Wednesday morning, I woke up with song lyrics rolling through my head. I don’t usually wake up with song lyrics rolling through my head, so I paid these extra attention. The lyrics were basically a guy repeating this is why I’m hot over and over. The name of the song is “This Is Why I’m Hot”. It was written and performed by a rapper named Mims, or at least it was performed by a rapper named Mims. I don’t know why I woke up with that song in my head since it’s years old and no longer popular and I never liked it and it’s terrible.
Reflecting On The Worst At-Bat Song In Baseball History
There have been a lot of really bad at-bat songs over the years. One of Alex Rodriguez’s old at bat songs was probably the worst.
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I was thinking about how weird it was while I was making coffee. Then I remembered that Alex Rodriguez used "This Is Why I'm Hot" as his at-bat song for parts of 2007 and 2008. That's not what got the song stuck in my head, since I didn't go to sleep Tuesday watching old footage of Alex Rodriguez at-bats. But I remembered that, and then I thought, "That has to be the worst at-bat song of all time."
I don’t know if it is the worst at-bat song of all time. I’m not conducting a study. It is impossible to examine this with scientific rigor. I don’t have an all-time list of at-bat songs, I don’t have an objective song-rating system, and I don’t have several months of otherwise uninterrupted free time. But it’s really hard for me to imagine an at-bat song worse than this.
Note that I'm excluding jokes and one-offs. I remember one time, I think it was Jay Buhner going to bat, and the PA system started playing the theme from Bonanza, and a bunch of Mariners players emerged from the dugout in big hats. That was a joke. Also the theme from Bonanza is fantastic.
I also remember reading that a lot of at-bats songs aren’t actually selected by the players. Most of them are, but many are not. Sometimes the player will just suggest an artist, or a genre. Sometimes the player won’t suggest anything at all.
Alex Rodriguez walked up to “This Is Why I’m Hot” by Mims. He walked up to “This Is Why I’m Hot” by Mims hundreds of times on purpose. He walked up to the chorus of the song.
Courtesy of eLyrics.net, here is the chorus of the song:
This is why I’m hot [2x]
This is why [2x] Uh
This is why I’m hot (Uh)
This is why I’m hot [2x] Whoo
This is why [2x]
This is why I’m hot
There are actual words. Outside of the chorus, Mims attempts to support his thesis with evidence and anecdotes. Alex Rodriguez didn’t care. One was left with unanswered questions.
How did Alex Rodriguez go about choosing this song? His explanation might be even more unsatisfying than the song itself. From Jack Curry:
“I’m the most illiterate music person,” Rodriguez said. “Someone told me it was the hottest song.”
Alex Rodriguez wanted an at-bat song. He didn’t choose an at-bat song that he likes, or that gets his gears turning. He asked somebody else for the name of a song that’s really popular. “This Is Why I’m Hot” was really popular for a time. Sean Paul was really popular, too. Everything about people is the worst.
That explanation is unsatisfying yet insightful. Alex Rodriguez wanted an at-bat song that people would like, and he didn’t know what to do on his own. Alex Rodriguez has always come off as desperately wanting to be liked, but never knowing how. He’s always tried so hard to have a certain image that his actual image has been almost the complete opposite.
The song is so terrible and so fitting. It’s a terrible song on its own, but when combined with Alex Rodriguez, the sum exceeds the parts. Alex Rodriguez has wanted to be cool, calm, confident, popular. The song tries to sell him as such. When you wait for more, there’s nothing there. The song cuts off. There’s no reason given to believe Mims. And there’s no reason given to believe Rodriguez. Why is Alex Rodriguez hot? This is why. Why is why? Yeah.
That’s an attempt to explore this on a deeper level. We don’t have to. We can stay on the surface. On the surface, “This Is Why I’m Hot” is a really bad song, and the chorus makes for really bad at-bat music. I’ve looked at this on the surface. I’ve looked at this in depth. I’m pretty sure that Alex Rodriguez selecting “This Is Why I’m Hot” is the worst at-bat song selection of all time.
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