Who Actually Started the 'Let's Goooo' Meme? Separating Urban Legends from Real History
By Chloe Bennett
Long before Discord voice servers and TikTok sound libraries existed, the athletic sideline served as the testing ground for aggressive vocal affirmations. In American football, basketball, and professional tennis, players spent decades shouting short, explosive phrases to release adrenaline. Tom Brady made the gutteral shout his personal pre-game trademark during his New England Patriots dynasty throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Whenever a drive ended in a pivotal touchdown, television microphones routinely picked up quarterbacks and linebackers screaming the words directly into television lenses.
Sociolinguists classify this vocalization as a phatic expression: language that conveys emotional solidarity and shared intensity rather than practical information. It requires zero cognitive friction. In a stadium filled with 70,000 screaming spectators, the words carry clean acoustic resonance. The open vowels allow the speaker to push maximum air through the vocal cords without tripping over complex consonants. By the early 2010s, this locker-room ritual had established itself as the default English-language victory yell.
Chloe Bennett explores the intersection of pop culture, streaming entertainment, digital trends, and contemporary lifestyle. Her weekly commentary reaches thousands of culture enthusiasts.
