Hump Day Rankings is a weekly look at some of the other topics that make the City Six great. It will be published each Wednesday and will include a poll at the end of each story to get your thoughts. You can see other rankings here.

As always, we encourage interaction through comments at the bottom or you can email your thoughts to [email protected].

We open Hump Day Rankings with a look at fight songs. If you are a graduate of a Philahoops school (and are reading this), chances are you know your fight song. Knowing the song could mean screaming the words as the band pumps out the tunes or just humming along while looking around at your fellow students and graduates. A fight  song is a rallying cry. When a team wins, it is shared in jubilation. As if to say to the world, “Take that, other team.” It is a source of pride and a proclamation of dominance.

When a team loses, the fight song serves as a reminder of the pride that ones feels to have attended a particular institution. So what if my favorite squad is in the middle of a terrible season and just lost by 26 to the worst team (second worst team?) in the conference?

Boom. Fight song makes it better. You guys might have just beaten us soundly, but some guy (or girl) decades ago wrote a couple of lines that make us come together as an alumni base. We’ll get you next time.

So that in mind, here are the Philahoops’ school’s fight songs, ranked.

#6 Drexel – “Drexel Fight Song”

Fight on for Drexel,
We’ve got the stuff we need to win this game.
We’re gonna fight on for Drexel,
Take the Dragon on to fame.
Fight on for Drexel,
The gold and blue is on another spree.
We’re gonna fight, fight, fight, fight for Drexel U.
On to victory!

D-D-D-D
R-R-R-R
E-E-E-E
X-EL-X-EL
DREX-EL-DREX-EL
FIGHT-TEAM-FIGHT

I know that some people might think that I’m picking on Drexel here, but their fight song is the worst. It starts out pretty normal as far as fight songs go, but hits a dead end at line two. “We’ve got the stuff we need to win this game”? It sounds like something Miley Cyrus would have sang five years ago. Truly horrible. Too many syllables. What is this stuff? Just out of place and terrible.

But as truly hard as it to get past that second line, as you move further down the verse, it gets a little better. We got Dragons. We got the word “spree.” Some good rhyming convention. If it ended there, at “victory” then DU might have popped up a few spots. Instead, they whipped out a chant that sounds like that kid from Billy Madison was their lead cheerleader. I’m sure when this is sung at Drexel games, all the smart engineering students look awkwardly at each as if to say, “Five years of co-op for this?”

Now you stalwart Drexel alums might be saying, “Wait a minute here, this isn’t the song I sang!” That would be true. Drexel tweaked its fight song not so long ago to edit out some talk of them marching down the field and references to the since universit-ized “Drexel Tech.” They still had that second line and god-awful cheer though, so congrats Dragons fans on having the worst fight song in the city.

#5 La Salle – Fight Song

So being a La Salle graduate, I walked into this list thinking that, undoubtedly, La Salle had the worst fight song in the city. Thanks Drexel. Every student that is an actual college student knows the La Salle fight song, and by knows I mean can hum repeatedly. I’d wager a guess that only 1% of students at 20th and Olney actually know the words to the fight song, up from 0% until they put it on some t-shirts. It is my guess that La Salle has, BY FAR, the most generic fight song in the country. They went right through the checklist when they drew this one up.

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

That is how it starts. Cannot get any more fight-songy than that.

Fight on Explorers

Got the nickname in there and an obligatory other “Fight.”

Fight on for L.S.U. 

School initials. This is the part that really gets to me, as there is a much, MUCH more well known L.S.U out there. I always laughed at it because nobody at La Salle calls it L.S.U, or L.U. or anything with initials. Throw in there the fact that in the 11 words that we have, six of them are “Fight.”

Give ‘em “L”

Here comes the chanting. More on this line in a bit, because it runs parallel with another tradition that I’ll get to.

Give ‘em “a”

I guess they figured this was getting a little long, so run through it all right here.

