Sports

Boomer Sooner! What The OU Battle Cry Means & Where It Came From

by Jon Azpiri | January 8, 2009 at 11:45 am

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Fans at today's BCS championship will no doubt be inundated by the phrase "Boomer Sooner", which will be chanted and sung by Oklahoma football fans.

For decades, OU fans have used the phrase to voice of their support for the Sooners.
The phrase comes from the University of Oklahoma's fight song. Fans often chant the words during games, with one of side of the arena shouting "Boomer" followed by the other side shouting "Sooner."

The Boomer Sooner song was written by Arthur M. Alden in 1905. Alden took the melody of Yale's "Boola Boola" fight song and added his own lyrics. One year later, the song was amended to include a new section borrowed from North Carolina's "I'm a Tarheel Born".

The song eventually evolved to the version that Sooner fans are familiar with today:

Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner
Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner
Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner
Boomer Sooner, OK U!
Oklahoma, Oklahoma
Oklahoma, Oklahoma
Oklahoma, Oklahoma
Oklahoma, OK U!
I'm a Sooner born and Sooner bred
and when I die, I'll be Sooner dead
Rah Oklahoma, Rah Oklahoma
Rah Oklahoma, OK U!

The phrase has also been popularized by WWE announcer Jim Ross, a diehard OU fan, who often shouts "Boomer Sooner" during wrestling matches.

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little miss mel

at 13:36 on January 8th, 2009

Seeing OU play at UW was an amazing experience. For an OU grad who has lived in California for the past 10 years, seeing an OU game is always a treat. The field is surrounded by the UW track, so the stands seemed quite far away from the action, but we were sitting high enough to get a great view as we marched down the field MANY times. The weather was perfect, the sunset was amazing, and we won hands down. Can't beat that.

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jgsully

at 15:49 on January 8th, 2009

Oklahoma's tight end, Jermaine Gresham, caught a short pass and added several more yards by powering his way downfield and outrunning many defensive players.

jgsully has contributed a photo to this story.