LSU’s baseball team adopts a tradition that many ball clubs — high school, college and professional — have practiced over the years.
As each Tiger batter walks to the plate in Alex Box Stadium, they are serenaded with the song of their choice.
Whether it be one to pump up the crowd or one special to the player’s heart, every LSU baseball player owns a song for the season.
But other athletes around the University’s campus would also enjoy walking to the tee box, starting line or on the court in rhythm to their favorite record.
Though hypothetical, several Tigers disclosed their walkout songs and for many it wasn’t an easy decision. Freshman sprinter Tremayne Acy had to pull out his iPod and scroll through before settling on Rich Homie Quan’s “Man of the Year.”
Stockhold, Sweden native and sophomore multi-event athlete Therese Jernbeck filtered through all of her favorite ABBA songs before picking “Levels” by the Swedish artist Avicii.
“I have too many good memories from that one,” Jernbeck said. “ABBA has some really good ones … but you can’t really get the adrenaline pumping. Just when I think about [Levels] I’m like, ‘Yeah I’m ready.’”
The decision was easier for women’s tennis player Skylar Holloway. The freshman didn’t stutter when she declared The Killers “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine,” as her favorite song.
While many of the athletes picked their favorite songs or ones that pump them up, basketball’s junior Anthony Hickey thought about a more meaningful track.
“Lil Wayne’s ‘No Quitter [Go Getter].’” Hickey said. “The one where he was talking about no quitting in life, no matter what comes to him.”
Both senior Andre Stringer and fellow Mississippi native junior Johnny O’Bryant III announced their theme song would be from the Mississippi rap artist Big K.R.I.T.’s playlist.
Of the non-baseball sports, basketball is the more realistic sport to employ a walkout song system. Stringer even suggested a song to be played after a big shot or dunk.
When asked if jamming to K.R.I.T.’s “Just Touched Down” after a slam dunk would hamper his transition defense, O’Bryant laughed and shook his head.
“[Having a walkout song] would be something I really won’t forget once I leave here,” Stringer said. “That would be a good plan. That would be a lot of fun for me and my teammates.”