"Believe" outstrips other MLS anthem attempts; RSL atmosphere on the rise

When you do something particularly well, it's only natural that others will see that and become one of two things: envious or inspired. The former is perhaps the low end of the spectrum, and it's always a bit discouraging when people act in undignified ways. The latter is perhaps one of the goals of art, and it's certainly the upper end of the spectrum.

So when one Mr. Steineckert debuted, with the full support of the club, that little "Believe" anthem, it was perhaps to be expected that others would see it and decide they wanted to be involved in their own anthems. There's something nice about that, knowing that we're well and truly ahead of the game. So when I saw yesterday that a group of New England Revolution fans have rolled out their own "anthem," I took a second to think about it.

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A quick listen to the thing reveals that it's not anything like "Believe" — not in purpose, function, or appearance. This is, well, a song the club intends to play after wins. It's a rocky little number that sounds awfully late '90s to my ears — but that's an entirely different judgment. This is something fans can perhaps listen to in their cars before or after a match, something they can dance to when the whistle blows, something they can celebrate with. And that's fine. There's nothing particularly wrong with that to my mind.

But it's no "Believe." It's not something fans — independent of any musical cue — can chant. You'll never hear something like that come about spontaneously in a crowd. It won't excite fans, drive them to matches, or give them faith that their fan base is maturing.

So while we can certainly agree that it's a nice little song and they've done a good job with it over in New England, there's nothing quite like "Believe" among MLS clubs. It bears repeating: I love that we're making waves in the MLS community like never before. Sure, we should be making more waves for our swashbuckling play, but that's a different story.

I suppose the point is that I'd just like to see other clubs, you know, doing their own thing. And when they do their own thing, if they'd also not piggyback on our success, that'd be great. I mean, it's not like we're really lacking in success, but it's sort of, well, ours.

So I suppose I'll leave you with some videos from the weekend of "Believe" being chanted at the Riot. These are from YouTube and, while not feature film quality, do show things well. (Oh, and if I've learned one thing about videos of crowds chanting, it's that nobody's wholly on-key or in rhythm. It's just sort of the way things go with chants.

And while the atmosphere was excellent against New York, I know we're capable of even better. Certainly, many people were given their first taste of the chant in action, and some others were convinced that it can work. This, along with some of the other chants sung by supporters — variety is key — contribute massively to our atmosphere.

Let's keep it up, shall we?