The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: JAKE CLARK Georgia's Ryan Peisel said he spent a lot of time choosing his walk-out song, Fergie's "Glamorous." [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: GRAPHIC BY KRISTEN SHAW [Click to enlarge]

It's plain and simple - Fergie just does it for him.

Lots of baseball fans may ask themselves what song they would choose for their "walk-out" music, the personalized music that booms over loudspeakers when players come to bat. For Georgia third baseman Ryan Peisel, it was a long process, but in the end it was an obvious choice: Fergie's "Glamorous."

"I talk to everybody on the field, I talk to the umps, [shortstop] Gordon [Beckham], the third base coach. But going up to the plate when I don't have anyone to talk to, I just have to have something to relax me," he said.

"Fergie's it. Just thinking about Fergie and 'Glamorous,' you can't really hate life when you're going up there with that."

But The Dutchess wasn't a clear-cut choice at the beginning. It took months of ear-pleasing exploration.

"There's a lot more that goes into it than people think," Peisel said. "I bet I went through about 16 iPods of different kids on the team to find one. I had it narrowed down to a list of about 100 before I ever was just like, 'Oh man, Fergie.'"

Peisel's struggle and indecisiveness is one familiar to many of his Diamond Dog teammates. Several have one main song, then a backup to mix things up every now and then.

"It's a big deal. I thought about it my whole freshman year," said Beckham, an infielder who, ironically enough, walks out to a song from a band called The Outfield. "A lot of people like to do the hard rock or the rap, but I just do the one that makes me feel good."

"It takes weeks, man," said outfielder Joey Lewis, whose tune of choice is Kansas' "Carry on my Wayward Son."

"We take a lot of pride in those things."

On top of months of soul-searching and hours spent on iTunes, the songs have taken on sentimental and superstitious value for a lot of the players and their fans, too.

"I remember the first game last year we were playing Oregon State here and I came out to a different song and got booed," Beckham said.

"The next time I came up they played 'Your Love' by The Outfield, and I hit a home run. Ever since then I can't go away from it."

So what's the purpose of the "walk-out" song? What is its magic? And who does that magic do its bidding upon? Observer or practitioner?

"It's really about getting yourself motivated and fired up a little bit. It's about what you like and what gets you fired up and kind of calms you down at the same time," Lewis said.

"It's a neat quirky thing because I guess the people come and maybe learn something about the guy by his walk-out song," said coach Dave Perno, adding that his walk-out song would be "probably something from U2."

As long as it's clean, Perno usually allows a batter's chosen song to make it to the official walk-out CD. With 30-plus guys from six different states and wide-ranging areas of Georgia, there's bound to be some banter and widely differing musical opinions.

"I could go without hearing [Bryce] Massanari's song," Perno said.

Massanari, a junior transfer from Las Vegas, walks out to Damian Marley's "Welcome to Jam Rock."

"It's a strange bunch of guys, there's some strange genres," Peisel said. "But whatever locks you in at the plate is fine by me I guess. I'm not gonna judge."

Big words coming from a Fergie lover.

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