We already have post-game entry open open for comments about the game.
The excellent video in this entry is from the N&O’s great coverage of the Wake-State game. Additionally, we’d like to offer a special thanks to the N&O for covering the end of the game so well as you will see in the video below. They also have video and notes from the game in this entry. We have more comments below the video.
When you watch the Wolfpack walking off the floor at the end of the video, try to imagine the entire RBC cheering a simple and loud “N-C-State”. Wouldn’t that have been powerful?
Of course, our students and our fan base just can’t/don’t think that way. I blame the last 20 years of the cheerleaders and the band promoting the inconsistent and inaudible “Nnnnnnnn….Ccccccccc…..Staaaaaate” cheer for ‘cuteness’ as killing simplistic and uniform chants and cheers that actually make an impact. We have discussed this before and ask that you click here and read this entry to better understand my point.
Additionally, I ran across this message board thread over at Pack Pride where some of the students are really proud of themselves because they have finally all figured out how to jump up and down during a basketball game.
So the student section jump in unison thing today was awesome, and I really think it caused Wake to make some mistakes. My vote is to keep that going for upcoming games. It was cool…
Whooopie!!
It was nice to see some of the old-school-Reynolds-Coliseum crowd jump into the conversation and try to provide a little insight into how to cheer without trying to copy everything that the Cameron Crazies do. Of course, I was a particularly impressed by the following comment:
I just don’t get the insane focus on judging the quality of the cheering by the physical action of ‘jumping up and down’. Jeez…you guys are enginneers…surely you are smart enough to realize that you can’t yell as loud when you are using your energy and your breath jumping up and down.
How about think of some cheers to use? How about picking on some players for things that they have done in their past? How about pick a single player of the other team and all yell in unison whenever he touches the ball? How about come up with some fun pregame things with some props?
I’d much rather have consistent and constant “De-Fense” cheers…and “N-C-State” cheers…and “Red/White” and “Wolf/Pack”…than to see a bunch of scrawny freshmen lifting themselves a half of an inch off the floor while trying to copy the Cameron Crazies because they jump up and down.
Let me provide you a more specific example of something original that the students can do that may also have an impact on the way the game is viewed. When Duke comes to the RBC Center the students need to be prepared to have simple, EASY TO SAY chants and cheers to call attention to relevant topics. One Pack Pride poster suggested the following:
‘ll say this, when Duke comes to the RBC, the guys’ heads we need to get into are the refs. I think everytime Paulus touches the ball we should have a “He’s a flopper (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap) He’s a flopper (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)” chant.
How about a couple of the following:
(1) When Duke visits and the starting lineups are being announced, the entire student section should all exaggerate a flop and fall as far to the floor as they can while flailing their arms and making a noise like they just got run over. They should do this for each and every Duke player announced and then have something extra special planned for Paulus.
(2) How about someone coming up with some cheer/prop/action than can be used to highlight opposing team’s (especially Duke and Carolina’s) excessive hand checking. When our guy is trying to dribble and is getting hand checked, the whole place should be chanting something along the lines “He is handchecking (clap..clap…clapclapclap)
(3) What about some creative folks from the design school build some huge mock ‘hands’ that you can hold up whenever the pushing and handchecking is happening?
(4) How about a few students build VERY FLIMSY dolls (the bigger the better) that are wearing a Duke basketball uniform (preferably Paulus). So…whenever a Duke player takes a flop the student section can literally throw these flopping dolls all around the stands to highlight the flop.
How hard is this kind of stuff? I’m a boring friggin banker in my mid-30s and can figure this stuff out. The Student Wolfpack Club and the students need to learn about basketball…learn about our opponents…and focus on making an IMPACT as opposed to wanting to jump up and down and look like Dookies.
