Schools taking the ‘fight’ out of team spirit
“Fight Golden Knights;
Fight for the Green and the Gold;
Fight to win this game.”
Those are the first three lines of my high school’s fight song. The nickname since changed to Rebels, but otherwise, the lyrics stayed the same.
I’m afraid to ask if it’s still called a fight song.
In a recent conversation with my grandson, he mentioned his middle school’s pride song.
That’s right. No more fight song. Fight is a violent word. It may give the kiddies a mistaken impression fighting is OK.
I didn’t take time to call all schools in my area, so forgive me if I assume this is a trend that spread and will continue to spread beyond my grandson’s middle school.
I don’t know if it’s OK to have a pride song that includes the word “fight” but, I have a feeling it won’t be OK for much longer.
Last April, the student government at the University of Utah decided the school’s fight song, “Utah Man” was sexist, racist and politically incorrect.
The words “fan” and “men” were substituted for “man” and “men.” The poor, unsuspecting fans who had shown up for Utah football games for 100 years, no longer had to fear being offended by the song.
I did some checking to see how many college “pride songs” may be in need of some major wussification before they offend the sensibilities of our future leaders.
I was shocked and distressed to find most college fight songs include the word fight:
Pitt’s pride song might take some pretty creative editing. Guess what the first word in the song is. Yep.
“Fight on for dear old Pittsburgh.”
The chorus is :
“Da da da da da-da, Pitt, fight! Da da da da da-da, Pitt, fight.”
No wonder there’s so much violence at college football games.
And somebody better do something about the Naval Academy’s pride song. It’s treasonous.
“Stand Navy down the field,
And SINK the Army, SINK the grey!”
Is our Commander in Chief aware of this?
The Air Force Academy pride song is not only violent and pro-war, it’s sexist.
It hardly follows the lead of the University of Utah, whose Vice President of Student affairs, Barbara Snyder, said, “We didn’t want the fight song to be something that divided people. We wanted it to be something that pulled people together.”
“Off we go into the wild blue yonder,
Climbing high into the sun.
Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,
At ’em boys, give ‘er the gun!”
And those Aggies at Texas A&M have a lot of work to do. Their pride song is called “The Aggie War Hymn.”
War? What about the children?
And the Aggies are so mean they threaten their biggest rival in the middle of the song:
“Good-bye to Texas University;
So long to the Orange and the White;
Good luck to the dear, old Texas Aggies;
They are the boys that show the real, old fight’
‘The eyes of Texas are upon you …’
That is the song they sing so well.
So good-bye to Texas University;
We’re going to beat you all to (fill in the blank).”
Now, that’s really mean. Can’t we all get along?
• Since the Penguins made the trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday night to acquire forward Daniel Winnik, there seems to be quite a bit of angst about the logjam created among the bottom six forwards.
Who gets to play and who sits?
You know what that’s called? Depth. And isn’t depth what the Penguins were looking for since last May?
• While the Pirates are in Spring Training trying to decide which prospects may or may not be ready for the big leagues, the Boston Red Sox spent $100 million signing amateur, international free agents. More MLB stupidity staring the Pirates in the face.
• The Penguins’ win over the Capitals in Washington Wednesday night had a playoff feel to it, and the Penguins played a really good road, quasi-playoff game. Marc-Andre Fleury only faced 21 shots. Keep reminding yourself that, last May, people were saying it was no longer about the regular season. It’s about putting together a team that can play good playoff hockey. The Penguins have about six weeks to work on that.
• Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, by all accounts, made a good impression at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. Why wouldn’t he? There are millions of dollars at stake. I wouldn’t guarantee him $20,000 of my money, much less $20 million. He’s ridiculously talented and may end up being a Hall of Fame quarterback, but his immaturity and amazing ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time makes him a huge risk. I’d trade the pick for a bundle of draft picks.
• Winston got my vote for the Eddie Haskell award at this year’s combine.
John Steigerwald writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.