Since we can't attend sports games right now, TV channels have been re-airing classics. For example, NBC rebroadcast the 2015 Kentucky Derby (the one where American Pharoah took the Triple Crown) this past Saturday, which was the originally scheduled date for the 2020 derby — now running in September.
And Fox Sports Ohio just re-aired the 1990 World Series, which the Cincinnati Reds won in a four-game sweep against the Oakland A's. That 1990 season, the Reds went wire-to-wire, but were the underdogs in the World Series.
If you can recall the roster from that year, it featured big names like Barry Larkin, Chris Sabo and Eric Davis, plus "the Nasty Boys," aka their pitching core: Norm Charlton, Rob Dibble and Randy Myers.
Well, the Reds' social media got in on the 1990s nostalgia by posting a link to this weird music video: "Red Hot," with the caption "B-Lark and the Homeboys have a little something to say."
And do they ever.
The concept is a riff off of the "Super Bowl Shuffle," where the Reds rap about how great they are, dropping in verses about staying in school, avoiding drugs and Spuds MacKenzie?
Several members of the team, including "B-Lark," appear to be somewhat proficient at reciting their lines, while the Nasty Boys mumble through, accompanied by a Janet Jackson "Nasty Boys" sample.
Spuds MacKenzie, a bull terrier used in 1980s Bud Light campaigns, actually makes several appearances in the song.
Here is Spuds if you don't remember him:
This is apparently because Pete Rose nicknamed Chris Sabo Spuds MacKenzie because he thought the ball player looked like the dog...
Other weird nuggets? A "Can't touch this" lyric drop and a "Go Sabo, Go Sabo, Go" breakdown (featuring Sabo sans rec specs and without a tail or snout).
There's also this repeated verse: "Say no to drugs, no to crack / Just hit the books and the ball with the bat / And you can win the World Series of life." A good lesson.
There is also an unhealthy amount of turtlenecks being worn by dorky white dudes in this video, and many awkward high fives.
It's a real gem.
The timewarp is a comforting reminder that an era existed when sports teams thought making cocky Rap "songs" and music videos was cool — a trend also shared by celebrities of the '80s and '90s who enjoyed gathering in one room to sing into microphones to let people know "We Are the World." (Unfortunately that celebrity vocal collaboration continues via songs like "Imagine.")
If you want a deeper dive, redreporter.com dissected the art piece in 2016.
