This is the second installment in my series exploring the myths about Wolfpack fans. Today’s myth is one that I didn’t even know existed four days ago when I inaugurated this series. It apparently had been languishing in the dark, cobweb-covered corners of reporters’ brains, just needing the right circumstance to bring it out.
The right circumstance, it turned out, was for an opposing basketball player to redefine ball-handling in the ACC – that is, he sucker-punched an NC State player in the groin. The refs, as usual, didn’t see it, but those go[sh]da[r]n TV cameras did. A media favorite stood in danger of having his reputation besmirched by the truth about himself. This situation brought the myth to the fore of reporters’ dusty brains. If you hear someone say it in the RBC arena, it is a chant, and all Wolfpack fans sanction it.
So during the Wake Forest game, a couple of loathsome individuals said some extraordinarily rotten things about Wake Forest ball-handler Chris Paul’s late grandfather. Most people didn’t hear it. The few who were closest to the jerks reportedly told them to shut up. Paul heard it, apparently, and told his SID about it, who informed the media. Naturally, they all agreed – this totally excused Paul’s thuggery, the poor dear! How could an arena full of Wolfpack fans chant such a thing?
High moral dudgeon was quickly reached – maybe even faster than when National Coach of the Year Matt “True Blue” Doherty turned in a losing season in year three and it was revealed the man was not just a bad coach but also a dangerous psychotic, yeah, that’s the ticket, who might decapitate Joe Forte at any moment and eat his pancreas.
So Paul’s unprovoked attack was quickly brushed aside, and Wolfpack fans en masse were reviled nationwide for their “chant.”
Here, however, it is my job to question the underlying assumption behind the media’s Single-Pack-Fan Chant Myth. So: Is it true? Is what an individual says in the RBC Center a “chant”? If that’s true, then the following things were also chanted during the Wake Forest game:
• “Jeez-o-Pete, I gotta take a leak! Back in a sec.”
• “They better not put that stupid camera on us.”
• “Do you want mustard on that?”
• “Bring on the dance team!”
• “Hey, look, there’s Jim. Yo, JIM!”
• “So how do you think Herb will screw it up this time?”
• “You want me to get you some Goodberry’s?”
• “Where’s Bennerman?”
• “The one with the dark hair — yeah, I would definitely do her.”
• “Vere eez your ticket, mein Herr? Ve must haff your ticket before you can enter ze Secunt Level!”
• “Sorry, they were out of those roasted nuts. You want some popcorn instead? At least that won’t give you gas.”
No, those don’t sound like chants. Here’s why: They’re NOT. Wolfpack fans chant just like every other fan base – as a group. If one or two individuals say something on their own, it’s not a chant. It could be a remark, a suggestion, a question, an observation, a taunt, a cough, a howl – but not a chant.
Epilogue: I understand at least one Wolfpack fan has suggested a different way to help the media out on this score, and just in time for the ACC Tournament. He wrote on a message board that Wolfpack fans should chant “This is chanting! [clap clap clapclapclap] This is chanting! [clap clap clapclapclap]”
Good luck with that, fellow, and GO PACK!
