EA Sports Introduces Zippy Zappy

Back when Zippy Zappy was in elementary school in 2005 and 2006, I was in my 30s and single and happily antisocial. It was a blissful time in 2005 and 2006 -- before social media, after all -- so no one really noticed if I sat home on a Friday night with my dog, a bottle of wine or two, and my PlayStation (and then PlayStation 2) just playing FIFA 2005 and, later, FIFA 2006.

I have to admit that I sort of miss those relatively carefree days. There's a lot more pressure being more "grown up" with a wife and all kinds of other responsibilities. I don't play video games anymore either -- I stopped after the PS3 became obsolete and, well, I stopped when I got married. Playing video games to me was a solo event, and now my solo time is spent with baseball cards.

At any rate, those FIFA games had absolutely brilliant soundtracks. In fact, I found myself going down rabbit trails finding more music by the bands featured on these two games. Since Zippy Zappy likes to share with me what he's been listening to, I thought I'd share some songs that perhaps he's heard and perhaps he has not heard. Oh, and since he sent me cards, that's my excuse for doing it.

Let's start with something that he has a chance of having heard:

Japanese rap trio Soul'd Out starts us off with their bouncy little ditty called "1,000,000 Monsters Attack." It appeared on the FIFA 2005 soundtrack, which was put together by noted British DJ Paul Oakenfold. Oakenfold only included one of his own songs on it, but the soundtrack was very diverse and included songs from artists from nearly 20 countries. This wasn't the only rap song on the soundtrack, but it was the only Japanese song.

It would be poor form if I did not pair the Brewers 2017 first round draft pick with this song since Keston Hiura is a Californian of half Japanese and half Chinese descent. This guy can flat out rake. He got a long look in spring training this year and did well against lesser competition, and he's destined to move quickly up the chain if his defense can keep up with his bat.

When it comes to the music on FIFA 2005, this is the song that got stuck in my head with regularity -- to the point of my buying the album on which it appeared and, then, multiple albums by The Streets. I absolutely love this song, "Fit But You Know It." It's off a concept album called A Grand Don't Come for Free that some people know for the sappy slow song near the end of the album called "Dry Your Eyes" that Mike Skinner (who is The Streets) did with Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. 

A wonderful song from FIFA 2005 deserves a wonderful football player. Juan Mata is the one Manchester United player that literally everyone in the world loves. Strangely, his name means "John Kills" in Spanish, but he's a true gentleman. He started a charity called Common Goal to which he and nearly 40 other international stars donate 1% of their salaries to a collective fund to support football charities that promote social responsibility. Its members include American women Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, and Heather O'Reilly as well as German defender Mats Hummels, Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, Japanese star (and Mata's former Man Utd. teammate) Shinji Kagawa, and Bournemouth defender Charlie Daniels.

Speaking of Manchester United, here's the song that was considered Morrissey's major comeback single in 2004. He had been without a record deal for over seven years when the album You Are the Quarry came out and featured this song and "First of the Gang to Die." That second song was seen as a direct paean to Morrissey's massive following that had built up sort of oddly among the Mexican American community.

Jesus Aguilar is Venezuelan, not Mexican. He's also seemingly a man without a place on the Milwaukee Brewers. Last year, he served well in a semi-platoon role with Eric Thames at 1st base. This year, with the logjam in the outfield, that's more likely to be Ryan Braun's role. The Brewers have to hope that they either can sneak him through waivers or that he can be traded. 

He's also a massive human being -- so massive that Zach Davies and Orlando Arcia can fit in Aguilar's pants together:

Okay then...that's a large man.

Indeed, Japanese rap and English rap were also joined by Brazilian rap from rapper Marcelo D2 with a song called "Profissão M.C." or "Professional M.C." Marcelo is from Rio, and was a member of a band called Planet Hemp. I wonder what it was that they rallied around. The album in 2003 from which this song was drawn was known worldwide for its collaboration with will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas. But don't hold that against Marcelo.

Speaking of large first basemen, I wonder if Jesus Aguilar could fit into Prince Fielder's pants. They'd probably be a bit short for Aguilar, since Jesus is 3 inches taller and weighs 25 pounds less than big Prince. 

FIFA 2006 brought a different feel to the music. It's less rap, I feel like, and more straight ahead rock, like Bloc Party's "Helicopter." This song was my introduction to Bloc Party, and I ended up buying this album, which had other great songs like "Like Eating Glass" and "Banquet".

