College Sports

Normally I try to come up with something informative, or something to get your juices flowing or give you something to think about.

Not today.I was surfing through the NCAA’s fan web site, NCAA.com, and came upon a little poll they are running… “Which is the Best College Fight Song.”They have narrowed it down to five candidates:

• Notre Dame “Victory March”
• Michigan “The Victors”
• Tennessee “Rocky Top”
• Southern Cal “Fight On for Old SC”
• Other

Now, obviously the wise folks at the NCAA knew that many would vote for their own fight song, which is why the “other” category was included, and when I last checked it was leading the pack with 37% of the votes. Next was Notre Dame with 18.5%, followed by Tennessee (18.2%), Michigan (17.9%), and bringing up the rear, USC (8.3%). A total of 1483 votes had been cast at 12:25 a.m.

So I got to thinking about college fight songs. I grew up loving them. My grandparents had a copy of the Georgia Tech fight song on one of those old, old one sided records from the 1930’s, and I used to enjoy listening to it as a kid… heck, you could use a few bad words and nobody cared!

I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer,

A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer,

Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear,

I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.

Oh, if I had a daughter, sir, I’d dress her in White and Gold,

And put her on the campus, to cheer the brave and bold.

But if I had a son, sir, I’ll tell you what he’d do.

He would yell, “To Hell with Georgia,” like his daddy used to do.

Oh, I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three thousand pounds,

A college bell to put it in and a clapper to stir it around.

I’d drink to all good fellows who come from far and near.

I’m a ramblin’, gamblin’, hell of an engineer.

Heady words for a kid. My dad and I also liked to play “Name That Tune” using fight song words… I know, sounds crazy, but I can sing the fight songs from all over the nation.

And you would be surprised at the album I used to learn the words… “The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Sings College Fight Songs.” I kid you not. Still have it, in fact.

Each of the four listed fight songs has it’s own flair… Notre Dame’s truly is a march, and when you hear it you think of the Irish. Michigan’s fight song is more “in your face”, with it’s raised hands commanding “Hail.” USC’s is probably a little less known to most sports fans (you know, East Coast bias!), but it is regal and sounds like a true Trojan war march (kind of reminds me of the music from “Cleopatra”). And Tennessee’s fight song, Rocky Top, is straight from the hills fun, singing about moonshine and home (I should point out here that Rocky Top is not the official fight song of UT, a song called “Down the Field” has that honor, and is played after every touchdown - but Rocky Top has become Tennessee’s identifier over the last 30 years, along with the checkerboard endzone).

So head on over to NCAA.com and vote for your favorite, or fire off a comment and let me know what your favorite is. Personally, I don’t think there is such a thing as a “bad” fight song.

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