Video from Sunday and Student Cheering Conversation

07-08 Basketball Fans73

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.

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07-08 Basketball Fans

73 Responses to Video from Sunday and Student Cheering Conversation

  1. Texpack 02/04/2008 at 2:31 PM #

    Picking on a player by cheering when he has the ball and stopping as soon as he passes worked quite well for us back in the day. It’s best to pick out a freshman. Sometimes you can take them right out of the game because their team mates will stop passing them the ball.

  2. WolftownVA81 02/04/2008 at 2:36 PM #

    I can remember everyone at Reynolds shouting ZIT! everytime Mike Gimenski from Duke touched the ball back in 80 or 81. It was a rather personal attack since he couldn’t help his bad acney problem but it was an effective tactic.

  3. StateFans 02/04/2008 at 2:41 PM #

    How about some signs that say things like, “I am NOT Deron Washington’s Mother”.

    Or…”Look over there…is that Deron Washington’s mother?”

  4. BJD95 02/04/2008 at 2:50 PM #

    Yes, WallyB – we certainly did mock Newton, too! I wish I could remember what we said. I also remember complimenting Pete Gaudet on his K-Mart suit and asking him how it felt to ruin a Top 5 program in just 2 months. Good to see you posting here, BTW.

    Sitting behind the opposing bench is a sacred trust. If you have any voice left when the final horn sounds, then you have failed.

    For Washington, a simple rythmic “Mommmmmyyyy, Mommmmmmyyyy” every time he touches the rock would work. With some related blue insults tossed in on an individual basis (ask him if he’s still breastfeeding, perhaps?), if you are in the “sacred trust” zone.

    You’re only a student once. Make the most of it. The environment around you should be incredibly hostile. People tend to look at you funny if you try this stuff in the alumni section, with your kids in tow.

  5. Dr. BadgerPack 02/04/2008 at 3:11 PM #

    How about a couple hundred people DRESSED as Deron Washington’s mother?

  6. RAWFS 02/04/2008 at 3:12 PM #

    I guess it was 86 or 87 when Krzyzewski first lit up the Duke Chronicle for not kowtowing to his program, and it made the news. We played them shortly after that, and when he was introduced, every student in attendance pulled up an open newspaper like they were reading it. The look on his face was priceless.

    They also did something to Dean Smith that year too, but damned if I can remember just what it was.

  7. RAWFS 02/04/2008 at 3:14 PM #

    How about

    Dew do DEE do Dew do DEE do…FLOP GOES THE WEASEL! for Mr Paulus?

  8. branjawn 02/04/2008 at 3:18 PM #

    I scanned through and didn’t see anyone pic up on the fact (?) that there were cheer sheets passed around the student section for the game yesterday?? I posted the text on my blog, feel free to repost here SFN.

  9. Dr. BadgerPack 02/04/2008 at 3:19 PM #

    I love chants over props… but if props are used; this is perfect for Paulus: Lifecall.

  10. StateFans 02/04/2008 at 3:24 PM #

    ^ That is awesome

  11. Trip 02/04/2008 at 3:27 PM #

    The “I am NOT Deron Washingtons mom” sign is actually a pretty good idea. Maybe I can whip that up tonight. I’m by no means sitting anywhere near the court (Stuck behind the band… AGAIN.) but maybe it’ll get a few tv shots.

  12. Mike 02/04/2008 at 3:33 PM #

    When I was in school, we did the loud cheer everytime the “designated player” touched the ball. It worked great most of the time and really got in the opposing player’s head. Only a couple times can I remember a player actually stepping up and playing better when this happened. It was tradition and it was great. THIS IS ONE THING THAT SHOULD BE DONE AGAIN. It does not even have to be a freshman, just someone easily rattled. It’s always nice to play 6 on 4, because you could count on that guy helping out our team like he is in our uniform.

  13. RabidWolf 02/04/2008 at 3:34 PM #

    VPI will probably have some serious revenge on their minds after the THREE ass whippings they got from the ‘Pack last year. THE HOME CROWD NEEDS TO BE LOUD AND CRAZY FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON!!

    Make the rest of this season just like the UNX game this past FB season—red outs the rest of the way, baby! ALL FANS WEARING RED GET TO SIT CLOSE TO THE COURT—NOT WEARING RED? NOSEBLEED FOR YOU!

    GO ‘PACK!

  14. Mike 02/04/2008 at 3:36 PM #

    Also, regarding printed cheers…….I will always remember Florida State in baseball – they were the Cameron Crazies of baseball. They had several pages of preprinted cheers/rants/razzes that were out of this world. Best college baseball environment I was ever part of.

