U-S-A! cheer

From Freepedia

The U-S-A! cheer is a chant that was first yelled by fans during the 1980 Winter Olympics.

The Olympics were held in Lake Placid, New York, where the United States men's ice hockey team shocked the Soviet Union and other nations by winning the gold medal in what became known as the "Miracle on Ice". The American fans, who were dismayed by their country's troubles with the Iran Hostage Crisis, inflation, and the malaise of the Carter presidency, found renewed pride in their country vicariously through the young hockey players.

Crowds at the hockey games began chanting "U-S-A! U-S-A!" and since that time, American sports fans have spontaneously chanted that at many international events, and during times of patriotic fervor. Most recently, the September 11, 2001 attacks found a revival in the chant during patriotic ceremonies at sporting events; the chant was also heard when U.S. President George W. Bush visited the ruins at the World Trade Center site in the week following the 2001 attacks.

Strangely, the chant has even shown up on The Jerry Springer Show, where it may spontaneously and unexplainedly follow the show's standard cheer of "Jer-ry, Jer-ry!" Perhaps its usage is satirical in nature.

Overseas, similar chants (in terms of structure) have surfaced in various forms. In Australia, the most famous of this type of chant was adopted by the Newcastle Knights NRL team, whose fans cheer on the team with a similar chant, which goes "New-cast-le! New-cast-le!".