Boston Red Sox — "Tessie"
In 2004, the Red Sox discovered the key to ending an 86-year title drought wasn’t overcoming the Curse of the Bambino. It was getting fans to sing an old Broadway tune. "Tessie," from the long-forgotten musical "The Silver Slipper," was sung at Red Sox games from 1903 to 1916 by the Royal Rooters, a group of Red Sox fans who included tavern owner Michael "Nuff Ced" McGreevey and President Kennedy’s grandfather. Legend has it that the first singing of "Tessie" — "Tessie, you make me feel so badly/Why don't you turn around?" — inspired the then-Boston Pilgrims to come back from the brink of elimination to win the 1903 World Series.

Boston won four World Series titles in the 13 years the Royal Rooters sang "Tessie." They won one in the next 87 years after the Rooters broke up.

In the interim, the Standells’ 1966 garage-rock tune "Dirty Water" inexplicably became the Red Sox victory song, inexplicable because the song is about a guy getting mugged over Boston’s polluted Charles River.

So last year, the Red Sox organization decided it was time to bring back "Tessie," and a Boston Herald beat writer hooked them up with local pop-punk band the Dropkick Murphys, who recorded a new version, featuring Red Sox players and new, more impatient lyrics: "Tessie, Nuff Ced McGreevy shouted/We're not here to mess around."

Voila! Tessie returns, and so does a World Series title. You know, if the Bulls get into an 86-year titleless drought, maybe they should bring back "Sirius."

Liverpool Football Club (England) — "You’ll Never Walk Alone"

Slide show   White Sox win! Click to see images from Chicago's sweep of Houston Astros in 2005 World Series.

At the nexus of Jerry Lewis, end-of-the-telethon schmaltz and soccer hooliganism is the Liverpool Reds' intimate relationship with the old Rodgers and Hammerstein chestnut from the 1945 musical "Carousel." Fans started singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" after local boys Gerry and the Pacemakers had a hit with it in 1963. That was about the time Liverpool was moving up from being a second-division club to the elite of British soccer. (It also was the time a young Elvis Costello was first becoming a Liverpool fan.) The name of the song is on the gates entering the Liverpool FC stadium, as well as embedded in the team's logo.

In "Carousel," the song is sung after the death of the main character to give courage to his pregnant widow. She had a game against Manchester United later in the day.

All Blacks (New Zealand national rugby team) — "Ka Mate"
The centuries-old "Ka Mate" isn't exactly a song, and it isn't exactly pop, either. It's a haka, a traditional chant and dance performed by Maori warriors before going into battle, or the All Blacks before every game. "Ka Mate" translates to "We're going to die." There are other, more inspirational lyrics, or else this could be the official haka of the Arizona Cardinals. (The All Blacks also have a specially commissioned haka, which they premiered Aug. 28 before beating South Africa. It's called "Kapo o Pongo," which translates to "All Blacks.")

The All Blacks are not all Maori, the New Zealand equivalent to Native Americans. But in their respect for Maori tradition, they've avoided the kind of battles like the NCAA trying to shut down Indian mascots. Maybe instead of having a white kid calling himself Chief Illiniwek doing a halftime dance, the whole Illinois football team should do a pregame traditional Native American dance.

As for the All Blacks, Australia's national rugby team responds to the haka with players doing their own special version of the folk standard "Waltzing Matilda." If America's rugby players were to mount a response to the haka, I'd lay you good odds they do a routine to "Don't Stop Believin'."