Before every game, it seems like you can’t find an athlete without headphones. This new era of music has brought out the needed energy for players to focus before they compete. I’m not here to tell you that music is the reason so many players have great games or break records. I’m just as curious as the next person as to why it’s such an essential pre game ritual. In some cases mandatory. Coaches have been known to tell players to bring headphones and stay quiet on a bus ride or while sitting around.  Not all coaches though. Kirk Gibson, manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, confiscates all electronic devices while they are traveling or in the clubhouse because he thinks they are a distraction. Pre-game music can be a positive or negative distraction; it just depends who you ask.

     Through time, music has been implemented into each sport unknowingly. Music’s immense popularity has forced owners to make every game a pageantry of emotion, and what better way to add emotion to a sport than through music. After every break in action the stadium speakers bellow with all types of music to help the crowd stay attentive during the events stagnancy. Once play resumes we as spectators are welcomed by the same energy on the field that was exhibited through amplified rhythmic poetry. Why are we so compelled to the feeling music gives us? Why do we get the feeling of immortality after listening to an upbeat song? Or the feeling of sadness after hearing a lyrical ballad? What does music have that is able to appeal to our emotions more than the average form? Musician Eric Clapton once said, “For me there is something primitively soothing about music, and it goes straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall.”

     Players are glued to their Beats BY DRE, or Skull Candy headphones. It’s a way to drown out the sound and focus on what is about to happen instead of what is currently happening. In a recent “Beats” commercial, we see multiple star athletes being interviewed with the ultimate result being them walking away from the sound of critics and focusing on the music playing. It helps, bottom line. If it didn’t help, the player or coach wouldn’t use them. Music simply makes things more emotional, influential, and memorable. Before or after the game, players will be head bobbing, finger tapping, foot stomping, deaf zombies for some time. With or without music, performance comes from dedication put in by individuals, not albums. So take out the headphones or leave them in. You’re only getting better if you go out and put the work in. Respected athlete, Derek Jeter has said, “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.”