My Life Through Song

"Put me in coach" Those words shaped my childhood. My friends and I would go down to "the lot" every day durring the summer and play ball, I guess you could compair my friends and I to the gang in the movie "The Sandlot" Mixing and matching teams, using tires or whatever we could find as bases and then running when someone broke a window or hit a ball against the house across the street. Yes we all wanted "our moment in the sun" as the song says. I grew up around the game, it's like oxygen to me, I need to to live. My buddies and me would spend every day in that old vacent lot that lied between two houses, when i drive by it today it doesn't see very big, maybe 40 by 50 yards. We would sneak tires out of a shed thats behind the lot and use them for bases. Sometimes we would use old ball gloves when the peope were home who owned the shed.





I love this song, rather than a wal-mart parking lot, this song reminds me of the baseball field parking lot in my tiny town of McCool Junction. Chris Cagle puts in to words what that gravel filled oasis means to me. That to is the place where I thought I was hot stuff because I was able to drive that old jlopie my dad gave to me, the same place where every weekend night every one would scrable to hide their beer when old barny 5 rolled through. Ya thats even like the song goes "Had my first kiss". Ya there isn't much to do in my home town so we had to create different ways to have fun, I have some of my favorite memories in that place. we'd stay out till 2am driving golf carts around the baseball field, blowing up fire crackers or go parking with our girls. Ya that old place means a lot to me, it's defantly a place where "We did a lot of livin, it was small-town teenage heaven".


Kenny Chesney - No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems


"No shirt, no shoes, no problems" Is the way I like to live my life. This song always makes me think of the days me and my buddy alex skipped school and wend down by the river where there was a beach and just sat back and enjoyed life while all our counter parts were in the middle of english. All we needed was a cooler, a boombox, some lawn chairs and some fishin poles and we were in heaven. This song brings out the carefree side of myself, and be a bartender somwhere in the virgin islands. My bud alex and I would sit on that sand bar that lies past the tree line. It was our own oasis where we didn't have a care in the world, we named it kokomo, you know get their fast then take it slow. I remember tellin mom bye before school then meeting Alex in the baseball field parkin lot and hoppin in the truck where we would drive down the gravel road driving through the cornfield parkin the truck in the shade. It was the perfect spot no even the farmer whos land it was could find us. the riverside was nesseled behind the rarely used gravel road that's home to an old rusty bridge where my senior call took our group picture.



Small Town


I was born in a small town! This song and video really hit home to me. The song I think speaks for its slef when you hear the words. When you watch this video you see kids playing baseball which is big in my book, there is also a picture of a kid maybe 4yrs old in a ball uniform holding a bat and this is exactly what my baby pictures look like bat in one hand ball in the other. You also see people running track and pole vaulting and in my tiny little piece of americana I call McCool Jucntion, track and field is a following, we currently have won our conference in track for 6 straight years so everybody in the town is big on the sport. There is this seen in the vido where there's a homeade vido clip of kids roller skating, and this really takes me back to when I was growing up goin to friends birthday parties at the roller ring, tryin to impress the girls with our moves when half the time we'd end up on our butts embarrased, but hey can't blame a kid for tryin right?

We Rode In Trucks


To me when you live in a small rural town riding in trucks is a way of life and when I first heard this song it just made me smile cause it perfectly describes my friends and I, for instance "That's us hallin hay in the field with the radio on. That's us headin straight into town when the work is done" perfectly states what every day is like where I'm from cause heck everybody has hauled hay a time or two, and for the most part all of us work for farmers or what have you and on friday afternoon when the works done, were head into town to pick up some ladies, lay a little rubber and raise some hell. Theres a place in the video where it shows two buddies spining cookies in a field with the doors off of the pickup and that is what me and my friend used to do when we hand nothin better to do, it really reminds me alot my me and him gettin stuck countless times in his old chevy.


