to the wire and dont forget, Sky Sports has it all live as

This story appears in ESPN The Magazines October 17 Great Debates Issue. Subscribe today!IF YOU WATCH sports, you cant escape Pitbull.There he was during last seasons NBA playoffs, his Bad Man carrying viewers to nearly every TNT commercial break. All June long, Pitbull occupied the Copa América after recording the official song of the tournament, Superstar, this coming after he recorded We Are One, the official song of the 2014 World Cup. And there he was at the Final Four, doing his signature rapid-fire fist-pumping while shouting the occasional word at the crowd during the Capital One JamFest.The world, as it is right now, is often overwhelming in the worst ways. Sports are an escape. And sometimes that escape is a bald rapper from Miami, sweating through a soft linen shirt while breathing heavily, pumping his fist and, along with it, pumping up the hopes of the crowd. It seems like an easy thing to show up sweaty, loud and overexcited to a roomful of eager fans. Yet if you or I did this, the room wouldnt shift for us, beyond perhaps an incredulous side-eye.Theres no debate: Pitbull is the new king of the stadium-shaking anthem despite being, for all intents and purposes, not particularly skilled as a musician. He is, in many ways, the musical equivalent of a bucket of popcorn: unsurprising and unexciting but somehow essential to an otherwise thrilling night. Because of his ability to latch on to any sporting event with 15,000 people and a budget, Pitbull comes off less as a fan of the games and more as an opportunist gaming the fans.What Pitbull lacks in musical skill, he makes up for with marketing savvy, in making a song so overwhelmingly infectious that it ends up being the sports anthem of the moment. But there is, perhaps, even greater skill in making the moment last. Most bands and artists can do this only once. Macklemores Cant Hold Us had its time in 2013, then it faded. If artists are lucky, like the White Stripes with Seven Nation Army, your sole anthem might have a life in arenas that spans decades. But Pitbull takes it further. He channels the energy of the experience, becoming the living embodiment of the moment before the moment. Hes transcendent: a performance artist who becomes the sports anthem himself.Despite his hypervisibility, Pitbull hasnt had a gold album in his past four outings, the closest being 2012s Global Warming, which peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard 200. In October, Pitbull is slated to release a new album, Climate Change. Its teeming with big-name guests: Drake, Meghan Trainor, Bruno Mars, Jennifer Lopez. Even with all of this, the buzz is still hushed. It seems, then, that Pitbull, at only 35, has made his bed. The anthem artist, not the album artist. We look to him when we need a reason to get pumped up and for little else.When the Cavs were down 3-1 to the Warriors in last seasons NBA Finals, it was hard to remember that LeBron James had a face other than the crying Jordan, endlessly affixed as his internet avatar. And then LeBron did what we knew he could do, because LeBron knew who he was: a player capable of leading a team to an NBA title.Pitbull is not LeBron James. One is a world-class athlete, and one is a somewhat failed rapper-turned-endless-party-starter. On top of their shared meme-ability, though, the lessons of LeBron and Pitbull are chapters of the same book. At his core, Pitbull knows who he is too. He takes the punches and the punchlines and hes still there, his comically large aviator sunglasses catching the stadium lights and shining.I dont know if Pitbull even likes sports. But in his own way, Pitbull is perfect for the world of sports. Hes everything we encourage our heroes to be. Thick-skinned, resilient, self-aware but not so self-aware that it becomes self-pitying. Despite enough of us throwing up our hands, exasperated, sighing, How did this guy get here again? Pitbull gets the last laugh. Your friends probably cant name more than two Pitbull songs, if any. But hes found a way in, playing his own brand of frantic, repetitive pop-rap to stadiums full of screaming fans. Are they his fans? Not entirely, but when the screams are that loud, does it matter?Emotions dont always simply surface from within us; sometimes someone has to carry us to them. Pitbull has it figured out. In his world, the quality of the music is a footnote to what the music can do. Its a place where people are already at the brink of excitement, just looking for someone to push them off the cliff.Like your friends, I could not sing a verse from a Pitbull song either. But Ive been in a stadium when the lights go down and a Pitbull song comes on, and I knew something good was coming, and I threw up my hands along with my neighbors.Pitbulls most notable ad lib is ?Dale! -- a Spanish word with multiple translations that all reach for the same sentiment: Lets?go ... Lets do this ... Go ahead! Its a word that, more than anything, gives permission to exhale and be free. We need more of that in sports. We need more of that everywhere.Jody Davis Jersey . The visitors took a deserved lead in the 16th minute with midfielder Yohan Cabaye curling the ball beyond Adrian from inside the penalty area. Nicholas Castellanos Cubs Jersey . Thousands of fans at Mosaic Stadium will be cozying up to each other in an effort to stay warm in chilly temperatures and block the Prairie wind that locals say can knock your socks off. https://www.cheapcubs.com/610t-shawon-dunston-jersey-cubs.html . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. Mark Grace Jersey . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to increase her lead to five strokes after the second round of the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. Bob Dernier Cubs Jersey . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second.Gary Cotterill reports from Madrid where the city is gearing up for a thrilling finale to la Liga season.Will Barcelona slip up?All fans of Real Madrid are certainly hoping so as the team needs to better Barcelonas result and finish the day as champions. A dramatic campaign has gone down to the wire and dont forget, Sky Sports has it all live as Real and Barcelona battle it out.It had been a three-horse race until last weekends shock loss for Atletico Madrid, setting up this mouth-watering weekend as Barca hunt down a a 24th La Liga crrown.dddddddddddd Theres no better man to be in Madrid to savour the build-up.Click on the video above to get a taste of whats going on..... Barca, a point ahead of Real in the standings, go to Granada at 4pm on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 3 HD with coverage starting at 3.30pm, while Real Madrid are at Deportivo, coverage starting at 3.55pm, on Sky Sports 4 HD.Also See:Can Barca hold off Real?WATCH: Revista Bitesize Paper Talk ' ' '