Go, Fight, Win

Today, we celebrate the one-weekiversary of the brawl that will likely end up plunging the NBA to levels of fan indifference not seen since the 1970's. Pundits are still lining up to decry a disturbing new "culture of violence" in the modern sports world. Who's to blame? The fans, the players, the media? Are college sports partly at fault, what with the "fight songs" and all?

Okay, so maybe my old journalism professor had a point when he said I couldn't swing a lead to save my life. No matter. College fight songs date back to the 1880's, when Boston College unleashed "For Boston" on an unsuspecting public; just about every school with an athletic department has followed suit since. Many are iconic and memorable enough to run through one's mind at the very mention of a school's name - think Auburn and "War Eagle," or the University of Tennessee and "Rocky Top."

Retired Northern Illinois professor William E. Studwell, the recognized expert on the subject of fight songs, says that they're "a relatively cheap, easy way to promote spirit." Studwell put together a top 25 list of favorite collegiate battle hymns, and the higher positions are occupied by the usual suspects - the Notre Dame victory march, Michigan's "The Victors" and "On Wisconsin."

Most of these songs were specifically designed to be played in big football stadiums, and the grandeur doesn't always transition easily to the cozier confines of a basketball arena. Without the benefit of open-air acoustics, it's usually hard to figure out exactly what the faithful are singing. And with all due respect, most fight songs are all about flags unfurling, being loyal and true, and all that stuff about going onward to victory... when one attends a conference tournament or a round of the NCAA's, they usually just blend together into one big rah-fight-win blur.

But that's why we have the Internet! That's where you can find websites with the lyrics of just about every college fight song imaginable. And the ones that break from the standard mold tend to come from Mid-Major land. Check out the easy, some-people-call-me-the-Space-Cowboy vibe of SoCon member Appalachian State's song.

Hi-Hi-y-ike-us
Nobody like us,
We are the mountaineers, mountaineers, mountaineers,
Always a-winning,
Always a-grinning,
Always a-feeling fine
You bet, hey

I'm sure an alum could fill me in, but does "nobody like us" signify a stalwart and steadfast uniqueness, or is it included to indicate jealousy on the part of the opposition? I'd like to think it's the latter, because this tune makes the mountaineer lifestyle sound pretty damn cool. At least as much so as running off to become the "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" described in the song of WAC-ky Wyoming:

He always sings raggy music to his cattle as he swings
Back and forward in his saddle on a horse (pretty good horse!)
He's a syncopated gaiter
And you out to hear the meter to the roar of his repeater
How they run (yes run!)
When they hear him come, because the western folks all know,
He's a high fallutin', rootin' tootin'
Son of a gun from old Wyoming
Ragtime Cowboy, (talk about your cowboy), Ragtime Cowboy Joe.

Or how 'bout becoming a member of a jolly gang of Utah Utes?

I am a Utah Man, sir, and I live across the green,
Our gang it is the jolliest that you have ever seen.
Our coeds are the fairest and each one's a shining star,
Our yell, you'll hear it ringing through the mountains near and far!
Who am I, sir,
A Utah Man am I!
A Utah Man, sir,
Will be 'til I die.
Ki-yi!

The tragic inevitability of death haunts several battle hymns. Take Atlantic 10 school Rhode Island's, for example:

We're Rhode Island born
We're Rhode Island bred
And when we die
We'll be Rhode Island dead.
We're here to play
And we're here to win,
And when we play
We play like sin.

Fellow A-10ers Richmond also has a song that's similar in structure to "Boomer Sooner" - but a tad more bizarre: "I'm spider born and spider bred/And when I die I'll be spider dead." And Prairie View A&M of the SWAC has an upbeat tune with morbid undercurrents, one that begs the metaphysical question: does being dead mean that you can't be a mighty Panther anymore? Doesn't sound like too much fun.

We're the Mighty Panthers
We are Panthers until we die
We're Mighty Mighty Panthers
And I'll tell you that ain't no lie
We're the Marching Panthers
We are Panthers until we die
We're Mighty Marching Panthers,
And I'll tell you that ain't no lie
Panthers! Panthers! Panthers!

A few are call-outs to specific opponents. Take Harvard's "Ten Thousand Men Of Harvard," which disdainfully mentions Yale's "old Eli" by name. Lafayette uses "On Lafayette" as its standard fight song, but then there's the old 1898 version that both celebrates the oldest football rivalry on record and lays claim to the 12th letter of the alphabet.

Dig Lehigh's grave both wide and deep, wide and deep.
Put tombstones at her head and feet, head and feet,
And from each sweater take away the "L,"
Which Lafayette alone guards we.

Some songs, like the Southland Conference school Stephen F. Austin's adaptation of "Texas Fight," can probably be remembered and sung by supporters after repeated and massive doses of the strongest of alcoholic concoctions.

Jacks fight! Jacks fight!
And it's goodbye to all our foes.
Jacks fight! Jacks fight!
And it's forward here we go
Jacks fight! Jacks fight!
For it's Jacks that we love best!
Hail, Hail, the gang's all here,
And it's goodbye to all the rest!

Then there are songs that celebrate the basic joy that comes with college attendance, like that of Tennessee State. Memphis alums sing a similar tune at their games.

I'm so glad I go to TSU!
I'm so glad I go to TSU!
I'm so glad I go to TSU!
Singing Glory Hallelujah, I'm so glad!

And there are some that veer into the realm of abstract poetry. Folks in San Luis Obispo and elsewhere sing the praises of Cal Poly of the Big West with flying horses, cut rusties, and dogs' knees. [MP3]

Ride High, You Mustangs,
Kick the frost out, burn the breeze.
Ride High, You Mustangs,
Those bow-wows we'll knock to their knees
Hi, Ki, Yi!
Ride High, You Mustangs,
Chin the moon and do it right.
Ride High, and cut a rusty,
Fight! Fight! Fight!

But my favorite fight song of all time comes from little St. Olaf's College of Division III. It's got it all: a blistering call-out, wordplay that would make the Wu-Tang Clan envious, and an unmistakable in-your-face attitude that could only come from a bunch of ball-playing Norwegians. [AU]

We come from St. Olaf, we sure are the real stuff.
Our team is the cream of the colleges great.
We fight fast and furious, our team is injurious.
Tonight Carleton College will sure meet its fate.

Um Ya Ya, Um Ya Ya
Um Ya Ya, Um Ya Ya
Um Ya Ya, Um Ya Ya
Um Ya Ya Ya

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