Football Fight Song

"Fight fiercely, Harvard

fight, fight, fight!

Impress them with our prowess, do!"

- -- Tom Lehrer, "Fight Fiercely, Harvard"

Every great football team needs a hard-hitting fight song. Every high school has one, every college has one, and some NFL teams have 'em. It's a great and easy way to support the team and remind the crowd which team just got the touchdown. This isn't just limited to football; most competitive sports (usually ball games) will have this played with each point scored.

There are two types of songs. The most common one heard is the actual Fight Song, which is usually short, sweet, and to the point. The lyrics are memorable, very upbeat, and is normally played as loud as possible. This is typically the song that is played for every touchdown. The other version of this is the School Song. Compared to it's brother, this is played before and after the game in order to show off the overall school spirit to the other team. The lyrics aren't quite as memorable, but much stronger in essence. The key to a good school song is having the tune be both happy and sad; if the game is won, it is meant to let the players take a deep breath and look over their success. If the game was lost, it's a more reassuring tone, reminding that one loss isn't the end of the world, and that the experiences should teach them how to better themselves, not just learn how to win.

Despite how epic some of these songs are, the people who play these songs will still be bullied Monday morning.

See also Alma Mater Song.

Anime and Manga

 * Averted in Eyeshield 21 where the football teams in question have instead a Badass Creed.

Film

 * "Fight on Dear Old Muncie!" in The Hudsucker Proxy.

Theatre

 * "Buckle Down, Winsocki" from Best Foot Forward.
 * The Rydell fight song from Grease.
 * "Grand Old Ivy" from How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.
 * "Look Out" from Too Many Girls.
 * "The Wildcats" from Allegro.
 * Parodied in High Button Shoes with "Nobody Ever Died For Dear Old Rutgers."
 * "Tait Song" from Good News.

Live Action Television

 * According to Muppets Tonight, Gonzo went to college, and the college had a fight song. It mainly consisted of reciting the college's full (and absurdly long) name.
 * The theme song of Coach was the instrumental version of the fight song of the team run by the titular coaches, the Screaming Eagles. The song itself was only sung in full when the team celebrated a win (Which happened so infrequently that nobody - not even the coaches - remembers more than the first two lines).

Web Comics

 * Girl Genius has the Transylvania Polygnostic University Fight Song, semi-officially filked by Tom Smith.

Web Original
"Fighting, and sometimes striving,
 * Homestar Runner has the Crazy Go Nuts University fight song:

Wondering what the Dumple is.

Excellence, and what is valor?

And The Cheat will hit stuff with a golf club!

C! G! N! U!"

Other

 * As quoted above, parodied by Tom Lehrer with the Lighter and Softer "Fight Fiercely, Harvard!" -- perhaps too affectionately, as it was adopted by Harvard in Real Life.
 * Speaking of Harvard and parodies, Leonard Bernstein rewrote the final chorus of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex to what he thought it sounded like, and had the Harvard Glee Club record it.
 * In his Yale days, Cole Porter wrote "Bulldog" and "Bingo Eli Yale" for his alma mater.
 * With the power of rock, a high school team went from last place to winners all thanks to Kiss songs.
 * Perhaps the best known Real Life example from the NFL is the Philadelphia Eagles' fight song, "Fly, Eagles, Fly."
 * And if that one isn't, the Washington Redskins' fight song, "Hail to the Redskins," almost certainly is.
 * And both are sometimes overshadowed by "Bear Down, Chicago Bears".
 * When they were still the NFL's butt of the joke, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided they needed one. "Hey, hey Tampa Bay" was born...and instantly reviled by everyone.
 * "For Boston," the fight song for Boston College, was covered by the Dropkick Murphys on one of their albums. They've been known to open a good portion of their shows with it.
 * "Shippin' Up To Boston" is commonly used this way at other Boston sporting events.
 * In soccer, teams have full-fledged anthems. And the supporters make fight songs too -- sometimes "attack songs" about the team's archrival (which can be sung before any game, without said rival playing) or a rival player.
 * New Zealand's national team doesn't just have a fight song, they have a the Ka'Mate Haka, a Maori war dance. Seeing a team perform this before they meet you on the field has to be a bit demoralizing....
 * Every Australian Rules Football team, from the AFL to local under-8s teams, has a theme song.
 * Anchors Aweigh (Navy), Wild Blue Yonder (Air Force) and The Army Goes Rolling Along (Army) were originally written as fight songs for their respective military academies but now have become the official songs of their respective service branches.