What Other Teams Do The “It’s Great To Be” Chant?
Obviously this weekend was spectacular regardless of anything else that happened with our big win. However, as a fan of college football in general, I was also basking in the excitement of Tennessee’s upset of Bama when I came across something unexpected. Apparently our It’s great…to be…a Michigan Wolverine chant is not exclusively our chant? I’ve no idea of it’s origins but have only ever heard of it used from our team and fans.
Yet as I was watching videos of Vols rushing the field, I heard it coming from their team and their fans. Here’s a video (beginning around 2:20). I guess it did not occur to me that It’s great…to be…a Tennessee Volunteer would fit, but it does. Does anyone else know of other schools who use this chant? Or does anyone know where it began?
October 16th, 2022 at 11:54 PM ^
Sparty does, but it goes more like... "It's great... to be... in a big green latrine."
October 17th, 2022 at 12:18 AM ^
i was going to say "but that doesn't scan" to which you would probably say "that's the joke...i mean besides the potty humor aspect"
October 16th, 2022 at 11:55 PM ^
"It's great to be a Florida Gator" is one that comes to mind.
Quick edit, found a Quora post that suggest the origin was Auburn -
"My wife and I went to the 1984 Sugar Bowl, when Michigan played Auburn. (The Wolverines didn’t give up a touchdown but still lost, 9–7, but I digress.) Auburn fans had a chant, “It’s great to be an Auburn Tiger.” I think Michigan fans brought the Wolverine version back home with them."
Probably one of those things that started and spread without too much documentation
October 17th, 2022 at 8:50 AM ^
" I think Michigan fans brought the Wolverine version back home with them."
This is absolutely correct. Michigan took it from Auburn in the 1984 Sugar Bowl, during which I was with the band. We (the band) started doing it as sort of a mockery of Auburn's cheer, but it fit so great with "Michigan Wolverine" everyone kept doing it the next season. Whether you think it fits Auburn or not (and it does fit "Michigan Wolverine" better), they taught it to us. I think (without proof) that Auburn got if from Alabama, who uses it as "It's great -- to be -- from A...labama".
Michigan started using it in the 1984 season and has been using it ever since.
Edit: And everyone in America uses our "Let's Go Blue," so the nation did owe us one...
October 17th, 2022 at 9:44 AM ^
sounds legit. thanks for the info
October 17th, 2022 at 10:25 AM ^
I never heard it as a student. First time I heard it was at a Tenn-Fla game in Gainesville, early 2000s.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:25 AM ^
I never heard it as a student. First time I heard it was at a Tenn-Fla game in Gainesville, early 2000s.
October 17th, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
Great context! Makes sense. I joined the band in 1993 and we were doing it then. I don't think the students or fans really started adopting it until after 1997's national championship. Prior to that we would do it in the band while marching to/from the stadium but I had never heard it outside of that. After 1997 it was everywhere.
October 17th, 2022 at 1:25 PM ^
Very interesting. The first time I heard it was Charles Woodson in 1997 chanting it with his teammates after each victory. I hadn't heard anyone at Michigan use it before then.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:33 AM ^
That was the Bo Jackson game where Coach Bo thought he could win with 7 points.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:30 AM ^
Auburn's defense was pretty good, if you'll remember... That was also the game that ended dynamic freshman WR Triando Markray's playing time. He caught a pass late in FG range, but instead of stepping OOB cut back in trying to get to the EZ. He didn't make it. Game. I don't recall ever seeing him play another down for Michigan.
It also snowed in New Orleans that evening. Caused pandemonium, if I recall correctly...
October 16th, 2022 at 11:58 PM ^
I don't know who started it or when but I know Florida and Miami do it too
October 17th, 2022 at 12:08 AM ^
I can understand Miami. Auburn or Florida just doesn’t sound right to me though, maybe because I’m so used to how we say it.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:51 AM ^
I'm with you Mr Elbel. I just assumed this was only us. It still sounds odd with other teams.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:59 AM ^
Of all the ones mentioned so far, none rolls off the tongue like ours does... Their cadence is off, while ours is perfect.
October 17th, 2022 at 7:56 AM ^
As a UF alum I can tell you it rolls off the tongue just as nicely as Michigan Wolverine..
