"Sweet Caroline," Neil Diamond's 1969 hit, spent roughly its first three decades as a fondly remembered but unfashionable oldies staple before undergoing an unexpected transformation into one of the world's most recognisable sporting anthems. This shift coincided with a broader critical reappraisal of Diamond as a serious songwriter and with the rise of "jock jams" — loud, crowd-energising tracks played at American sports venues during the 1990s, a category the song was never officially part of but nonetheless came to embody.

The song's sporting adoption likely began with American high school and college marching bands adapting it for basketball and football games from the 1960s onwards, encouraging crowds to sing its "bah bah bah" refrain. The NFL's Carolina Panthers reportedly used it from around 1996 due to the "Caroline" wordplay, but it was Boston Red Sox fans at Fenway Park in 1997 who cemented its status, after the song was played to mark a staff member's newborn daughter also named Caroline. Fans went on to add the now-famous "so good, so good, so good" call-and-response, a phrase some trace back to a 1986 Halloween road race performance by Boston singer Pat Benti, though its exact origin remains disputed.