Do my eyes deceive me? What is the actual color of tennis balls?
Until this morning, the actual color of tennis balls was never really up for debate. Thanks to a YouGov poll, maybe I’ve been wrong my entire life. Let’s start by asking why we’re having polling done on this stuff. Who decides that we need to ask 9,000 people about tennis ball color? I imagine that they’re sitting in the YouGov conference room…
“Johnson. Give me the dumbest poll you can think of. Go!”
“Well, my friends and I got high the other day, and had a 2-hour long conversation about the color of tennis balls.”
“Brilliant! Find me 9,000 respondents.”
I understand that we’re all different and what might be seen as 1 color to someone isn’t the same to someone else. I’m not talking about The Dress color difference. A tennis ball’s color difference is just a slight variation to the viewer.
According to reports, the standard tennis ball is fluorescent yellow. This is incorrect. My brain tells me that a tennis ball is fluorescent green. When you find an old tennis ball it’s definitely a faded green color, not any sort of yellow. This is where people don’t see eye to eye. After the poll was conducted, they broke it all down into different categories: region, gender, age and race. 55% of respondents said tennis balls are yellow. 38% said they’re green and of course, 7% weren’t sure.
The odd thing about the percentage breakdown is the different responses depending on the age of the group. More than half of Gen-Z responders said a tennis ball is green. 85% of respondents 65 years and older said a tennis ball is yellow. It’s curious what causes the difference in responses. Are our eyes deceiving us as we age?
Has everything you’ve known changed because you learned that half the country thinks tennis balls are yellow? No, and the real question is: are tennis balls actually yellow-green or green-yellow? There is a difference go get your Crayola 96 crayon box and check!
25 Best Sports Anthems, Ranked
Sports Anthems: It’s amazing how they can move thousands and thousands of people all at once. Without a doubt, at least some of these songs on this list will be played at some point during MLB’s Opening Day.
Most sporting events without music nowadays just fall flat. An appropriate soundtrack is practically essential. Now, different sporting events often have different vibes. This can vary by the sport itself, the level of said sport or the region in which the sport is being played.
With this in mind, this list was crafted to have some surprises, yet also be overall universal. It’s trying to walk a very particular line of mass appeal and unexpectedness. Truth be told, this list of the best sports anthems walks that line rather brilliantly.

A general view during the 2023 Opening Day game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds at Citizens Bank Park on April 07, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
How This Best Sports Anthems List Was Determined
This author has been to her share of sporting events over the years. Regardless of the sport, there are just certain songs that are ubiquitous at sporting events. Whether it’s high school, minor leagues or the pros, these 25 songs deliver on at least one over more of these levels:
-Does the song help hype up a crowd?
-Does the song add a new, appropriate level of emotion to a sporting event?
-Does the song have a unique tie to a team/athlete, but can also transcend it?
-Does it have a universally recognizable hook?
-Has it been used in a sports movie, thus, increasing its reach to the general public?
Look, this list is far from scientific, but it sure is a lot of fun, which is the whole point of any list like this. Frankly, it was a lot of fun to put together. It’s even more fun to revisit when major sports events appear on the calendar, from Opening Day to the Super Bowl and everywhere in between.
From rock to hip hop to EDM to pop, here are the 25 best sports anthems, ranked.
Steve Vassalotti is co-host of “The Matt Cord Show with Steve Vassalotti” weekday mornings 6a-10a on 102.9 WMGK. He has been with the station since 2015. For WMGK he writes about inane nonsense that surrounds our daily lives, sports, food and other various topics. Steve writes about Philadelphia lifestyle content, the Philadelphia Eagles culture and trending topics.