Give ‘em “S-A-L-L-E”

First off, ending any line with an “ee” sound should punishable by death, unless it rhymes with another “ee” sound that is. Famous poets and songwriters are rolling over in their graves. Secondly, what exactly are we giving someone. La Salle? We’re giving them the name of the school? The Saint? Doesn’t make any sense.

Finally, I have the sinking feeling that the “L” in the fourth line is a G-Rated version of “Hell.” The La Salle screamer, who you’ll hear at a key moment at any La Salle home game, gives the following chant:

WE FIGHT HARD, WE FIGHT WELL

WHEN WE FIGHT WE FIGHT LIKE…”L-A-S-A-L-L-E”

I actually like this. It works once, in a game, by the same guy. The same concept doesn’t work in the fight song.

So fight on to victory!

Cue generic ending to go with generic fight song. Again, terrible. Makes my skin crawl in the worst way. And this isn’t some self-hatred from a La Salle alum. I think the alma mater is fantastic. The fight song, however, seems like it was scrawled on a napkin at a lunch before the game. If I was king of the world, that would be like the third thing I changed.

#4 St. Joseph’s – “Oh when the Hawks go flying in” OR “Mine Eyes”

First off, congrats to St. Joseph’s for not having terrible fight songs. That aside, they basically took a gospel song and a battle cry and changes two words. Changing nouns to “Hawks” of a previous tune does not a fight song make. I’m going to look past the first one because it is like two seconds long and the only difference is the word HAWKS in place of the more traditional (and appropriate) SAINTS.

Oh when the Hawks, go flying in
Oh when the Hawks, go flying in,
Oh when the Hawks go flying in,
I want to be in that number,
When the Hawks go flying in.
(Repeat above)
Let’s Go St. Joe’s!
Lets Go St. Joe’s!
Let’s Go St. Joe’s!

Mine Eyes (Battle Hymn of the Republic)
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Hawk,
He is flying through the doorway ’cause he never, ever walks,
He is flying through the rafters like a loyal, loyal Hawk,
The Hawk will never die.
Glory, glory what a helluva way to fly,
Glory, glory what a helluva way to fly,
Glory, glory what a helluva way to fly,
The Hawk will never die!
We’ve been to Carolina and we’ve been to Buffalo,
And we’ve been to Cincinnati flying high and flying low,
And when we get to Maryland(substitute current year’s Final Four destination) we’ll let everybody know,
The Hawk will never die.
Glory, glory what a helluva way to fly,
Glory, glory what a helluva way to fly,
Glory, glory what a helluva way to fly,
The Hawk will never die!

I’m not going to knock Hawk Hill for these, because the crowds love them and they are easy to remember. They are good fight songs, they are just both knock-offs. If I was them, I’d keep the “Oh…” and do away with the other one. Come up with something original. You have “The Hawk will never die!”, which is powerful, but no mechanism other then a 161-year-old civil war cry that is a little bit much.

#3 Villanova – V for Villanova

V for Villanova
“V” for Villanova, “V” for Victory
“B” for Blue and “W” for White

For the Blue and the White we will fight!
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Fight for Villanova, Fight for Victory

1. For we’re out to win the fray;
Villanova leads the way,
With a capital “V” for Victory.

2. For we’re out to beat the foe
Show the en-e-my we know
how to win with a “V” for Victory.

Vill-a-no-va, V-I-L-L-A-N-O-V-A
“V” for Vic-tor-y, V-I-C-T-O-R-Y
It’s a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye,
and a “V” for a V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

Moving down City Line a bit, the Wildcats come in at a strong number three on this list. Like most things Villanova, pretty standard fight song. We got letters. We got “Victory.” What is different about this one, however, is that we also have instructions. The melody is good, very early 1900s big band style with some tempo changes. Where it falls off a bit is using words like “fray.” I also have a little bit of a problem with that second to last line, going a bit too far into the body parts, but it is a Catholic school and I know my bible.

