I was looking for the reference to the "I Believe" chant in a previous thread, where someone was wondering if US fans had originated or not. It was determined that it was originally in the college ranks. The ShinGuardian has an article describing how the chant originated...... "It was the brainchild of a Naval Academy Prep School student ...tasked with inventing a cheer for his 50-member platoon in fall 1998,Jay Rodriguez conceived of the now-famous "I believe that we will win" chant and taught it to his peers. Classmates say it was such an instant hit that members of other platoons joined in the rest of the school year whenever Rodriguez led the chant at Navy Prep basketball and football games." http://theshinguardian.com/2014/06/04/evolution-the-american-soccer-snob-cometh/
yeh first time I heard it was San Diego State basketball games in the mid to late 2000's. Assumed it was around college basketball before that though.
First time I heard it was a San Diego State basketball game. Some members in The Show are also American Outlaws I believe.
Du'op! Too long of a day and too many windows open. Its from Yahoo, not the Shinguardian http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/socce...rendiest-chant-in-sports-began-040228934.html
roommates and i went to sdsu so we heard this mid-2000's, but never realized it was a new thing. appreciated the sdsu shout-out
Based on the fact that it was a pro-US chant and everyone on the planet could repeatedly hear it on TV during the Ghana game, I disagree And I had no idea it started at the Naval Academy. That's fxcking awesome.
If anything we should like the chant for the sole reason that it was started in the USA, at the Navy to boot. One of the complaints, either from our own fans or Eurosnobs, is that we can't come up with anything original and just rehash what we hear in European stadiums. The creative stuff blossoms out of our own college games. AO needs to start recruiting chants from within instead of importing those gosh darned foreign chants. You never know what you'll find. I was at NIU in the 'verbal abuse' section at b-ball games in the 80s. One of my friends was the 'leader' and was called into the AD office and told to not scream "Bullsheet" next game because it was going to be on the Chicago sportschannel (yeah, big time!), so we sarcastically chanted "We beg to differ" instead.
I think one reason why Americans are not good at chanting is because of what Bill Simmons calls the "jumbotron era". An era where every break in action is filled by either rock music or some video on the jumbotron. This is what happens at NHL and NBA games. They even play music during the NBA game. There is no opportunity for chanting. Same goes for baseball and football. The only place other than MLS where I've seen chanting is college basketball. Why? Most college basketball arenas don't have jumbotrons. And I think thats why some creativity blossoms out of that, like you said. I remember going to Dodger stadium in the 80's and being in the right field bleachers. There were chants all the time directed at the opposing teams right fielder. Pretty clever ones too. But if you go to Dodger stadium now every break in action is filled with either rock/rap music, a commercial for an upcoming movie on the jumbotron, or whatever else they can distract the fans with. They even play rock music between every batter. The fans even need to be told when to cheer by the jumbotron.
I love it. Creates the right atmosphere and its more energetic than English-style singing. If I wanted boring singing on Sunday, I'd go to church.
My problem with it is that its too literal. "I believe that we will win"? It's not clever. It lacks irony (something most great chants have). It does have good energy, I'll give you that.
What are these great ironic chants? To my mind, the greatest of all American chants and the one that everyone the world over knows is simply "U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A" its point is not to be ironic or clever in anyway, its to create an atmosphere. If the athletes on the field show any response to the chant, the chant grows louder and faster, if the athletes continue to respond it kicks the crowd into an electrified frenzy. Its brilliant.
Right. I'm not saying all chants need irony or have to be clever. Some are used to inspire and are more nationalistic. The "I believe we will win" is cringeworthy to me. It's embarrassing.
You know... it's such a terrible chant. I mean it has none of the irony and cleverness of the best European chants like for example: O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, England!
Who says it has to be? It's certainly no less clever or more literal than "Sí, se puede!", which fans in Spanish speaking countries belt out over and over again.
I think it's too long. It should just be: i believe i believe that we i believe that we will win That second line ending in "that" just sounds really clunky and it just drags out the cheer.
Si, see puede is concise though. If it just jumped into "I believe that we will win" then it would sound less corny. But the whole build up is a bit silly.
I am personally not a fan of the chant, and folks in Columbus will tell you that I am not. But with an open mind, the chant DOES come in handy only when done in a timely manner as it relates to the event son the field. For example, okay at the beginning of the match, it states a belief and sets the tone to a level of confidence in your team. After that early stage in the match, to me it's good to be done during a spell of a come-back. It hopefully will elevate and transcend to the players, i.e. we believe and so can you, now go get that match winning goal. Doing that chant in the 20th minute when the score is 0-0, doing that chant when you are down 2-1 in the 80th minute (was done in Columbus this season, even when the team looked so shitty, there simply was false or inebriated belief), or doing that chant when the timing is terrible is what pisses people off about it. It is a natural spark to do a vocal since it's been made pop by the mass media on commercials. So if that is the only vocal that tends to be recycled, then naturally people will say "We just did that chant 3 times already this half, that's not creative, why can't people think of something fresh or new?" I guess some people might be opposed to the 'pop' side of things because it just does not feel genuine, from the soul, but rather controlled through ads and commercials. So it feels like a hype and media type of vocals to some people as opposed to dare I say, organic. It is what it is. I do not take part, and won't throw fists to those who do.
It doesn't inspire much feeling in me when it's spoken. Sounds too cheesy but I'm glad so many can rally behind it. I'd prefer something more likable (to me at least) REMEMBER THE NAME. (taken from the song by Fort Minor)