O - H - I - O

A few years ago, I remember sitting in the Cleveland Browns football stadium, watching the football team lose another game. They were really, really awful. The one high point would be when the music began and the crowd broke out into "Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on. Come on! Come On!" After a few lines of the song, the people would shout out...O - H - I - O! They would spell out the word OHIO, while using their hands and arms. All I can say is the fans didn't have much to cheer about but when this song broke out, it rocked the stadium.

In 1985, the Ohio General Assembly approved the song "Hang on Sloopy" as the official rock song for Ohio. Ohio is the only state to have an official rock song. This makes perfect sense to me because Cleveland, Ohio has the Rock-and-Roll-Hall-of-Fame. The OSU marching band started to play this song in 1965, and has adopted it as their official marching band song. They play it at every football game.

Usually during the Cleveland Browns football season, the Ohio State University marching band performs at half time and plays what has become their rock song. The crowd sings along with the band and spells out O - H - I - I with their arms and hand gestures, while the Drum Major dots the "i." It is a sight to behold. It still is whenever the Ohio State Marching Band plays at the Stadium. I really get into it, wishing I had gone to OSU, but instead I received my undergraduate degree in Journalism from another Ohio college. Yet I love the Buckeyes and when that songs breaks out - I am one of them. So, "Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on. Come on! Come on !...O - H - I - O. Go Buckeyes!

Just in case you are curious...in 1965 the band, The McCoys, originally sang this song and made it a big hit. The McCoys were from Dayton, Ohio.