Top 10 Greatest Sports Songs

10. Chariots of Fire-Vangelis
Sure, it's become a pop culture cliche, but every time you hear this song, don't you just feel like running on the beach in slow motion? At least for 15 seconds? The song debuted in the 1981 Best Picture Oscar-Winner of the same name, and has appeared in countless movie parodies ever since. Don't ask me why the video juxtaposes running with smoking cigarettes while playing the piano.

9. Going The Distance-Cake
The funky alt-rock Cake scored a hit in 1996 with this auto racing-themed song about "racing and pacing and plotting the course." The energy and the imagery of the lyrics conjures up some combination of Speed Racer and Kowalski from Vanishing Point. Try driving the speed limit with this song blaring in your car.

8. Glory Days-Bruce Springsteen
In 1985, Bruce Springsteen was on top of the world, and "Glory Days" was the fifth single released off the blockbuster album Born in the USA. The song is a introspective tune about a chance meeting between two men who reminisce about their glory days, including playing baseball. The song has come to be an all-inclusive sports song, but most people associate it with baseball because of the music video, directed by John Sayles.

7. Roundup-Sam Spence
It's hard to pick out just one Sam Spence tune to make the list. Spence's lively songs were featured on the syndicated Saturday clip show NFL Films. They were the soundtrack to the game of football shown in beautiful slow motion celluloid.

6. Sweet Georgia Brown-Brother Bones & His Shadows
"Sweet Georgia Brown" was a jazz standard written in 1925, covered by greats such as Ethel Waters and Django Reinhardt, but the 1949 version, with the prominent whistling by Brother Bones, was adopted as the unofficial Harlem Globetrotters theme song. When you hear this song, you immediately think of a Washington Generals player being victimized by a hot dog dunk.

5. In Zaire-Johnny Wakelin
Johnny Wakelin's biggest hit was a recounting of the 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. Wakelin's song is a worthy companion piece to the brilliant documentary about the bout, When We Were Kings.

4. We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions-Queen
A stadium favorite ever since the early 1980s, this pair of songs has been done to death in every venue and sporting event possible, with the exception of golf and synchronized billiards, so much so that you can no longer consider the song on its own merit. "We Are the Champions" is a great song... but only if your side is the one singing it.

3. Centerfield-John Fogerty
1985 was a big year for baseball songs. John Fogerty's biggest post-Creedence Clearwater Revival hit, the song was an instant classic amongst baseball fans, with imagery rivaling Ernest Thayer's "Casey At The Bat." The song has massive airplay in baseball stadiums after its release. On Opening Day 2009 at the new Yankee Stadium, Fogerty played the song on the field during the opening ceremonies. Where else? In centerfield.

2. Hurricane-Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is no stranger to social commentary and civil injustice. His controversial 1976 song "Hurricane" details the imprisonment of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, charged with a triple murder. The song suggests Carter's innocence, making the allegation that racism and questionable testimony led to Carter's false life imprisonment. The song and the case was adapted into a 1999 movie, The Hurricane, starring Denzel Washington as Rubin Carter. It's a sports song that transcends sports.

1. Theme From Rocky-Bill Conti
Admit it. Whenever you hear it, you feel like cracking a few raw eggs into a glass, chugging it, and then going for a jog until the every kid in Philadelphia is following you up some stairs. And then, if there's time, chasing a chicken, punching slabs of hanging meat, outrunning Soviets in snowmobiles, and questionably hugging your male friend on the beach. Go ahead. Rock the grey sweatsuit.

Honorable mentions:
Eye of the Tiger-Survivor
You're The Best-Joe Esposito
This Week in Baseball Opening (aka "Jet Set")-Mike Vickers
This Week in Baseball Closing (aka "Gathering Crowds")-Patrick Scott (aka Mike Vickers)
Jerry Was A Racecar Driver-Primus
Jesus Built My Hotrod-Ministry
Basketball Jones-Cheech & Chong