Miles
Well-known member
- Mar 18, 2019
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Hey Mase, big Broncos fan from Italy here. Why don’t NFL teams have their own anthem as soccer teams here in Europe do?
— Andrea Mariani
This is a question that doesn’t have a clear answer. A few teams — most prominently the Redskins, Ravens, Bears, Lions and Eagles — have old-school fight songs that play after touchdowns. In Washington and Baltimore, the teams have marching bands to play the songs, which provides a college-like atmosphere. All of these songs date back to the 1950s or earlier. (Baltimore’s song goes back to the Colts days; the Ravens reintroduced it with lyrics reflecting a team with a bird mascot rather than a horse.)
For teams without such prominent fight songs, there are popular tunes that catch on and grow into franchise staples. For example, Steelers games at Heinz Field wouldn’t be as electric without Styx’s “Renegade” playing at some point in the fourth quarter, sending thousands of yellow towels twirling aloft.
In the last 13 years, the Broncos have twice attempted to use a fight song or a specific song played after a touchdown. These were attempts to fill the void created when the team stopped playing Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2." That song had been connected to Denver sports since the NHL Colorado Rockies used it as their goal-celebration song during their 1976-82 run at McNichols Sports Arena. It fell out of favor in the wake of Glitter's odious criminal behavior, so the search was on for something new.
In 2006, the Broncos tried to use a reworked version of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's "Go Daddy-O" with lyrics written for the Broncos. It never quite took. When the song blasted over the stadium public-address system, I noticed looks of indifference in the crowd. I recall being on the field immediately after Jason Elam’s game-ending overtime field goal in Week 2 game against Kansas City, and after the win, the song played. The thrill of victory was mixed with befuddlement on the faces of at least two players I saw at that moment.