 | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points.(September 2018) |
"U-S-A!" is a chant of the United States of America's initials popular in expressing American pride and supporting American national sports teams. It is also used in other community events, such as at political rallies.
The first documented usage of a U-S-A chant was in 1918 at a Bethlehem Steel plant in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. [1]
The film Olympia: Festival of Nations , documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, includes the chant during the finals of the 1,500 meter event and the long jump. [2] It was also documented at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, during the basketball tournament final between the United States and the Soviet Union. [3] In 1979, the chant was used in Budapest when the national men's teams of Hungary and the United States played against each other. [4]
The chant was popularized in the context of ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics. [5] During the U.S.' 7–3 win over Czechoslovakia in the second game, the crowd began chanting "U-S-A! U-S-A!" in support of the U.S. hockey team as the U.S. scored a decisive win over one of the best teams in the world. The chant became a fixture of the team's remaining games and gained national attention after the U.S. defeated the Soviet Union in what became known as the "Miracle on Ice", later moving on to beat Finland for the gold medal. [6]
In professional wrestling, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan was popularly known for making the cheer during his wrestling matches and inciting the crowd to repeat it after him. The chant has also been used by fans to taunt characters who dislike the U.S., such as Canadian star Bret Hart, who was beloved in the United States but turned his back on the country during an infamous 1997 storyline; the Bulgarian-born Rusev, who was portrayed as hailing from Russia and pledged his allegiance to Russia and its president Vladimir Putin throughout 2014/2015, all while bashing the United States alongside his manager Lana; and most recently, Kevin Owens, who, ever since capturing the United States Championship at WrestleMania 33 against Chris Jericho, proclaimed himself as "The Face of America" despite hailing from a small town near Montreal, and would constantly remind the WWE Universe that Canada is better than the United States. He would also sometimes speak in his native French during his promos in order to draw further heel heat. [7] It has also been used to support wrestlers with pro-U.S. gimmicks, like Hulk Hogan, regardless of the nationality of their opponents.
In May 1969, it was used in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia to commemorate the city's liberation by American and Polish forces at the end of World War II. [1] During the 1984 United States presidential election, the chant "U.S.A.!" was heard at numerous campaign rallies for incumbent President Ronald Reagan; [8] it was also heard at events throughout his presidency, including a visit to Port Washington, Wisconsin. [9]
![Original caption of this photograph read: "Standing upon the ashes of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, Sept. 14, 2001, President Bush pledges that the voices calling for justice from across the country will be heard. Responding to the Presidents' [sic] words, rescue workers cheer and chant, "U.S.A, U.S.A." " President George W. Bush rallies firefighters and rescue workers during an impromptu speech at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/President_George_W._Bush_rallies_firefighters_and_rescue_workers_during_an_impromptu_speech_at_the_site_of_the_collapsed_World_Trade_Center.jpg/220px-President_George_W._Bush_rallies_firefighters_and_rescue_workers_during_an_impromptu_speech_at_the_site_of_the_collapsed_World_Trade_Center.jpg)
The September 11 attacks of 2001 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. [10] Following the throwing of the first pitch during the 2001 World Series, the crowd chanted "U-S-A", when the pitch was a strike. [11]
Crowds gathered outside of the White House on May 1, 2011 could be heard chanting "U-S-A!" after President Barack Obama announced that al-Qaeda co-founder Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan. [12] Minutes before the announcement, crowds with plates and U.S flags in New York had gathered at Times Square and Ground Zero (where the towers were located) for celebrating the successful operation, chanting "U-S-A!" repeatedly. The cheer was also chanted that Sunday evening at the only MLB baseball game being held while the news was breaking, between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets. [13] At the 2011 WWE Extreme Rules event in Tampa, Florida on the same date, the arena erupted in U-S-A chants as the death of Osama bin Laden was announced by then WWE Champion, John Cena. [14]
The "U-S-A" chant has been adopted by English football supporters during matches against Manchester United, who have U.S. owners unpopular with the club's supporters due to the club's being saddled by massive debt. Opposing supporters remind the United supporters of this with the "U-S-A" chant; [15] this was also true of Liverpool, until the RBS takeover. It is also chanted non-sarcastically by British supporters to celebrate achievements of U.S. players such as Tim Howard at Everton and Christian Pulisic at Chelsea.
The chant, led by Woody Boyd, was used in the Cheers episode "A Fine French Whine" upon hearing the news that a French citizen with eyes on Boyd's girlfriend has overstayed his visa and would soon be deported. It has shown up on The Jerry Springer Show , where it may spontaneously and without apparent reason follow the show's standard cheer of "Jer-ry, Jer-ry!" and is also often delivered by Homer Simpson on The Simpsons as a celebration of almost anything, often accompanied by honking of his car's horn and flashing of its headlights. The chant is also used on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when the gang come up with a plan.[ citation needed ]
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a Saudi-born Islamic dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his organization is designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, and various other countries. He is most widely known as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks in the United States.
The Oggy Oggy Oggy chant, and its variations, are often heard at sporting events, political rallies and around numerous Scout and Guide campfires, primarily in Britain, Ireland and some Commonwealth nations. One group will shout Oggy three times, while another will respond with Oi! three times.
John Felix Anthony Cena is an American professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper currently signed to WWE. A record 16-time world champion in WWE, Cena is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
Richard Alan Clarke is an American national security expert, novelist, and former government official. He served as the Counterterrorism Czar for the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-Terrorism for the United States between 1998 and 2003.
