Yesterday, I went to the LMU v. Gonzaga game with Carlos and my brother, where we met up with Estelle (who really needs to post some of her club stories soon, hint hint) and her sister. We're basketball fans but, more than that, we're LMU Lions fans. This is not simply because we're alumni, but because the Lions are a really good, although sorely underrated team. If you want proof, read the write up in today's LA Times Sport Section and notice how much Morrison/Gonzaga ass is kissed.
Estelle's sister said that she hadn't seen a crowd that big since they were little kids, i.e. the Golden Years of Hank Gathers and Bo Kimball. I think that just the fact that a team that hasn't done much of anything since Gathers died on the basketball court (we always said it was cursed when we were students) well over a decade ago could actually give the #5 team in the nation a run for its money says something.
And then there is Morrison, who seems to make everyone drool because he makes really good shots, never mind the fact that the refs never seem to call his fouls. I heard from my brother that his moustache is supposed to be a tribute to Che Guevara (like Guevara-worship is so original on the campus of a Jesuit university), but he looks more like Matt Stone in Orgasmo. To help illustrate this statement, click here and here. The moustache, though, helped spawn some of the most disgusting, yet creative and insanely funny chants I have heard from the LMU student section ever.
But, this is a music blog and you probably want to read more about the music, so let's take this time to mention the jock jam. You know what I mean. Hell, I think there are entire cds dedicated to this genre. Stemming from the sports arena standard of Queen's "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions," the jock jam is the song that is not only wildly popular, but is fitting enough in sound and lyrical content (sort of) to appropriately motivate the crowd. Back in high school and the beginning of college, the jock jam of choice was 2 Unlimited's "Get Ready for This." If you say you don't know it, it's only because you are trying to block it from your mind. Later on in the 1990s, songs like Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping" (appropriate lyric: "I get knocked down/But I get up again") and Blur's "Song 2" (appropriate lyric: "Woo-hoo!") rocked through sporting events. Over the past few years, the choice has been Zombie Nation's "Kernkraft 400," an instrumental number that runs in somewhere in the high 130s as far as beats per minute are considered, which makes it completely jock-appropriate.
Now, there is a new jock jam invading basketball courts near you-- "Club Foot" by Kasabian. Musically, it has the feel of a race car taking off across the speedway or, even, a basketball player dribbling and dashing towards the basket for a three-point throw. Lyrically, it bears the line "You want to take control of me/You're messing with the enemy," which was particularly appropriate in terms of last night's game. I declared my love for "Club Foot" quite some time ago, but after hearing that song accompany aerial footage of LMU's campus, I loved the song even more.