  15. MrPlywood 02/04/2008 at 3:41 PM #

    For Paulus, how about a modified “wave” imitating one of his flops? Student section stands, hands up yelling “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh – FLOP!” (they’d need a leader to key on) then starting with the front row they collapse back into their seats as if shot/runover, repeat row by row like dominoes. That could be pretty funny if done right.

    In the late 70’s early 80’s, the few times I was lucky enough to get sideline seats at Reynolds I remember getting to there early to practice cheers/jeers…

  16. bTHEredterror 02/04/2008 at 4:04 PM #

    A lot of great ideas. On the Life Call front, maybe a “He’s fallen……and he can’t get up” would work, though it would need some practice.

    BTW, Washington is the type of flopper that Paulus has to look up to. In the history of the game only Vlade has had a better Nestea plunge.

    When I was in school we would chant when four of the five players had the ball and boo the fifth. It sounded awesome, because it was in rhythm with the game.

  17. Trip 02/04/2008 at 4:07 PM #

    ^^ VT did exactly that against UVA this weekend. They’d chant when 4 people had the ball, and as soon as Singletary touched it, boos erupted. Sounded awesome.

  18. jbpackfan 02/04/2008 at 4:07 PM #

    Can someone tell me what that stupid noise is that the RBC people play every time State makes 2 free throws? I know some other folks have heard it, and it is annoying and stupid.

  19. wolfpacker420 02/04/2008 at 4:08 PM #

    Every time he shoots free throws we could say “Moms a crack head.. clap clap..etc?

  20. bluelena69 02/04/2008 at 4:13 PM #

    How about something as simple as this? Instead of the chant that typically occurs when on defense (i.e. “defense…defense…defense”) just use a simple “handcheck..clap clap..handcheck..clap clap” every time we are on offense? How about chanting “Dirty Player…dirty player” or “TBone clap clap clap…TBone clap clap clap” when they announce Gerald Henderson? It really isn’t hard. There is plenty of stuff to jazz these guys about…just pay attention. They are floppers, handcheckers, dirty players and worse. They will get away with it too until someone makes it impossible to ignore.

    I too am constantly amazed at the lack of creativity since the move to the RBC Center. As one who was fortunate enough to be in school in the Reynolds era, I always thought that, even in the lean years, State’s student section was among the most brutal to be found. Now we are trying to emulate a bunch of pimply, trust fund dorks that jump up and down like the bunch of geeks they are? This is pitiful and will do nothing more than make us look like a bunch of second-run wanna-be’s.

    I really don’t want to crack on our student body as a whole, but come on…

  21. bTHEredterror 02/04/2008 at 4:20 PM #

    For Gerald Henderson……

    clap-clap, clap clap clap, “WATCH THOSE ELBOWS!”

  22. pack80 02/04/2008 at 4:26 PM #

    Quinten Jackson reminding Sid and the players to salute the fans.
    Go QJ. Class all the way.

  23. wolfonthehill 02/04/2008 at 4:41 PM #

    Oh, how I miss the sets of 3 connected chairs in Reynolds that you could actually lift and wave around in the endzone while someone was shooting free throws. You really don’t see THAT every day…

  24. beowolf 02/04/2008 at 4:53 PM #

    I just don’t like the idea of poking fun at someone’s mother, even if the real intent is to poke fun of the media for over fixating on someone’s mother.

    This would be funnier if it were a Jeff Lebo daddy-attached-at-the-hip situation.

  25. WolfAce 02/04/2008 at 5:09 PM #

    First of all, let’s get this straight, NOBODY is trying to copy Duke with the jumping, the effect was that we were all in unison, jumping about once a second, the sound was like BOOM……….BOOM……….BOOM……….BOOM……….BOOM on the metal bleachers, like a bunch of soldiers marching or something. Duke fans just jump up and down all the time like so many bobblehead prarie dogs. But you’re crazy if you think we can’t or weren’t yelling as well, personally, I usually have a hard time speaking after most games.

    But I’ll definitely agree that our student section is wholly incompetent in the organized cheer department, and I blame a lot of that on a lack of leadership. They always have laughable ‘Cheer Sheets’ on about every other chair that encourage ‘positive noise’, embarassingly stupid chant ideas, and other politically correct bull from the current administration. If the Student Wolfpack Club could informally come up with decent cheer ideas like heckling a certain player all game to take his head out of it, things might build on that, but like most traditions, I feel that a lot of the administration involved is more concerned about PC politics than what is best for the students and NCSU traditions….

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