Beech Tree News Network

Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” is played at every single Boston Red Sox home game. We all know that; but have you ever wondered why? The same could be asked of why Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” is played at Lakers games.  The latter may be easily explained, but what of the Neil Diamond classic?
Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” was played post-bombing in all ballparks nationally to show unity and support for Boston. The song is clearly a Boston staple, but why? If you listen to the song, it is clear that it has absolutely nothing to do with the city or baseball. 
Some Red Sox fans suggest that one of the players’ wives were named Caroline.  Others blame it on former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, who broke into a jig anytime the song was played.  When it plays now, you can see that a lot of dancing is going on in the stands.
Charles Steinberg, senior advisor to Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, says Amy Tobey, who, between ’98-’04, chose the Red Sox stadium music) played it for the first time when a family in the stadium’s control room had a baby named Caroline.  That was 1997, and she played it until 2001.  “When new ownership took over in 2002, we were hearing how the crowd responded to it”.
Reminiscing about the day Caroline Kennedy visited the stadium, Steinberg asked her, “is this song about you? She looked at me bewildered and said “No.  I don’t think so”.  In 2007, Diamond revealed that the song did indeed come from Caroline Kennedy.  She was shown at the Red Sox’ 100th anniversary game singing along, just like all the other fans, as the song played.
Randy Newman wrote and recorded “I Love L.A.” for his 1983 album Trouble in Paradise.  The song is played following major sports events in Los Angeles every time the team scores and if they win.  The song has been parodied (“I Love D.C., etc.) My favorite parody is from the Denver Broncos-“I Love Elway”. 
What about single player entrance music? I noticed when I went to a St. Louis Cardinals game last June that Matt Holliday came to the plate to the entrance music of WWE’s Big Show.  Carlos Beltran steps to the plate accompanied by Guns N Roses’ “Welcome To The Jungle”.  Adam Wainwright and Jake Westbrook each use songs by country super group Alabama.  NASCAR’s All-Star festivities are great.  They’re introduced by their favorite music.  Too bad they don’t do that before every race.
All these scenarios and songs I mentioned are played because they are personal favorites and get people pumped.  I actually used to think about what would be my theme song.  That’s why we have iPods for when we exercise.  Besides, I doubt I’ll hear “Coming down the aisle”, or “now batting” soon, so that will have to do.

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Hello, my name is Andy Sullivan. I received my bachelor’s degree in business from Mid-Continent University in May 2009. I began writing for Beech Tree News in July 2009.  I enjoy playing guitar, the occasional Wii game, writing, and listening to music. I write a sports blog that can be found at http://andyuk79.tumblr.com
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