoreboard malfunction

Adfreak has a note about a scoreboard malfunction at New York's Shea Stadium this week:

"A new rotating billboard in center field, designed to flash ads between innings and then go dark, so batters can see the ball better, malfunctioned yesterday—sticking on an image of the Mets pitcher and delaying the game for 14 minutes or so in the sixth inning." Read more...

Did you know:

• This year, the New York Mets debuted four new full-color LED (light emitting diode) displays at Shea Stadium.
• The Diamond Vision video board in left-center field was replaced by a high-definition LED board manufactured by Mitsubishi Diamond Vision. The new display offers HDTV compatibility and a 16:9 aspect ratio. It's the third generation Mitsubishi Diamond Vision video board installed at Shea. The first board was installed in 1982, and that original board was replaced with a higher resolution CRT (cathode ray tube) board prior to the 1992 season.
• The video and scoreboard displays at Shea Stadium are operated by the Mets Video & Entertainment staff, led by Producer Vito Vitiello. Vito supervises a game day production staff of 18 people.
• Source: Mets A-to-Z Guide
  

List of Major League Baseball mascots

From Wikipedia, a list of baseball mascots, present & historical.

I did not know that in the absense of the Chicken, San Diego has the Swinging Friar, a person dressed as a friar swinging a baseball bat.

Did you know: The first "costumed/character" in pro sports was Mr. Met, from the New York Mets. It was also his "birthday" yesterday, on April 11. His official debut was on April 14, 1964.

Fans jeering ends pope moment of silence in Scotland

From CBS SportsLine.com:

"Fans at a Scottish Cup soccer game jeered during a minute's silence for Pope John Paul II on Sunday, forcing the tribute to be cut short. The booing by Hearts fans came before the semifinal against Celtic, which has mostly Catholic fans. Referee Stuart Dougal ended the memorial less
than halfway through because of the noise. The game was televised in Britain and overseas."

"Celtic’s main rival is Rangers — whose fans are largely Protestant — and games between the teams have led to violence inside and outside stadiums."

Read the article...

Related:

• Hearts say sorry for fans who booed Pope tribute (Scotsman.com)
• Fans charged after Pope jeering (BBC Sport) Six Hearts supporters have been charged with sectarian hate crime following Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final.

Youppi! Round-Up

Youppi!, the former mascot of the defunct Montreal Expos, could soon be joining the Montreal Canadiens. The Expos put Youppi! up for sale before they left for Washington (something about difficulty getting citizenship papers for a giant orange mascot).

From the Montreal Gazette:"I can confirm that the Canadiens organization has shown some serious interest in adopting Youppi!," Canadiens vice-president Donald Beauchamp said Tuesday, although he did not confirm the deal was done. Other rumoured corporate suitors interested in the popular mascot were the Jean Coutu pharmacy chain and Ste. Justine's Hospital."

This news broke at the end of March, but we never got around to posting anything about it. Here are some Youppi! links:

• Wikipedia: Youppi!
  
• ESPN: Youppi! is alive and well (good pics)
• RDS: Où aboutira Youppi?
  
• EPSN: It's official: Youppi! lives!
  
• Pierre Deschesnes on being Youppi
• Youppi! pics via Google
  

Did you know:

• The original Youppi costume was a cast-off from a Jim Henson muppet production.
• Youppi! is one of three mascots in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The others are the Phillie Phanatic and San Diego Chicken.
  

Turn down the volume - please!

Here's an article from a couple years back from The Hockey News ... found it while searching for something else:

"Arena music: Can't live with it, can't use a machete to hack your ears off then slice 'em into itty-bitty pieces so they can't be re-attached.

That's what comes to mind whenever we're violated by the sounds emanating from arena speakers.

To be fair, it isn't just the NHL that is guilty of monotonous, entirely predictable choices for in-arena music during games. But they are as guilty as any sports industry of dealing sonic waste to innocent customers, and if they're intent on cultivating a repeat audience, switching up the playlist would help immensely."

Read more...

Mascot steroid scandals rock sports world

Mike Argento writes in the York Daily News:

"The Baltimore Orioles were rocked today — Opening Day of the 2005 baseball season — by allegations of steroid use among one of its most beloved team members — The Bird.

Rumors that The Bird was using steroids have dogged the mascot for years, but it was the recent publication of the Phillie Phanatic's new book, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Mascots Got Big," that propelled the issue into the public eye.

In the book, the Phanatic wrote that he once injected steroids into The Bird's buttocks in a stall in the men's room on the 700 level of Veterans Stadium."

Read the article...