Fight Song

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you're happy and you know it And you really want to show it If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. Can someone please tell me how this inane little ditty that appeals to four year-olds is supposed to fire up a major league baseball team and its fans? I'll bet the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, and so on, shudder in horror, quaking in their collective spikes whenever they hear our "fight song" as they set foot on the turf of our beloved baseball cathedral.

If Notre Dame or Michigan decided to change their school fight songs, the moves would likely spark objections from students, alumni and faculty. At St. John's College, however, it's a bit different. On April 28, at its 30th annual croquet match against the U.S. Naval Academy, the school planned to introduce a new fight song. And it appears people on the college's Annapolis campus don't seem to mind. That's partly because few can recall the current fight song. "I don't know if any students at the school know what our current official song is," said student John Fleming of Gaithersburg, an imperial wicket (or a captain)

Fight songs for teams in the NFL are often like players: Some, like Hall of Famers, become synonymous with the team itself while others, like long-shot free agents, fail to catch on and are quickly forgotten. The Ravens are hoping that their new fight song, unveiled Wednesday night at M&T Bank Stadium after a charity fundraising event for the organization's All Community Team Foundation, has star quality and staying power. It will certainly have something else: an obvious link to Baltimore's football past.

Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo said Thursday that he suspended senior captain Alexander Teich after a series of incidents involving Teich's leadership role with the team. Without getting into specifics, Niumatalolo said they began during Saturday's 35-34 overtime loss to Air Force in Annapolis and spilled into the first two days of practice. Niumatalolo acknowledged that he kicked the team's leading rusher off the field midway through Tuesday's practice. He announced Wednesday that Teich would "probably" not play Saturday against Southern Mississippi at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

If Notre Dame or Michigan decided to change their school fight songs, the moves would likely spark objections from students, alumni and faculty. At St. John's College, however, it's a bit different. On April 28, at its 30th annual croquet match against the U.S. Naval Academy, the school planned to introduce a new fight song. And it appears people on the college's Annapolis campus don't seem to mind. That's partly because few can recall the current fight song. "I don't know if any students at the school know what our current official song is," said student John Fleming of Gaithersburg, an imperial wicket (or a captain)

Dr. Ralph Fletcher Davis Sr., a retired physician who as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, College Park wrote its "Maryland Fight Song," died of heart failure Saturday at a hospital in Springfield, Ill. He was 83. Dr. Davis was born at Fort Sheridan, Ill., the son of a career military officer. In 1934, he moved with his family to Baltimore when his father was assigned to Fort Holabird. He was a 1937 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at the university in 1941.

So, you want me to sing it over the phone?Yes, John Modell, oldest son of Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell, we do want you to sing the Ravens' Fight Song. After all, you wrote the ditty this spring. After all those years of warbling the Colts' Fight Song ("Let's go, you Baltimore Colts, and put that ball across the line ..."), it's time for a new fight song.Sing, John, sing.Flying High, Fierce pride in our eye, The Ravens of Baltimore ...Hey, good voice (maybe you had to be there).The Ravens were without their own fight song for the first two years, but the new stadium was cause for a Ravens song.

Fans are filtering into M&T Bank Stadium as I type this. If you ever wanted to sit front row at an NFL event, this is your chance. Walking through the parking lots before the game, the tailgaters look to be in midseason form. There's nothing like that smell of coffee (for those recovering from last night) mixed with Bud Light (for those looking ahead). Redskins and Ravens fans were already razzing each other as if it were December. Said one Ravens fan: "This is their Super Bowl." Ouch.

Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo said Thursday that he suspended senior captain Alexander Teich after a series of incidents involving Teich's leadership role with the team. Without getting into specifics, Niumatalolo said they began during Saturday's 35-34 overtime loss to Air Force in Annapolis and spilled into the first two days of practice. Niumatalolo acknowledged that he kicked the team's leading rusher off the field midway through Tuesday's practice. He announced Wednesday that Teich would "probably" not play Saturday against Southern Mississippi at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

In July 1970, as mass protests against the Vietnam War spread across the country in the wake of the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of demonstrators that spring at Kent State University, recording artist Edwin Starr hit No. 1 on the pop charts with a song called "War." (Its memorable refrain: "War - huhhh - what is it good for - absolutely nothing !") Thirty-one years later, the song has been, um, re-interpreted to suit these sports-obsessed times of ours. The "artist" formerly known as linebacker Ray Lewis is out with a hip-hop version on CD just in time for the opening of the Ravens training camp.

