PSR's Top 10
Songs About Sports
By Tony DeFazio

10. Basketball Jones, Cheech & Chong - 1973
"I took that basketball with me everywhere I went / That basketball was like a basketball to me"

A comedy classic from the legendary duo during the peak of their "creativity," this was a parody of "Love Jones" by the Brighter Side of Darkness. The tune featured a vocal by a soul singer named "Tyrone Shoelaces."

9. Glory Days, Bruce Springsteen - 1984
"I had a friend was a big baseball player / back in high school"

This classic track from "Born In The USA" features what is probably the best hook in the Boss's entire catalogue, and it still strikes a chord with anyone who's best days in the athletic arena are well behind them.

8. We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy Joel - 1989
"Joe DiMaggio…Campanella…Brooklyn's got a winning team…Mickey Mantle…California baseball… Liston beats Patterson"

The song's not about sports at all, but the Piano Man gives the listener a fifties and sixties history lesson on just about every important sporting moment of the era.

7. Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song), Warren Zevon - 2002
"A scout from the Flames came down from Saskatoon / Said, "There's always room on our team for a goon"

This tale of a Canadian farm boy who gains fame as a hockey goon was co-written with Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom. Zevon was five years ahead of Sopranos' creator David Chase with his mystery ending - does Buddy die after he scores that goal??

6. Magic Johnson, Red Hot Chili Peppers - 1989
"L. A. Lakers, fast break makers / Kings of the court, shake and bake all takers"

Before they were superstars, these L.A. surf-freaks crowned the Lakers as the team of the eighties in this furiously funky ode to the legendary So-Cal point guard. The Peppers also give shout-outs to Byron Scott, James Worthy, A.C. Green and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar.

5. Mrs. Robinson, Simon & Garfunkel - 1967
"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? / A nation turns its lonely eyes to you" The most well-known song from the Mike Nichols' film "The Graduate." Paul Simon sang this, accompanied only by an acoustic guitar, standing in center field at Yankee Stadium after DiMaggio passed away. Enough said.

4. Hurricane, Bob Dylan - 1976
"Rubin could take a man out with just one punch / But he never did like to talk about it all that much"

Probably the best rock song on the list, but it's more about middleweight contender Rubin Carter and his legal battle than about the sport itself. The song is used to devastating effect in Norman Jewison's 1999 film of the same name.

3. Basketball, Kurtis Blow - 1984
"I used to go to dinner and then take the girl / To see Tiny play against Earl The Pearl"

A rap song ahead of Dylan, Simon and Springsteen? Yep. The ultimate musical tribute to hoops as cutting-edge MC Kurtis Blow name-drops all the stars and pulls out all the stops. Were you in the joint the night Wilt scored a hundred points?

2. Boom-Boom Mancini, Warren Zevon - 1987
"Hurry home early, hurry on home / Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon"

American writers and lyricists have always been captivated by the sweet science of pugilism, but perhaps no one better gets into the head of the boxer than Zevon does singing about Mancini, who tragically killed Du Koo Kim in the ring in 1982.

1. Centerfield, John Fogerty - 1985
"Got a beat-up glove, a homemade bat, and brand-new pair of shoes / You know I think it's time to give this game a ride"

The man wrote a love song to the national pastime--in the middle of the glean and sheen 80s-and it was a hit. For the last 40 years, Fogerty has been the definitive writer of Americana music and this classic is simply more proof.

Tony DeFazio is the editor of the Pittsburgh Sports Report. He can be reached at tdefazio (at) psrpt.com.