The Grammys and Sports

In honor of, or perhaps in spite of, the Grammy awards tonight, we dug into our interview files to recall the favorite music or musicians of these sports and media personalities:

Ernie Accorsi: “The Great Pretender,” by the Platters

Marv Albert: James Blunt, Damian Rice, Sarah McLachlan. “I passed through the do-wop stage from my disk jockey days.”

Sandy Alderson: Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love”

Billy Beane: “I’m kind of a closet alternative music guy, going back to the New York City punk scene. I consider Johnny Ramone a friend.”

Elton Brand: “I listen to hip-hop. Rock and roll songs—Prodigy—get me pumped up for the game.”

Jerry Colangelo: “I like anything that has sax, piano—that kind of jazz music, and I love anything Sinatra.”

Seth Davis: “Hard Rock Kid,” by the Radiators

Eddie DeBartolo: “Anything by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.”

Frank Deford: “I’m thinking of all the country-and-western songs I like. [And] I love that Traviata (hums ‘Libiamo’).”

Phil de Picciotto: Pachelbel’s Canon

Boomer Esiason: Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”

Ari Fleischer: Country music

Adonal Foyle: Reggae, soca, jazz and classical

Clyde Frazier: “I’m oldies but goodies. I Motown down: the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Isley Brothers. That’s what I listen to over and over.”

Peter Gammons: “Gimme Shelter,” by the Rolling Stones

Wyc Grousbeck: “I’m a Pearl Jam/Led Zeppelin/Aerosmith guy and I play drums in a rock band. We actually go play gigs, so I’m a rock drummer in my spare time.”

David Halberstam: “The Sinatra albums of the mid-to-late ’50s.”

Keith Hernandez: Rhythm & blues, rock, jazz

Peter Jacobsen: “Jethro Tull’s ‘Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day.’ It’s got some great lyrics in there. It says, ‘Sometimes you feel like everybody else is on the stage and you’re the only one sitting in the audience.’”

Peter Kenyon: Handel’s Zadok the Priest

Armen Keteyian: “Sky Blue and Black,” by Jackson Browne; Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On” Len Komoroski: “Jungleland,” by Bruce Springsteen; “The Last Resort,” by the Eagles

Al Leiter: Bruce Springsteen’s music

Ronnie Lott: “The music of Prince.”

Jeffrey Lurie: “For What It’s Worth,” by Buffalo Springfield. “My favorite group is The Doors.”

Rich McKay: “I’m a basic California kid, so I’m an Eagles’ guy.”

Sean McManus: “Maggie May,” by Rod Stewart, and “Johnny B. Goode,” by Chuck Berry. “My daughter’s name is Maggie, and those are my kids’ favorite two songs.”

Jim Nantz: “I’m pretty eclectic. I go from Bruce Springsteen to Yanni and everything in between.”

Rick Reilly: “Overall, I guess I’d say Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. 

Robert Sarver: “Let’s Get It Started”

Larry Scott: “Desert Rose,” by Sting

Phil Simms: “I like everything from rock-and-roll to classical to country. I even listen to a little rap. I’ve got kids, and I hear it and I say, ‘Hey, that’s pretty good.’”

Emmitt Smith: Kirk Franklin and R&B

Gary Smith: “Thunder Road,” by Bruce Springsteen, is right up there.

Gene Smith: Stevie Wonder’s “That Girl”

Annika Sorenstam: “I like modern music—U2, Madonna.”

Erik Spoelstra: “U2. I’m not a groupie, but I’ve seen them in concert six or seven times.”

Roger Staubach: “I love country-and-western music. I work out every morning to CMT. I’m a Toby Keith fan, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, Gretchen Wilson. Mark Wills wrote a song, ‘19 Something,’ in which he remembered being Roger Staubach in the back yard running around. That became my favorite song.”

John Swofford: “‘Good Morning, Starshine’ (from the musical Hair), by my brother, Oliver.”

Randy Vataha: “Just about anything written by the Beatles."

Alan Webb: “Ants Marching,” by the Dave Matthews Band

Jerry West: “Growing up in West Virginia, everybody used to listen to country music. I like classical music. Now my tastes run to soft rock and some jazz. I like some of the old, traditional people. I like Elton John. I think he’s a tremendous entertainer. I listen to a lot of music from different areas.”

Pat Williams: “The William Tell overture. Never ceases to raise the hair on my head.”

Reggie Williams:  “I love the Motown sound.”

Mary Wittenberg: U2, Coldplay, The Jersey Boys

Alexander Wolff: “‘Maiden Voyage,’ by Herbie Hancock; Gustav Mahler’s Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony; and ‘Domino,’  by Van Morrison, never disappoint.”

Kristi Yamaguchi: Daughtry, Janet Jackson, Rihanna, Nickelback, Ballas Hough Band