For not less than seven years, YES Community analyst Jack Curry has opened each pregame present with a music title that encapsulates the state of the Yankees.
On Aug. 1, Curry selected Sting’s “Brand New Day” in reference to the Yankees’ revamped roster after a busy commerce deadline.
5 days later, Curry went with Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” to mirror the Yankees’ want for self-evaluation following a fifth consecutive loss.
The choices function a delicate approach for Curry to infuse his lifelong love of music along with his day by day baseball protection.
However that marriage of passions dates again even additional for Curry, who would join with gamers over music when he was a Yankees beat reporter and nationwide baseball author for The New York Occasions.
“Bernie Williams was a great player to cover because he was a musician and a center fielder. Paul O’Neill was a drummer. David Cone, fanatical music fan, so I had a lot of conversations with him. I even remember talking to [Derek] Jeter one day about Jay-Z by his locker.”
That relationship constructing helped Curry turn into one of many foremost consultants on the Yankees throughout his tenure at The Occasions from 1987-2009, and he’s remained as plugged-in as anybody since becoming a member of YES in 2010.
His present-day nods to music signify solely a small portion of his protection, however they’ve resonated with Yankees followers nonetheless.
Social media customers incessantly have interaction with Curry when he tweets a music suggestion proper earlier than the YES pregame present. If the music is 4 minutes lengthy, he’ll submit the suggestion 4 minutes earlier than the present begins, giving viewers “just enough time to listen.”
He’ll equally share “get-me-home” songs when he goes for a run, with “God Only Knows” by the Seashore Boys; “Amber” by 311; and “Rain in the Summertime” by The Alarm among the many latest examples.
And Curry estimates he’s used round 1,000 music titles for his opening feedback on the YES pregame reveals over time.
“I obviously go into the show thinking about the baseball perspective. ‘The Yankees have played well recently, but they want to be playing better than this.’ I’ll have my thoughts ready, and then after that I’ll come up with the song title,” stated Curry, a nine-time Emmy winner.
“I don’t go into a game saying, ‘OK, here’s my song title. What’s my baseball viewpoint?’ I have the viewpoint first.”
Curry estimates he’s used round 1,000 music titles for his opening feedback on the YES pregame reveals over time. (Courtesy of Jack Curry)
Curry’s love of music began throughout his New Jersey childhood, with a father who sang and performed guitar and an older brother, Rob, whom he describes as a “music savant.” Curry’s dad adored Johnny Money, whereas his sibling launched him to bands comparable to Devo and Violent Femmes.
Curry’s most memorable interview at The Ram was not an athlete, however moderately British punk rocker Billy Idol, whom he spoke with forward of a live performance on the college’s Rose Hill campus within the Bronx in 1983. Curry managed to mission the interview over a speaker so others in his dorm room may hear.
“Billy Idol was as cool as you could possibly imagine,” Curry recalled. “He didn’t rush me off the phone. I’m sure he was doing a tour of who knows how many concerts, but he was willing to stay on the phone for an hour with a college kid who was just smitten with that style of music.”
YES Community analyst Jack Curry. (E.H. Wallop / YES Community)
Curry lists Money, Bob Marley and Joe Strummer of The Conflict because the late artists he needs he may have interviewed, and he names Bruce Springsteen as his dream musician to talk with.
Nonetheless, sports activities journalism was all the time Curry’s aim, and it’s labored out for him.
Along with his many years with The Occasions and YES, Curry authored or co-authored 4 New York Occasions best-sellers, together with “The 1998 Yankees” and books he co-wrote with Cone, O’Neill and Jeter.
“I definitely had [music journalism] in the back of my mind, but honestly, it would have always been a secondary gig, a part-time gig,” Curry stated. “I knew I wanted to be a sports journalist. The music was more of a hobby and more of a love, and that’s what it has stayed with until this day.”
