Editor’s Note: The USTA website is pleased to present freelance writer Bob Carson and his popular “Outside the Box” features. This monthly series is a menu of outlandish proposals presented with a wink — but the purpose behind them is serious. The views contained in this column are that of the author alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the United States Trotting Association.

Bob Carson

Grab your headphones. Click on this link. Crank it up loud. Close your eyes. Listen for 15 seconds.

The guitar riff is awesome. The music segues into an idea that would improve our sport with little effort or expense: walk-up songs.

Walk-up songs are 10 to 20 seconds of ear magic that leave memorable impressions. Players in other sports, where the rhythm of their games allows insertion, enjoy choosing their song. Fans enjoy hearing them, so why not use them. We certainly have the time.

Every horse should have a walk-up song. Preferably, the horse should arrive with a walk-up package, ready for use with the tap of a finger. Each horse should have 10 or 20 seconds on the screen all to themselves. This would be fun and good business.

Replay the YouTube audio with Chris Isaak sliding into Wicked Game.

Imagine a horse emerging from the draw gate. When the racehorse places hooves onto the track, his theme roars. The audience focus is on one of our stars. The energy level rises.

May I suggest, for business reasons, we dispense with the traditional quick announcement of “Horse number one is Fabulous J, owned by Trot and Spot stables, trained by Phil Smith, driven by Tom Thumb…horse number two is…”

This information is available to anyone who can read. Veteran gamblers probably have this information memorized. To a newbie, all four names are meaningless and the cursory reading is not helpful. Return to our 15 seconds where the horse wearing saddle pad one, let’s call him Use Time Wisely, is trotting in rhythm with the throbbing cords of Wicked Game. That pulsing beat is all we need to hear.

If we want to read as he trots to the music in the spotlight, a more enticing pair of promo panels should appear.

A traditional 10-second panel of information will appear first. Here viewers will find driver, trainer, odds, wins, ownership, etc. Then this panel dissolves.

Replacing the first panel will be a prepared promo that should be of interest to all. The package should be accessible, should be a branding source, and should be unique. The creative package should be designed to hook new viewers.

While Use Time Wisely struts into the spotlight, while the sound from Wicked Game plays, we read a more personal, distinctive paragraph of information.

“Use Time Wisely was born on a small farm in Berea, Ky. His owners, a trio of retired school teachers, bought him at a sale in Pennsylvania for the modest sum of $8,000. One of the owners, Mary Whalen, says, “We are sort of green in harness racing but we loved the name, we love our horse, the timing was right and we are having fun.”

The whole procedure, music, and two panels will take, maybe, 20 seconds. Then the music stops for another few seconds while the camera returns to the draw gate where the next racehorse steps forward with his promo packet of music, professional panel and personal panel. The ownership of the number two horse has chosen Chariots of Fire for their walk-up song.

A complete introduction of a nine-horse field would take less than five minutes. This still leaves plenty of precious time for toteboard information and commentary from announcers and experts before the race begins.

For many baseball fans, walk-up songs contribute significantly to the game. What song the players choose, and why they choose them, is available on websites and is of interest to fans. Fans often investigate on their phones while the batter walks up to plate, or the starting pitcher warms up, or while a reliever jogs in from the bullpen.

Music and sounds are tremendously important and capture attention. They delineate and individualize performers. There is no reason that they could not do the same for harness horses. Silence and a cursory reading of obvious data preceding a horse race are a sad waste of precious time.

Should these introductory mini-anthems for individual horses catch on, good things can happen.

Noah Syndergaard, a fine starting pitcher for the New York Mets, chose his walk-up song, Game of Thrones Theme Song. Fans enjoy the jolt of music before he plays and they also enjoy the stories behind the music. Syndergaard chose his walk-up music because his nickname in the clubhouse is Thor. Amazingly, he landed a cameo role in Game of Thrones.

The world is strange. Why not open doors? Who knows, maybe Chris Isaak could do a concert at The Meadowlands and perform Wicked Game some evening when Use Time Wisely races. Maybe he will buy a horse.

Why not ask owners for a song appropriate for their horse, ask them for a little offbeat trivia on their horse, and then share this on the screen. If having each horse having a theme song is a bit of a stretch, we could scale back and have our drivers choose their walk-up song.

Either way, walk-up songs would be a bit of a wake up for our game.