October 17th, 2022 at 8:22 AM ^
I see that. But Auburn? That becomes syncopation, and not the fun, cool kind, but the awkward off-rhythm kind.
October 17th, 2022 at 8:22 AM ^
I see that. But Auburn? That becomes syncopation, and not the fun, cool kind, but the awkward off-rhythm kind.
October 17th, 2022 at 8:27 AM ^
You have to drag one syllable out an extra beat though. Which one, I wonder?
October 17th, 2022 at 8:55 AM ^
"You have to drag one syllable out an extra beat though. Which one, I wonder?"
Auburn drags out the "Au"
Alabama drags out the "A"
It's great...to be...an Au....burn Tiger
It's great...to be...from A....labama
October 17th, 2022 at 9:53 AM ^
Yeah, "it's-great-to-be-an-Auburn-tiger-war-eagle" has a rough flow.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:14 AM ^
I'm not sure if they use it, but schools other than Tennessee that would fit the cadence include:
Maryland Terrapin
Syracuse Orangeman
Vanderbilt Commodore
Virginia Cavalier (but wrong syllabic emphasis)
Georgia Tech Ramblin' Wreck (took me a while to find that one) or Engineer, but not as much fun
Miami Hurricane
Northwestern Wildcat (I guess wildcat can be three syllables)
Kentucky Wildcat
Kansas State Wildcat
There are probably more, but I need to get to work.
October 17th, 2022 at 6:24 PM ^
Maryland Terrapin sounds great since those rhyme, unfortunately for them its...just not great to be one.
October 17th, 2022 at 5:58 AM ^
It sounds great when echoing around Ben Hill Griffin Stadium!
October 17th, 2022 at 6:54 AM ^
It's great, to lose, in B-H-G stadium. (Now repeat).
October 17th, 2022 at 7:28 AM ^
As I posted below, I have been to a game in The Swamp. The chant was fine. They did it like... It's Great... To Be... a Floooorida Gator. I assume that it is also how Auburn does it. The chant was done so many times pre-game and during the game that it got beat into my memory and it actually took a minute to adjust to our alternate cadence.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:55 AM ^
One of my best friends is an Auburn grad. We both disrespectfully disagree on who does that chant better. He says we have too many syllables. I tell him Auburn Tigers is only 4 syllables in most of the civilized world. He's a good dude. Or as he'd say, a goo-ood duu-uuude
October 17th, 2022 at 6:31 AM ^
Two syllable words are the maximum for an Auburn fan.
October 17th, 2022 at 8:23 AM ^
See my comment above, about the weird off-rhythm of Auburn's fewer syllables.
October 17th, 2022 at 2:27 AM ^
Does anyone know the earliest usage of this chant by Michigan fans? Based on ByAZuniga's comment - do any M fans remember using it before 1984?
October 17th, 2022 at 7:13 AM ^
Similar to Joby's comment below, I was also in the MMB for the '95-'98 seasons and we used this cheer at the end of practice and in parade block. Like he mentioned, it seemed to catch on to the team during this time. As far as I've known, this Michigan version of the chant originated in the MMB but that has always just been my guess.
October 17th, 2022 at 7:35 AM ^
I was a student in the mid 90's and I don't recall hearing it until the celebration on South U after the 1998 Rose Bowl.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:35 AM ^
I honestly have no memory of this cheer being a thing until 1997. Maybe it had isolated use in the 80s-early 90s, but it didn't catch on until at least then,.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
Yeah, I'd never heard it before 1997.
October 17th, 2022 at 1:56 PM ^
I was in the MMB from '89 to '93 and it was definitely a thing with the band and the players back then. Might have fallen out of fashion, but it is probably close to 20 years that it has been a bigger part of the MMB cadence/parade sequence.
October 17th, 2022 at 6:01 PM ^
Yeah, we started doing unified rank moves in parade block in '96 and incorporated the chant into that. For anyone interested, the chants we did after practice and in parade block went like this: first was "It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine", then "Hoo, hoo, hoo, Go Blue", and finally "It's all about Blue, baby, yeah, boy." I'm not sure if they still do that sequence of chants anymore!