The bin Laden family, also spelled bin Ladin, is a wealthy family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family. It is the namesake and controlling shareholder of Saudi Binladin Group, a multinational construction firm. Following the September 11 attacks, the family became the subject of media attention and scrutiny through the activities of Osama bin Laden, the former head of al-Qaeda.
In professional wrestling, heat can refer to both crowd reactions and real-life animosity between those involved in a professional wrestling angle, or match.
On October 29, 2004, at 21:00 UTC, Al Jazeera broadcast excerpts allegedly from a videotape of Osama bin Laden addressing the people of the United States; in this video, he accepts responsibility for the September 11 attacks, condemns the Bush government's response to those attacks, and presents those attacks as part of a campaign of revenge and deterrence motivated by his witnessing of the destruction in the Lebanese Civil War in 1982. News analysts speculated that the release of the video was timed to influence the 2004 U.S. presidential election, which would take place four days later.
"Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi" is a cheer or chant often performed at Australian sport events. It is a variation of the Oggy Oggy Oggy chant used by both soccer and rugby union fans in Great Britain from the 1960s onwards. It is usually performed by a crowd uniting to support a sports team or athlete. The alternate is for an individual to chant the line "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!" and the crowd to respond with "Oi! Oi! Oi!".
On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad by United States Navy SEALs of SEAL Team Six. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led mission, with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating the Special Mission Units involved in the raid. In addition to SEAL Team Six, participating units under JSOC included the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as the "Night Stalkers," and the CIA's Special Activities Division, which heavily recruits from former JSOC Special Mission Units. The success of the operation ended a nearly decade-long manhunt for bin Laden, who was accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1992, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in support of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The mujahideen were also supported by Britain's MI6, who conducted their own separate covert actions. The program leaned heavily towards supporting militant Islamic groups, including groups with jihadist ties, that were favored by the regime of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in neighboring Pakistan, rather than other, less ideological Afghan resistance groups that had also been fighting the Soviet-oriented Democratic Republic of Afghanistan administration since before the Soviet intervention.
Several sources have alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had ties with Osama bin Laden's faction of "Afghan Arab" fighters when it armed Mujahideen groups to fight the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War.
"Olé, Olé, Olé" is a chant used in sport. The chant is based on the Spanish interjection "Olé" used to signify approval by the spectators in bullfighting; however, the chant is not used in Spain. The popular version of the "Olé, Olé, Olé" chant was first used in a 1985 song written by the Belgians Roland Verlooven and Grand Jojo called "Anderlecht Champion" as "Allez, Allez, Allez, Allez" in French, but became "Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé" in Spanish in a version titled "E Viva Mexico" created for the Mexico 86 World Cup. This version of the chant quickly spread around the world and chanted by football fans in tribute to a team or a player, and it is now also widely used in other sports as well as in non-sporting events.
The September 11 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers of the Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda. In the 1990s, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden declared a holy war against the United States, and issued two fatāwā in 1996 and 1998. In the 1996 fatwā, he quoted the Sword Verse. In both of these fatāwā, bin Laden sharply criticized the financial contributions of the American government to the Saudi royal family as well as American military intervention in the Arab world.
The 2011 Extreme Rules was the third annual Extreme Rules professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on May 1, 2011, at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. It was the first WWE PPV event to be held in Tampa since Survivor Series in 2000. This was the last Extreme Rules held under the first brand extension, which ended in August but was reinstated in July 2016. It was also the company's first PPV to be promoted under its shortened trade name of WWE, as following WrestleMania XXVII the previous month, the company ceased using its full name of World Wrestling Entertainment, although it is still the legal name of the company.
On May 2, 2011, United States President Barack Obama confirmed that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed in his compound in Abbottabad, northeastern Pakistan. Bin Laden's death was welcomed by many as a positive and significant turning point in the fight against al-Qaeda and related groups. Those who welcomed it included the United Nations, European Union, NATO, and some nations in Asia, Africa, Oceania, South America, and the Middle East, including Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, India, Israel, Indonesia, Somalia, the Philippines, Turkey, Iraq, Australia, Argentina, and the rebel Libyan Republic.
The 2014 Royal Rumble was the 27th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on January 26, 2014, at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the first WWE pay-per-view event to be held in this arena since it opened in August 2010. It was the first Royal Rumble to be held in the city of Pittsburgh. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2014 event, the winner received a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXX; this was the first time since 2002 in which there was only one eligible championship for the Royal Rumble winner to challenge for.
Professional wrestler Roman Reigns debuted on the WWE main roster in November 2012 as part of a faction called "The Shield" and was well-received by critics. Support began to dwindle upon Reigns's transition to a heroic main event singles act in 2014, largely due to his perceived forced push. This would manifest itself in Reigns main eventing four consecutive editions of WWE's premier annual pay-per-view event, WrestleMania, while being booed in all four appearances.
"I believe that we will win!" is a chant commonly performed at American sporting events. Originating in the Naval Academy Preparatory School, it became a tradition among fans and students of the United States Naval Academy, with other schools later also adapting the phrase. In 2014, the chant gained national recognition as a rallying call among United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) fans for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, becoming an unofficial motto of The American Outlaws supporters' group.
The Reality Era was a term used to describe a time period of 2014–2016 in professional wrestling. The term was used within World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) which spanned from early 2014 to mid 2016.
The following is an outline of the series of events that led up the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)