The Motivating Factor

Song - The Motivating Factor

Artist(s) - Greg Wardson

Released - 1984

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Aircraft ACL001 (Jet Stream)
Featured Highlight - Rams @ Eagles, 1988

It's probably good this one wasn't used much, either.  "The Motivating Factor" isn't a bad song on its own, but it's too filled with solo/bridge segments to really work as a sports highlight track.  It's contained on the first(?) album from the relatively obscure Aircraft Music Library.  The song's composer, Greg Wardson, is literally credited for nothing else on Discogs besides a few songs on this album.  There is (was?) a professor named Greg Wardson at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but I can't be sure he's the same guy.  Anyway, special thanks to GodzFire for getting this track identified.

There were a whopping two highlights to choose from for The Motivating Factor, and only one of those exclusively used that song.  Ironically, the video that used a second song was the best choice.  The Rams/Eagles highlight from Week 10 of 1988 was unusually long (about 3:30), but—compared to the other option—it had better video quality and better audio balancing.  It also showcased a more interesting and more important game, and it played through The Motivating Factor in its entirety before switching to the Fast Man underscore for the final minute.