Villanova has an advantage because it starts with the letter “v”. Outside of schools in Virginia and Vermont, only two other schools (Valparaiso and Vanderbilt) begin with that letter. If this was a list of school names that begin with the letter V, Villanova wins hands down. Well, maybe not. It might be between them and this school. Their fight song must be AWESOME.

All and all, not bad. Middle of the pack. Good job Nova Nation.

#2 Penn – They have like 100 of them.

Did you go to Penn? If you did, could you tell me which song is their fight song. The Quakers have seven songs listed on their band’s website. That is way too many, but I’m sure they don’t do them all. Some of them are great, like this one:

Dring a Highball
Drink a Highball at nightfall
Be good fellows while you may
For tomorrow may bring sorrow
So tonight, lets all be Gay!
Tell the story of Glory
Of Pennsylvania
Drink a highball And be jolly
Here’s a toast to dear old Penn!

It is a song about drinking. At college. And it isn’t banned or wiped from the depths of the world wide web.

If you crawl Youtube for examples of “Penn Fight Song” there are little Ivy League fights about whether the actual title of “Fight Song” belongs to Fight On, Pennsylvania or Red and Blue. They are both better the most other schools fight songs, but I understand the problem. Since this is a basketball website, there is an issue with the former.

Fight On Pennsylvania
Fight on, Pennsylvania!
Put the ball across that line.
Fight you Pennsylvanians!
There it goes across this time.
Red and blue we’re with you
And we’re cheering for your men.
So it’s fight, fight, fight Pennsylvania
Fight on for Penn!

Check line two. This is a football fight song so it is immediately disqualified from contention. Still, if this was an Ivy League football website (One Exists!), I think this might move Penn to #1. Instead, we have to review the latter song.

The Red and Blue
Come all ye loyal classmates now
In hall and campus through,
Lift up your hearts and voices
For the Royal Red and Blue
Fair Harvard has her crimson
Old Yale her colors too,
But for dear Pennsylvania
We wear the Red and Blue.

Hurrah, hurrah Pennsylvania!
Hurrah for the Red and the Blue!
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah,
Hurrah for the Red and Blue!

Such gentlemen, the Ivies. They throw Harvard and Yale out there, but not in a derogatory way. If this song was written today (by, I don’t know, an SEC fan), it would just be two words: “(Expletive Deleted) Auburn” and would be titled Fight Song (Roll Tide). Thanks Internet.

Back to this song above us, it really is a good tune. It has some age to it, as seen by using the word “ye” in the first line, but it is just an all around excellent fight song. Not one that will have you ready to rip someone’s head off, but it gets the point across. Why is it not #1 on this list, you ask? It is the inordinate amount of “Hurrah’s” in the chorus. Eight of them to be exact.

Oh, and it has five verses. Fight songs are allowed two verses, tops, and every verse past that just bores people. It was a simpler time.

#1 Temple – “T for Temple U” and “Fight, Temple, Fight”

This was a tough one, as Temple has their “official” fight song that is on their website. T for Temple U is sung at basketball games and is probably the one to base it on. If that was true, they might not be number one and Penn would surely hop ahead with their jingles. Here is that one.

T for Temple U
“T” for Temple “U”
U-ni-versity!
Fight, fight, fight!
For the Cherry and the White,
For the Cherry and the White,
We’ll fight, fight, fight!

Pretty bland, but still a top two finish if this was all it was based upon. Extremely simple with all the elements, but it doesn’t make any mistakes and it is extremely catchy. I was all set to put the Quakers at this spot, until I caught this on a Sunday night.

One of my favorite shows had a character that sung Temple’s fight song on TV. You might say that is an unfair way to rank the best fight songs, but it was good enough for a bump for the Owls. Some sources have this as the second part to the first and that is how I am going to rank it.

Fight! Temple, fight on!
Fight with all your might!
Fight for the Cherry and White,
Keep our colors high!
Roll that ball and hit the line,
All the Temple stars will shine,
Skill and courage win the game
Fight on, Temple, fight!

Just excellent. And on HBO.

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So what do you think?