Controversy erupted this week in New York when the Mets new star pitcher, Billy Wagner, entered the game to the not-so-soothing sounds of Mettalica's Enter Sandman (req. RealAudio). You see, the Yankees star relief pitcher, Mariano Rivera also enters games to that same song and Wagner's use of the same song is practically a sacrilege as far as some Yankee fans are concerned.
The facts are that Wagner was using the song before Rivera ever did and that Rivera himself doesn't care. (Rivera only listens to Christian music.) On top of that, Metallica's manager is a Met fan and he seems pretty keen on Wagner using the song. Despite all that, some Yankee fans - even I have to accept that most of them are not this dumb - are outraged that Wagner would dare to enter a game to the same song as their beloved Rivera.
As far as I'm concerned there's way too much noise coming over the public address systems at ball parks today. I'd be much happier if there was no music at all, but if we must have something I think Wagner should go with Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. The song title and lyrics don't matter anyway and Immigrant Song is far better than Enter Sandman. Plus, I well imagine that the crowd would love joining in with Robert Plant's howl.
UPDATE: Thanks to Gerard for alerting me to this video version of Immigrant Song.