October 17th, 2022 at 4:25 AM ^
I saw the Tennessee fans doing this too, and was a bit alarmed. At least the cadence matches up, since "Michigan Wolverine" and "Tennessee Volunteer" have the same amount of syllables. Since "Auburn Tiger" is an awkward fit with the [three eighth notes/two tied eighth notes/two separate eighth notes] pattern, I have trouble believing that Auburn used that same cadence before we did. But as previously suggested, that may be due to familiarity bias.
I can't vouch for anything before it, but when I was in the MMB ('94-'97) we ended every practice with the "It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine" chant, in a medley with several other chants. I hadn't heard the team use it yet, but after we performed for the team in 1996, I remember Dhani Jones and Ian Gold came up to me later in East Quad and were like "man, that band cheer had us hyped!"
October 17th, 2022 at 4:58 AM ^
I've known about the Florida Gators and Auburn Tigers version for a while. The others were news to me.
*Trying* to push away a circular preference for our edition simply because it's ours...
I also prefer ours because the final syllable of "it's great to be" has a long-e (ē), and unlike any of the other schools' versions (at least, those mentioned in this thread so far), so does the word "Wolverine" end in -ine (-ēn), to match that "ē" in "be."
That is, none of the other chants end in near rhyme. Only ours.
Syllable number contributes to prosody, sure, but chants/songs/poems can pretty easily stretch or compress syllable counts to diminish the importance of that. So all of the discussed examples (Miami Hurricanes, Tennessee Volunteers, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators) can be forced to match the beat, just like Michigan Wolverines can.
But that's only a half-accomplishment. That only ours can approach a rhyme adds another half that I'm yet to hear used elsewhere.
Granted, then, this defines rules that propose some others could work equally as ours:
It's great ... to be! ...
- Adams State Griiiizzlies
- Washington Hu-uskies
- A&M Aa-agies
- Aug'stana Vii-ikings
- SIC Sa-lukis
(CLARIFICATION: Volunteers, Mountaineers, Buccaneers, Cavaliers, Pioneers, Engineers, etc. come closer than Tigers/Gators/Hurricanes but place of articulation (and longer articulation) of the -r distorts the rhyme more than we see with an -n (e.g., with -ine or -ing)
October 17th, 2022 at 8:58 AM ^
I've long respected musical people and poets and rappers and the like , but this thread and this comment makes me respect em all a bit more
October 17th, 2022 at 9:10 AM ^
This is the kind of comment I was looking for. Thank you for this informative ride!
October 17th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^
I grew up a Miami fan so I might be biased but I think that one sounds pretty good. You do the three syllables in Miami pretty quickly then draw out the “er” in the first syllable of hurricane.
October 17th, 2022 at 6:54 AM ^
My wife is a Georgia Bulldog and they claim it as well.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:21 AM ^
Yup- coming to say this too. Syllables work well.
October 17th, 2022 at 7:00 AM ^
A classic Mandela effect case.
October 17th, 2022 at 7:18 AM ^
Went to the Swamp to see Florida versus Auburn in 1994. Florida did it... a lot. Between that, the Gator Chomp, and a third chant that was something like, "Go Gator's, Let's go Gators, get up and go", the noise was seemingly endless. I recommend putting attending a game at the venue of a relevant SEC team on your sports bucket list.
October 17th, 2022 at 8:20 AM ^
I imagine this is one of those things that a big chunk of the sports world thinks is 'theirs'.
It's kind of like that saying, "If you don't like the weather in Michigan, just wait 5 minutes." Growing up there I always thought that was some sort of Michigan specific thing, without realizing that people say the exact same phrase in every other state as well.
October 17th, 2022 at 8:44 AM ^
I grew up a miami (ytm) fan and they do it. Then I came to Mich and we do it.
Since both teams I’ve rooted for do it, I just figured most teams did
October 17th, 2022 at 8:58 AM ^
Ours sounds the best. Not only is it the right number of syllables but it also almost rhymes.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:16 AM ^
NOAP, this thread is cancelled, sorry.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:20 AM ^
Well, our crowd stole the Seminole chant, so we can't be miffed.