Toronto – Today is opening day in baseball, a magical time in America when everyone and their mothers are excited about baseball. Spring is in the air, the grass is green and the promise of summer is just ahead. At 162 games, the MLB season is one a long one, and you will undoubtedly be hearing a lot of stories about random baseball news through out the year, even if you don’t want to. Being an indie kid/sport fanatic, I am here to provide you with some random information to help ease you into the world of baseball.
San Francisco Giants
For fans of: Mumford & Sons, Adele, Rebecca Black
The reigning champions came out of nowhere last year to win the World Series. A team struggling in obscurity for most of the past few seasons, the team’s rise from bottom dwellers to top of the world was meteoric. So if you are fans of Mumford & Sons, Adele and/or Rebecca Black – three acts who have exploded in the past year, you can definitely appreciate a team like the Giants. Bonus, Giant’s start Tim Linecum looks like he’s 13.
Adele plays the ACC May 18th
Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man by Stayloose
Atlanta Braves
For fans of: Pulp, Suede, any other Britpop band recently reunited
Much like the Britpop bands, the last time the Atlanta Braves were relevant was in the 90s. The Braves dominated the 90s. Every year around October, you would hear those damn Atlanta fans with their tomahawk chops and war songs. You couldn’t escape Ted Turner or Jane Fonda on television. Then after their pitchers got old, the Braves slide into obscurity. This year, however, the Braves appear to be back and relevant, relying on young stars such as Tommy Hanson and Jayson Heyward to hopefully bring them back to prominence. This is similar to bands like Pulp, who will also attempt to once again reach for the stars when they play a series of festival shows this year, including Primavera Sound in Barcelona, one that I am personally attending.
Pulp – Like A Friend by congratulations
Texas Rangers
For fans of Oasis, Beady Eye
The Texas Rangers made the World Series last year, but in the off season, they lost Cliff Lee, a key component to their team. Nobody knows how this will affect the teams success, the team still has a host of players that are rather good – Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, etc. Regardless, their success this year is a great unknown. A band that can identify with this would be Beady Eye, a band that spawned when Noel Gallagher, arguably the key component behind Oasis’s success, left Oasis. Beady Eye still has Liam Gallagher, Andy Bell, etc, but will they be equally successful? Nobody knows.
Beady Eye play June 20th at the Sound Academy
Beady Eye – The Roller by MMMusic
Oakland Athletics
For fans of: British Sea Power, Raveonettes, Go Team, BRMC, Black Lips
Much like the bands I’ve listed, the Oakland Athletics have spent the better part of the past decade doing their own thing (moneyball) and having varying degrees of success. The A’s have had some hits and some misses with their brand of number crunching baseball strategy. If you enjoy the consistency in quality of music that bands like British Sea Power and company has delivered in the past ten years, you will definitely enjoy the consistency of OBP (On base percentage) focussed offense that the A’s have been using as well.
Raveonettes play the Phoenix April 2nd
Go! Team play the Opera House April 10th
Black Lips play the Phoenix April 16th
War In Heaven by theraveonettes
St.Louis Cardinals
For fans of: The Kills
Sure, The Kills have a new record (Blood Pressure) out, and yes, they are touring around promoting that record. Let’s not kid ourselves though, Allison Mosshart probably has lights in her eyes, and it’ll be to no surprise if she leaves this band for good and join the bigger band (the one with Jack White) soon. Is this tour going to be the Kill’s last tour? They’ve had a good run, haven’t they? These questions are similar to the ones that Cardinals fans have been asking themselves as they enter what will probably be the last year of Albert Pujols. Albert Pujols is the best hitter in the league and without a contract for next season, meaning he is most likely going to bigger and better things – New York? Boston? Philadelphia? All good guesses.
The Kills play Sound Academy May 1st
The Kills – Satellite by DominoRecordCo
Tampa Bay Rays
For fans of: Fleet Foxes, Glasvegas, Friendly Fires
The team du jour two years ago, the Tampa Bay Rays hope to bring back that initial excitement that had everyone excited about the team. Armed with young talents such as David Price, Evan Longoria and errr Manny Ramirez, the Rays will spend most of 2011 trying to remind people how awesome they were in 2009. Similarly, bands like Fleet Foxes, Glasvegas and Friendly Fires will spend most of 2011 promoting their new records, a follow up to the ones that made these bands so popular a few years ago. Can they recapture the magic? Only time will tell.
The World Is Yours by glasvegas
That’s all I got for today! Stay tune for part 2, which may or may not happen.
Random baseball story time:
In 1998 or 1997, I joined an online baseball fantasy league/competition, where you had to select a bunch of players from a pool of players, and whoever’s team had the most home runs at the end of the year would win a prize. So I was lucky enough to pick both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in their pools. As a result, I won that pool and was about to pocket five hundred bucks. However, I then got called by the company and said that since I was from Canada and the contest was eligible for United States only, I couldn’t win. Instead, they sent me a crappy t-shirt.
- http://mechanicalforestsound.blogspot.com/ Joe
- http://www.google.com/ Velvet