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Minnesota sports anthems: From Prince to Montell Jordan, what songs get local athletes pumped up?

by KT Lindemann

April 25, 2014

How does the Twin Cities’ NHL hockey team celebrate after a big win? With a 90s R&B hit, of course.

The Minnesota Wild—currently in a tight playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche—have declared “This is How We Do It” to be their official victory anthem, even going so far as to distribute a press release with a video of the team bumping fists in the locker room while they listen to Jordan's 1995 earworm.

We asked our Twitter followers about the best rally anthems and victory songs from Minnesota’s sports teams. What songs get our athletes’ heads in the game? This is how we do it.


A Vikings fan pointed to the song that the team takes the field to—despite no less a luminary than Prince having donated an original song to the cause.


Our host Mac Wilson pointed to the track that's been Joe Mauer's walkup music for years.

The Twins also have perhaps the most iconic Minnesota sports song, the 1961 "We're Gonna Win Twins" written by Dick Wilson and Ray Charles (no, not that Ray Charles)—which started life as a Hamm's beer jingle. Other notable Twins songs include G.B. Leighton's "Twins Territory" and the defensive "Don't Call Them Twinkies," by the Baseball Project featuring Craig Finn.


Prince hasn't written a custom song for the Timberwolves as he has for the Vikes, but our NBA players dig him anyway.


Then, of course, there's the Minnesota Rouser, a 1909 fight song written by Episcopal choir director Floyd Hutsell and memorized by generations of Gophers.

What are your favorite Minnesota jock jams?

KT Lindemann is a senior at the University of Minnesota, Morris, pursuing studio art and Spanish. She is a native of the Twin Cities and is a wannabe musician, artist, and music writer.

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This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.