Credit Check
Earlier this month, Bobby Kent, a former Chargers music director, sued ASCAP for royalties on the "Da da da DA da da—charge!" cheer, which he says he invented in 1978. No surprise, he's not the first to have claimed ownership of the call. (SI, for one, dates "Charge!" back to '46 USC football.) Also not a surprise: This isn't the first celebration with a fuzzy history.
Gatorade Bath The Giants made the spill famous with coach Bill Parcells during their '86 Super Bowl season, but the Bears' Dan Hampton says he soaked Mike Ditka after Chicago clinched the NFC Central in '84. Said Hampton of the Giants' getting credit, "We should have been back there winning our second straight Super Bowl. Were we going to whine about the Gatorade thing?"
High Five Hand slaps were common among Jazz Age musicians but didn't evolve into dexterous sports celebrations until later. Some claim '60s volleyballers as the pioneers, while others cite then Dodger Dusty Baker, after a '77 salami, and Magic Johnson, who was at Michigan State from '77 to '79.
The Wave The University of Washington and pro cheerleader "Krazy" George Henderson each claim to have concocted the crowd pleaser in '81—the Huskies at a Halloween football game; Henderson at an A's game two weeks earlier. Neither will stand for suggestions it was born at the '76 Montreal Olympics or in '50s Mexican soccer.
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FOTOSPORTS/WIREIMAGE.COM/GETTY IMAGES (GATORADE)
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ANDY HAYT (HIGH FIVE)