I don't think Josh Hader has anything to do with Bloc Party at all that I can discern. I just think that this photo of his Medusa-like hair is pretty awesome and deserved a good song.

LCD Soundsystem got this song on six different games -- FIFA 06, SSX on Tour, Burnout: Revenge, Forza Motorsport 2, and two Dance Dance Revolution games. Critics loved this album. Well, I should say, really, that critics LOVE this band. The types of reviews you get for LCD Soundsystem are fawning and absolutely fall all over themselves to give out plaudits. I think they are a pretty good band, though nowhere near as good as the critics make them out to be.

In the interest of finishing this post today, I am putting up both Tristen Lutz and KJ Harrison. Lutz is still miles and miles away from Miller. I would anticipate that he might play in short-season in Helena again or perhaps move up aggressively to Single-A Wisconsin. I'm just not sure that the Brewers will put him in full-season ball already this year. 

Harrison is a Hawaiian whom the Brewers drafted in the third round out of Oregon State. As with any catching prospect, he may take some time to work his way up to the major leagues. But, we'll see -- perhaps he can move relatively quickly and make the Brewers forget Jacob Nottingham.

Finally, yet another song that convinced me to buy a complete album based off an awesome song on the FIFA 06 soundtrack, this is "Strasbourg" by The Rakes. The Rakes album Capture/Release starts off with this song, and it's actually a bit heavier of a song than much of the rest of the album. I also really like the song "Open Book", and it's worth a listen too.

Caden Lemons was a second round draft pick out of high school from suburban Birmingham (Vestavia Hills High School). The school is a baseball powerhouse which has also produced Chris Hammond, Josh Hancock, and Colter Beam in addition to golfer Smylie Kaufman. Lemons is a 19-year-old pitcher. Remember, TINSTAAPP.

Similar warnings go with Brendan Murphy, who was a fourth round pick out of Mundelein High School near Chicago. Neither one pitched a lot for Milwaukee's farm teams last year. Both might become something in a few years. Murphy had control issues in his 16 innings (12 walks), and Lemons only threw 2-2/3 innings as a professional. 

We'll see if they ever become something. It would be a nice change to have the Brewers produce a star pitcher from their farm system.

My thanks, as always, go out to Kenny. What did y'all think of the music? 

It made me nostalgic.

Well, THAT Was Random

Here in Atlanta, we used to have one incredible Alternative Rock station called 99X -- 99.7 FM on the radio dial. 99X was renown for its music director, Leslie Fram, who was one of a threesome (along with actor/DJ Steve Barnes and actor/DJ Jimmy Baron) who hosted the morning show called "The Morning X." As this story from Atlanta Magazine points out, the three were incredibly influential in Atlanta and nationally in music -- breaking acts like Shawn Mullins, Marvelous 3, and John Mayer.

These days, we actually have three alt-rock stations, but two of them are nearly impossible to hear outside of a streaming format. The one that can be heard is a Clear Channel abomination, er, station called Radio 105.7. The company that owned 99X got rid of it a few years ago, brought it back at 98.9, axed it again, then brought it back again. Its signal is not strong. The weakest of the three signals is an HD2 station for a 70s & 80s rock station called The River (think Eagles, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin). The HD2 station is called The Other Side of the RIver, and it is programmed by Leslie Fram's co-music director Steve Craig. 

The Other Side of the RIver has two things going for it. First, they are the radio partner/broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves Triple-A team (they also broadcast the Atlanta Gladiators minor league hockey, but...well, it's hockey). Second, they play about 40 years of alternative rock -- from the Sex Pistols to Fitz and The Tantrums and Cage The Elephant. If you're interested in that (and not having commercials), take a listen here.

That's a long way to get where I'm going with this post. Oftentimes, I listen to The Other Side of the River on my Sonos system in my office. I thought today that I'd just let the music play and see what gets played -- and incorporate that into my post. So, let's see where this takes me.

1.  Boomtown Rats -- "I Don't Like Mondays"

Bob Geldof rose to prominence in the mid-1980s to everyone who didn't know his music when he put together two massive aid projects to provide relief for the famine in Ethiopia at that time. The first was Band-AId -- the incredibly successful supergroup -- and its song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" The second was the summer festival that took place both in Wembley and in Philadelphia called "Live Aid."

This song has always been a favorite, and it reminds me of the year I worked between college and law school in Milwaukee. The place I worked bought a keg of beer at a nearby karaoke bar, and we had a party. It was great fun, mainly because I'm a ham and will sing (probably badly) at the drop of a hat. A buddy of mine, though, sang this song incredibly well and led off the festivities that way. 22 years later, I still associate this song with that night at the Brass Ring Pub.