Craig Morgan - Redneck Yacht Club


Yea it's probably funny to most but this is what summer on the lake outside of my town is like on the weekends. The little lake thats spose to be "private" hasn't closed the gate in the last 10 years. Everyone has a few friends that live out there or atleast have a cabin. This tiny litte man made lake that's the shape of a horseshoe has about 25 or so houses around it. My friends their family all spend at least a couple of weekends out on that lake, if they dont get on the lake it's a good bet they spend a few days on a picknick table drinkin some brewskies watchin all the kids make fools out of themselves knockin eachother off the tubes and water ski's or what have you. The last place you'd expect to find a like is where this one lies, out off some gravel road outside of town, turn down the drive past the unshut and never locked gate down the road where you see 6 or 7 year olds drivin 4 wheelers shootin bb guns at squrrels. Ya it's a place where "basstrackers, bayliners and a party barge, are strung together like a floating trailer park anchored out and gettin loud all summer long side by side there's five houseboat front porches astroturf, lawn chairs and tiki torches regular joes rocking the boat that's us the redneck yacht club"




I swear this song was made about my hometown, every lyric rings true even the pale blue water tower is true. This song makes me proud whenever I hear it, it always puts a big smile on my face. The video starts by rollin through town showin a pale blue water tower just like the one that sits up the road from my house. I espically love the part where it showes the old men talking over coffee in my town this place is whats called the C.A.V.E. or better know as Citizens Against Virtually Everything this is where all the old farmers go in the middle of the day to crab and bullshit about everything from whos gettin married to who's the starting quarterback this year. The last thing in the video that paints a spittin image of my town is when the song "goes we're off to Sunday service at the Church of Christ, and if we want a seat, we better leave right now" because every sunday the curch is just packed even though we have 3 in our tiny town, you better leave earily for church unless you want to get a good seat.

I Go Back


This song defantly takes me back. The video brings back so many memories of me growing up. Right from the get go you see Kenny walkin and flashes of different memories that takes me back and one of those is a quick glance of placks on the wall that reminds me of my high school lobby with a bunch of distirct title placks and what not covering the walls. And then it shows Kenny standing against lockers and it reminds me off all those times we'd skip class and hangout in the locker area or my gym locker that I hold very sacred in my heart because growing up a guy has a few things that are a part of him and that was certanly one of mine. Next is when you hear whats probably a coach saying those infamous words everyone hears growing up "You don't realize it right now but in 15, 20 years from now your gonna say man those were the greatest times of my life" And now being a full year removed from high school I realize that I'm probably going to be sayin that in 15 years. Then the music kicks in with him standing on the middle of that "old gym floor" goin "Jack and Diane painted a picture of a life in my dreams, and suddenly the crazy world made more sense to me" I cant put into words the feeling that goes through my body when I listen to this song, its like a timepiece just plays over and over in my mind those good times I've had and will never forget.

Way down yonder on the chattahoochee!

Alan Jackson - chattahoochee


This song would have to be one of my favorites right now because it's where I picture myself in about 20 days when school gets out, just cruising on down the road with nothing to worry about except what I'm gonna do tonight. I believe this song summarizes what kind of person I am when it's summer; you know the type, slacker, care free, relaxed. This song really hits home to me and my friends back home because we always end up at the lake or down by the river outside my home town of 372 people, so when I hear the song go "Down by the river on a Friday night, a pyramid of cans in the pale moonlight, talking bout cars and dreaming bout women, never had a plan just living for the minute." It really takes me back to the summers spend with my best friends and the crazy nights we had we sure did learn "A lot about livin and a little bout love". I kind of have to laugh when I think about all those times, about all those conversations about the different girls my friends and I used to dwell on. Listening to this song will hopefully make these next 20 days go faster and hopefully the next 90 after that go slow, so I can lay a little rubber on that blacktop road, get a little crazy and hopefully not get caught then sit back relax and talk about cars and dream bout women way down yonder on the Chattahoochee.

"My better is better than your better"

“My better is better than your better” “My power hits harder” “You can’t stop me” “Your agility owes my agility 20 bucks” The commercial above uses your emotions or pathos rather to push a line of Nike training gear. This commercial is geared toward “the athlete” using slick sayings or lines that are somewhat like scare tactics that distract the audience from the evidence or relevant issues.


The commercial starts out with professional football player Ladainian Tomlinson saying “My better is better than your better” which sets the table for the slew of catchy sayings that are to follow. Throughout the course of the commercial various athletes, playing sports or in the middle of drills, reel off many different sayings. This plays to the emotions that are strongly tied to athletes, by showing famous athletes such as Hope Solo, Steve Nash, Matt Holliday and USC head football coach Pete Carroll in the middle of drills where athletes watching the commercials themselves have been. This mentally places the viewer in that place, then hearing catchy sayings related to cocky, brash attitude that an athlete has when overly confident with themselves. Then the commercial is all tied together at the end when NIKE SPARQ TRAINING flashes across the screen followed by the infamous Nike slogan “JUST DO IT” paired with their trademark Nike swoosh.


