Joel Zumaya, change your entrance music!

Ok, a little background on this. For years, Tiger flamethrower reliever Joel Zumaya has used Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" (spellcheck does not like this though it is the correct spelling)as his entrance music. Now, Joel seems to have a kind of a rock & roll lifestyle which can be confirmed by simply browsing pictures on the internet and this is fine with me. I appreciate some personality with my baseball.

Now back to the entrance music. I like Jimi Hendrix and all but "Voodoo Chile" has a bluesy opening which I really don't think matches Zumaya's persona and I never thought it fit him very well. After a while, the song does open up into some 60's style Hendrix power chords but I just don't picture Zumaya as a 60's guy and I always felt kind of a disconnect when he entered that game to that type of music. No big deal but in my humble opinion, it could be improved upon.

I was at Comerica Park a few weeks ago and Zumaya was called into the game. I expected to hear "Voodoo Chile" of course but instead I heard this crunching, throbbing heavy metal song and I thought. "Oh yeah! This is great! This captures Joel perfectly!" I thought it was a Metallica song I had never heard before but I was wrong as it is "Raining Blood" by metal band, Slayer*.

Now I like Comerica Park and all but it can be kind of stuffy and I thought that this song in a way brought a little of the casual and lively feel of a minor league ballpark to the Tigers home. Things were good. (Ominous music in background)

Imagine my dismay when I was reading the Booth Newspapers sports section the other day and saw the following: "Tigers' Joel Zumaya brings Jimi Hendrix back".

According to Joel, "My wife (Rachel) convinced me to bring it back." Apparently he "had people tell me that when they played it (the Slayer song) as I ran out, they didn't know whether to go to a mosh pit or what".

GIVE ME A BREAK!

Since when is Joel Zumaya a "my wife said" kind of guy anyway?

Ok. I know that I am in the distinct minority on this, but we need "Raining Blood" back; like now! If necessary, I will put together a petition and get the 2 or 3 people that agree with me to sign it so that we can present it to Joel and have him bring the song back.

Joel, if you are listening: Let your wild side out! You will feel better if you do. I promise. Get Slayer back!

*Ok. I know what you are thinking. Comerica Park is a family-oriented environment and I bet you are questioning whether "Raining Blood" is an appropriate song considering that there are many impressionable young children at the game. Fair point. In response, I can say that I am usually at the park with my children as well so I share the concern. That said, when listening to "Raining Blood" over the loudspeaker, I could not make out the lyrics at all as they were overwhelmed by the pulsating metal rhythms and beat. Further, even if you could hear the "Raining Blood" lyrics, I personally would still not object to my kids hearing it. Frankly, I think that my kids would probably know that any situation where it is literally "raining blood" would be very unlikely and kind of fanciful so I do not think that they would be negatively affected by this. That said, my parenting style probably leans to the "permissive" side and I would respect others who may not want their kids to hear this PG 13 type music at the ballpark.