I have a confession to make. First of all, I am not gay. However, I do love college fight songs. One of my hobbies is listening to and memorizing the various fight songs and traditions throughout college football. I love the marching bands and the pageantry.
I have seen all of the supposedly great marching bands in action and I feel like I am qualified to comment on their greatness or badness. Here are some of my favorites:
Tennessee – The Pride’s pregame show cannot be beat. It is the greatest spectacle in college football. More impressive than any other. Dotting the “i”?? Big Fucking Deal. Nothing beats the Pride’s pregame. My only complaint is that the Pride is not loud enough in the stands or on the field.
Notre Dame – The exessive use of the xylaphones adds a certain charm to a very impressive unit. The only band that matches the Pride in terms of tradition. Love them or hate them, Notre Dame is steeped in tradition and I appreciate that.
LSU – The absolute best band “in the stands” if you ask me. When the LSU crowd is into the game, that band can crank it up immeasurably (see SEC Championship Game 2001). Very catchy tunes and great fan participation.
Florida – Horrible marching. High school-like quality. Likely stems from little football tradition. Decent band in the stands, I just fucking hate Florida. Their uniforms are trash.
Alabama – Yeah Alabama! is a terrific fight song, one of the best and most underated in college football. Alabama started almost every tradition that you hear throughout the SEC. Thank God Tennessee doesn’t copy anybody. Very good band, the fight song makes them great. Not impressed with crowd participation. BAMA fans are quiet. Probably stemming from their lack of chromosomes.
Ohio State – All brass. Very loud. However, I just don’t get the hubub. Dotting the “i” is lame yet it is made out to be this tremendous tradition by the Big 10 fucks. I saw them at the 1996 Citrus Bowl (Bill Duff STUFFS Eddie George at the goal line) and I thought they were ok. I will say that the Ohio State fans were very pleasant to be around. Good people.
UGA – Georgia has no original traditions other than Bad Bad Leroy Brown (snicker snicker). Their pregame is lame-o. Just an average band produced by a University that cannot produce anything original.
Auburn – Auburn fans absolutely took over Neyland Stadium in 2004. The loudest visiting fans I can ever remember. Their fight song is somewhat catchy if unspectacular. Decent.
Vandy – Average high school band.
South Carolina – I have an affection for the Cocks (I’m NOT gay). I love their little fight song where they shout “go cocks!”. The Space Oddesey 200whetever shit has to go. It is lame-o. Smoke machines should be unecessary if you have tradition.
Clemson – A lot is made of Tiger Rag but to me it is simply a solid song. Too much trombone (the loser of all brass instruments) for my taste. I wish the Cocks would start kicking their asses every year.
I too, not gay, like the bands. I like the preamble (if that’s what you call it) to Yeah Alabama (duh duh da da duh) and to LSU’s (dah duh duh du. ….). I was in Baton Rouge for a night game and when the band silently marched onto the field, then did that dah-duh-duh-duh-da stuff to each corner of the stadium, they went crazy. Hail to the Victors is a classic as well. And I always, even as a kid, loved the USC fight song – not that thing they play all the time. Texas Fight is another classic and gets good crowd participation. The A&M song they play between 3rd and 4th quarter is very entertaining (includes grabbing shoulders and swaying and the words talk about sawing off the horns of the Texas mascot). Boomer Sooner is repetitively irritating. UCLA and Cal share a fight song. Wisconsin’s is about beer drinking – who can complain about that. and finally, I love the Ole Miss original fight song. At a UT game in Ole Miss a few years ago, I got a little misty eyed when they played a haunting version of Dixie in pre-game, let by a very expressive/animated drummer of african-american persuasion.
Good call on the USC fight song Mike. Actually UCLA’s is catchy too. Right now I can’t remember Ole Miss’s fight song.
I remember after the 1999 UT-UGA game (we smoked them) the Pride played a very slow and moving version of the Tennessee Waltz. It was beautiful and I can’t understand why they don’t do it more often.
When you use words like “beautiful,” I question your sexual preference.
i question it when he says he wishes the cocks would kick our ass every year.
Ole Miss’s original fight song was Dixie. They have a new one now (last 5-10 years) because Dixie became very problematic. They still play it though both in pre-game and during the game from time to time. I remember in 2004 when they had returned an interception in the 4th quarter to go ahead, when they finished the “official” fight song, they went into Dixie and the crowd went bonkers.
The PRide plays the Tennessee Waltz after every home game but most people are out of the stadium by that time. I usually hear it because I travel from DAllas to the games and I usually hang around to relish (or wallow in) as much of the game experience as I can.
Not only are you gay…you are Liberace-gay.
I will again compare it to reading Cosmo while dropping a deuce
You know how I know you’re gay? You like marching bands.
Who gives a rat’s ass about geeks blowing into and banging on some instruments?
Real football fans don’t shell out coin to watch a bunch of fat ass geeks march and play the trumbone. They came to watch the game.
Now if you do pay to watch geeks play in the band, the screw the big schools. Go see Florida A& M, Southern University, Bethune-Cookman, Tennessee State, Grambling bands. They would play and dance circles around what you are calling bands.
how you can not even mention Texas A&M’s band is well.. i guess it’s not too offensive we ARE talking about bands here… but not only does Texas A&M have one of the most unique songs (who else calls their fight song a “war hymn”) and styles of marching (military), but when it comes down to it, our band really can kick the other band’s ass.
You know how I know you’re gay? You’re talking about bands dancing in circles.
One final band story. Friend (UM grad) took me to the UM/ND game in Ann Arbor 3 years ago. The ND band played on the field prior to the game and was booed so loudly you couldn’t hear them. I turned to my friend and said I’d never heard the visiting team band booed before. And we think down south we take our rivalries seriously. I’ve never heard a southerner boo the other teams band.
Mike, I boo OUR band. They annoy the living hell out of me. I enjoy some things they do (pregame, Salute to the Hill, The Battle, and Rocky Top when we score or after a huge play) but a lot of the stuff they do just pisses me off. Like playing our defensive stop song after we give up a 1 yard gain on 4th and inches, playing Journey, those games when they feel its necessary to play a song after every play.
Some of those people literally feel the game is about them playing music.
Who gives a crap about lose geeks who play in the band?
Who watches that crap? I watch football and could give a rats ass about the freaking band.
Texas A&M hardly ever gets the respect they deserve. Their atmosphere (band included) is one of the best in the country.
Too bad their football team sucks.
I’m waiting for one of you band fags to bring up your storu from abnd camp…like the time your group of flute players played each others flute and left the actual instrument in your bunk.
Anyone who talks about marching bands in public or on a sports blog is a fag.
“LSU – The absolute best band “in the stands” if you ask me. When the LSU crowd is into the game, that band can crank it up immeasurably (see SEC Championship Game 2001). Very catchy tunes and great fan participation.”
Werd, d00d. Posting LSU’s band third…then saying they have the best “In Stand” presence definitely gets you props on our website. You have officially been CFB Report linkified.
How do find fight song music and words??? I can find the words or the music but not together. Do you have any idea how I can find Ole Miss’s fight song music and words together????