Baltimore Ravens, let's go And put that ball across the line So fly with talons spread wide Go in and strike with Ravens pride Fight! Fight! Fight! Ravens dark wings take to flight Dive in and show them your might For Baltimore and Maryland You will fly on to victory

Fight songs for teams in the NFL are often like players: Some, like Hall of Famers, become synonymous with the team itself while others, like long-shot free agents, fail to catch on and are quickly forgotten. The Ravens are hoping that their new fight song, unveiled Wednesday night at M&T Bank Stadium after a charity fundraising event for the organization's All Community Team Foundation, has star quality and staying power. It will certainly have something else: an obvious link to Baltimore's football past.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you're happy and you know it And you really want to show it If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. Can someone please tell me how this inane little ditty that appeals to four year-olds is supposed to fire up a major league baseball team and its fans? I'll bet the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, and so on, shudder in horror, quaking in their collective spikes whenever they hear our "fight song" as they set foot on the turf of our beloved baseball cathedral.

Keep the autonomy Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times No doubt things have changed since 1999, the last time the Big Ten made a run at Notre Dame and Notre Dame said no thanks. The Big Ten, with its growing television network, is more powerful now and Notre Dame football is less powerful. Since 1999, the football program has toiled in mediocrity as it fumbled through the last decade. It has bungled coaching hires and posted one lousy bowl win in Hawaii. But does that mean Notre Dame should be forced into joining a conference?

It's hard to imagine a 6-foot-8, 255-pound athlete disappearing. But for almost three long years, that's what happened to Wayne Dorsey, a former Southwestern football and basketball star. While former Amateur Athletic Union basketball teammates Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech) and Sean Mosley (Maryland) found stardom in college, Dorsey's journey from West Baltimore took him to New York for a season of prep school football and to Mississippi for two years of junior college. "The road that he took was just so long and so frustrating for him," said Vernon Joines, Dorsey's football coach at Southwestern.

John Miliauskas had watched so much change at Towson University that he finally came to a conclusion about the university band's most-played piece. "It was OK," the band director said of Towson's fight song, played at football games and student rallies. "But we wanted to make it something extra special." With that in mind, Towson is holding a contest for new fight song lyrics. The competition - open to students, alumni, faculty and donors - will run through July 17. The winner will receive $500.

Keep the autonomy Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times No doubt things have changed since 1999, the last time the Big Ten made a run at Notre Dame and Notre Dame said no thanks. The Big Ten, with its growing television network, is more powerful now and Notre Dame football is less powerful. Since 1999, the football program has toiled in mediocrity as it fumbled through the last decade. It has bungled coaching hires and posted one lousy bowl win in Hawaii. But does that mean Notre Dame should be forced into joining a conference?

HOW MANY generations of college football fans in this state got cheated out of the possibility of a game like this? For that matter, how much bigger could college football be in this state had they not been cheated out of the possibility of a game like this? And last but not least - can anybody justify cheating future fans out of the possibility of a game like this? The quick answers for these questions, in the aftermath of a contest at M&T Bank Stadium that won't be forgotten anytime soon, are as follows: four decades' worth; way bigger than it is now; and nobody.

Fans are filtering into M&T Bank Stadium as I type this. If you ever wanted to sit front row at an NFL event, this is your chance. Walking through the parking lots before the game, the tailgaters look to be in midseason form. There's nothing like that smell of coffee (for those recovering from last night) mixed with Bud Light (for those looking ahead). Redskins and Ravens fans were already razzing each other as if it were December. Said one Ravens fan: "This is their Super Bowl." Ouch.

HOW MANY generations of college football fans in this state got cheated out of the possibility of a game like this? For that matter, how much bigger could college football be in this state had they not been cheated out of the possibility of a game like this? And last but not least - can anybody justify cheating future fans out of the possibility of a game like this? The quick answers for these questions, in the aftermath of a contest at M&T Bank Stadium that won't be forgotten anytime soon, are as follows: four decades' worth; way bigger than it is now; and nobody.