Going appropriately old school, I picked up these four items from early Brewer Oddball days from my pal Frank Moiger, the proprietor of my local show. He had bought a bunch of old oddballs like the 1971 Topps Coins and the 1973 and 1975 Kellogg's cards recently, so I swiped the Brewers I could find that I needed. 

Thanks to how bad the early Brewers were, picking up the Ellie Rodriguez from the 1973 Kellogg's set means that it is now complete for me, and the same goes with that Briggs from the 1975 set (though, of course, if someone wants to send me a pristine, uncracked version I'd take it). I still need one more coin, though -- Danny Walton.

2. The Killers -- "Mr. Brightside"

I really liked The Killers a lot when I heard their first album. There were a lot of Britpop sensibilities in their music -- soaring, jangly guitars in places, synthpop in others -- that drew me in immediately. Then, I heard about lead singer Brandon Flowers and his massive ego and it was off-putting. 

Still, I enjoy their first two albums a lot. It's good, catchy, pop music. And, in particular, this song is made better when it's used as a tribute in Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland, to one of their great friends, Ger Foley:



What could possibly follow that?

Only Molitor and Yount could. The Molitor Immaculate Collection -- serial numbered 90 out of 99 -- cost me just $3, and the Yount/Ozzie dual relic from 2002 set me back about the same. Seriously, just crazy deals right there. The other two cards were similarly inexpensive -- the Molitor Diamond King was a quarter, and the Yount was a dime. 

I can't even complain about Panini's lack of logos at that price.

3. Andrew McMahon in the WIlderness -- "Cecilia and the Satellite"

Andrew McMahon's song about becoming a father to a daughter named Cecilia -- and yes, that is impetus for the song -- is just awesome when put into that context. 

Now, don't get me wrong, the woman in the nearly sheer white dress is a great attraction in this video, but this is the first time I've seen the video, though, so that had nothing to do with me liking this song. I'm a lyrics guy. When you listen to the lyrics and know it is about his daughter -- and with the video of him with his daughter in his lap mixed in -- it's tough for me not to be emotional about the song.

Then again, perhaps I'm just in a very emotional mood this morning. Let's cure that.

There we go. A bunch of random cards from a bunch of different companies draws me back to reality. The Weeks relic and the Spivey relic both cost $2, I think. The Trent Clark was 15 cents, if I recall correctly. The D'Amico came from a nickel box, as did Aoki, Hoffman, and the Weeks SPx. So, for a quarter, I got 5 cards I actually needed for my collection. 

Fantastic!

5. Iggy Pop featuring Kate Pierson -- "Candy"

Iggy Pop seemed old to me when that song came out in 1990. At the time, he was 43, or a year younger than I am now. Along with his band The Stooges, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Every so often, one of his songs jumps into my head -- either this one or one on which he sang for Swedish band Teddybears called "Punkrocker" which appeared in a Cadillac commercial:

The man is a legend -- about that there is no question. The last of the Brewers I got at my card show had hopes -- or still have hopes -- being legends themselves:

All autographs, all the time here folks. None of these cost me more than $2, and some of them were in quarter boxes. I made an exception in picking up the Josh Hader autograph, in that he is pictured as a member of the Astros. He was, of course, a part of the Carlos Gomez trade. He quickly showed himself to be the best pitcher in that deal. Though he's struggled a bit in Triple-A -- and pitching in Colorado Springs will do that to a pitcher -- he appeared in the Futures Game during All-Star weekend.

The thing scouts point to with Hader going forward are his mechanics are a bit wonky and look like they put some stress on his arm. Here's a game from last August in which he struck out ten batters.

I've seen other videos where Hader's mechanics are even a bit weird. Still, results are not lying for him. He's still young, but I have hopes that he'll become an integral part of the next good Brewers team.

Of course, I hope that for Nathan Kirby as well. Tyler Wagner is now a D-Back (going with Jean Segura). Daryl Clark was a never was in the early 2000s. And, Luis Sardinas was sent to the Mariners in the offseason for outfielder Ramon Flores, a former Yankees prospect, in hopes that Flores might develop into something more. He's not hitting for power this year -- .224/.304/.274 is not good, nor is an OPS+ of 56 where 100 is league average. He's still young, but not good is still not good. 

However, this card show was very, very good to me. Thanks for reading today, and watch for the Milwaukee Braves haul tomorrow!