This is a display of Over-sentimentalization. It distracts the viewer away from the relevance of the issues of sport, forget about the training itself, all you see and hear are athletes shooting off at the mouth telling you that their “Fast is faster” but not displaying why. They draw the athlete in with the famous athletes and fun and catchy sayings, but don’t show why or how the product is good or why you should use it. Nike uses the famous athletes popularity to sell the product, because it makes a fan of a particular athlete think “Well if Steve Nash uses this stuff I should to” . Then at the same time the commercial is displaying false needs as well. This product has was not around when Steve Nash or Hope Solo were growing up so its not like they used these products to get where they are, but Nike associates their product with these great athletes so young aspiring athletes who’s idols are people like Matt Holliday think that they need the product to be like them when in reality those famous athletes didn’t just a certain product to mold themselves into an elite athlete but rather busted their butt day in and day out for years to get them where they are today. So therefore this creates confusion when you separate fact from fiction. And to finally sum up the exaggerated uses of pathos you have the scare tactic factor in all of this. Look at the commercial then look at it again, look into the eyes of all those athletes, what do you see? Will, determination, guts, and relentlessness. It makes you step back and think get with the program, because if you don’t you will be left in the dust. You have all these professional athletes promoting something so you tend to listen to them when they have something to say when it comes to athletics. So if Steve Nash tells me to eat my Wheaties ever morning I’ll defiantly look into it, this is scaring a person into using a product. Cause if you don’t your agility is gonna owe their agility 20 bucks.

Cause and effect is slightly used here if you make the connection. The connection is between the athlete using the product and the non-users of the product. Because if you don’t use the product the person who is using the product their has the upper hand, thus their “Power is more powerful than your power”. Cause and effect is also show between the famous highly accomplished athlete and their supposed use of the product. Because Steve Nash uses the product and he won 2 MVP's and Hope Solo uses the product and she is the goalie for team USA soccer. This ultimately results in the viewer associating Nike Sparq Training gear with great success.

The commercial also displays classification and division somewhat to show you how the product fits into the larger scheme of things. Once again they use famous athlete after famous athlete to link their product to those athletes and ultimately their success, so therefore they are helping the viewer conceptualize how the product fits into a larger idea or scheme, which in this case is professional sports.

This same idea in the commercial hits on example and illustration to show how the product can be used to impact someone’s life. The products are used for increasing sports performance so therefore when they once again associate famous athletes success with their product they are illustrating how their product can impact ones life.

The ad, among all other things, shows narration to sell their product. The clever yet brash lines that are said throughout the commercial make up the backbone of the commercial, it gives it an identity “My better is better than your better”. When you pair that with athletes, famous ones none the less, it gives it a trademark, something to be remembered by. It sticks out in the back of your mind, you want to tell someone that your “Quick, quickie von quick quick” on the basketball court. Thus the commercial has done its job.

"Just Do It"

This commercial is a somewhat inspirational Nike commercial with a hysterical spin on it. It shows famous athletes such as Lance Armstrong boxing, when in real life he was the greatest cyclist of all time. It also shows Andre Agassi, one of the greatest tennis players of all time playing baseball for the Boston Red Sox. This pattern continues throughout the commercial using famous athletes playing or participating in a sport that they aren’t known for. In each case the athlete is excelling at the activity at which they are doing, for instance when Randy Johnson, a great major league baseball player is shown bowling a 300 game or when Serena Williams, a professional tennis player, is shown playing pro beach volleyball and she spikes for the win of a match. There is an underlying theme besides the famous athletes competing in different sports, it is that they are all focused, zoned in, achieving greatness. At the end of the commercial it shows Randy Johnson receiving a trophy, Andre Agassi getting an ovation from the Red sox fans, and finally shows Lance Armstrong being lifted up by his supporters and carried away with his fist in the air after winning the boxing match with the Nike slogan "Just Do It" fading to the classic Nike swoosh. This is associating Nike with greatness and amazing physical achievement and most importantly it displays strength with Lance Armstrong’s fist in the air.