Between the Headset

There's something about a good fight song, whether in college or the pros, that really fires me up at a sporting event. Maybe it's the music, maybe it's the pomp and circumstance with which it provides, or perhaps it's the way a good fight song can pump up a crowd.

With the start of college football season in less than a month, I thought I would post some of the best and worst fight songs out there, pro and college, with a quick thought or two accompanying each one.

Let's start with the best of the best. In college, one of the most popular fight songs has to be the University of Michigan's "Hail to the Victors." It's simple and has a catchy melody and a cool name. But if you are an opposing fan watching a game, hearing the song for the 10,000th time might make you want to stab out your ear drums. Here's a recorded version of the song:



The USC Trojans are another team with a great fight song, though it's unnecessary for them to play it after EVERY SINGLE positive USC play. First downs, sacks, holding penalties on the other team ... it's overdone. But still, the imperial nature of the song is very fitting of a team named Trojans.



Pro football teams have fight songs, too, and some are quite good. The Baltimore Ravens and Washington Redskins, among others, have legitimate, full-scale marching bands. The Ravens' fight song, while recognizable, is not sung by the entire stadium and fan base. The Chicago Bears, on the other hand, have a catchy fight song that is known by all Bears fans. Here's a video of random Chicagoans singing the song. Love the grouchy, off-key old man in the middle of the video.



And, of course, there's my biased, personal favorite: Go U Northwestern. The only problem with this fight song is that many fans don't know the words, and the band is often too small to have the song reverberate throughout Ryan Field or Welsh-Ryan Arena. Still, it will always hold a place in my purple heart.



Of course, not all fight songs were created equal, and many are either boring, annoying or downright awful.

Minnesota starts us off on the bad list. Its fight song is boring and non-descript, and the spelling of "Minnesota" at the end is incredibly unnecessary. I'm not a big fan of spelling things during chants, in general, but Minnesota is a long word that is not even catchy to spell. Don't believe me? See for yourself:



This next fight song will probably earn me a lot of flak for putting it on the bad list, but the Philadelphia Eagles' fight song is incredibly annoying. To me, the melody of the song is nothing special, but my real problem is, again, the spelling of "Eagles" at the end of the song. Particularly because this has become the calling of Eagles fans, even at non-Eagles events. I was at a concert at Philly a few years ago, and heard an E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles chant. It made we want to punch somebody.



But the worst fight song I've heard so far is the recently updated Miami Dolphins fight song (via Deadspin). Someone decided it would be a good idea to auto-tune the song, T-Pain style. The result: two minutes of embarrassing trash. It sounds like a children's song. If I were an opponent, and I heard this song playing to try to fire up the crowd/team, I would first hope T-Pain never wrote another song again, and then feel reassured that the Dolphins had no chance of beating me. Seriously, who thought this would be a good idea?



Of course, most team's fan bases will defend their own fight song, so I'm sure I ruffled a few feathers.

What are your favorite and least favorite pro and college fight songs? I'm open to checking out some new ones.