Dead (or Zombie) Cheers

Jeff Hopkins and Roy Kornbluh noted in the "Thank You Mike Schafer" thread how they used to remind Bob Gaudet about his ugliness. That reminded me about the "U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi! You're ugly! You're ugly....." cheer I used to hear in the mid-80s, whenever the sieve or another opponent took off his mask/shield on the ice. The cheer had even died out by the end of the 80s, IIRC.

How do good cheers die? And can we bring them back?

I'd love to hear about some other cheers that used to be popular but are no longer heard in Lynah. Another one I remember was if an opposing skater fell notoriously, the chant would go up "[Player Name] can't skate! [Player Name] can't skate". And what about the Harvard specific cheers?

H-A-AHR, H-A-AHR, H-A-AHR, V!
V-A-AHR, V-A-AHR, V-A-AHR, D!
HAHVAHD, HAHVAHD
RAH! (with a fey single hand wave, with pinky pointed out)
[all done with an affected upper class Boston accent]

or

That's H-A-R with a V,
V-A-R with a D,
Knit one, pearl two,
Hahvahd boys,
Yoo hoo!! (with girlish hand waves)

A songsheet with the words to the two Harvard songs (and some other cheers) was left on the Lynah seats before the Harvard game in 1988-89 season, as fewer and fewer fans knew the words (or as more and more were hung over by the time the game actually started).

I note that none of the above are included in John's Cheers page, linked from eLynah's home page. Maybe someone would be interested in compiling dead cheers and turning some of them into zombie cheers?



Post Edited (04-22-03 10:50)

The Hahvahd cheers live on in the world of the marching band, but I tend to think they're a little too... I don't know... out of character for today's Lynah (interpret that as you please). Not to mention far too organized. Remember, some people can't even distinguish "you goon" from "you lose."

[Q]"U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi! You're ugly! You're ugly....." cheer I used to hear in the mid-80s, whenever the sieve or another opponent took off his mask/shield on the ice.[/Q]

The past couple years, whenever the opposing sieve has his mask raised, the students immediately give him the more simple "UG-LY, UG-LY..." chant and continue until his mask comes down. At which point a sarcastic mock cheer goes up. The "alibi" variant has been in some '80s high school football movies.

[Q]Another one I remember was if an opposing skater fell notoriously, the chant would go up "[Player Name] can't skate! [Player Name] can't skate". [/Q]

Still done. Only it's the more anonymous "You can't skate! You can't skate!" or even "Learn to skate! Learn to skate!" Unless it's Noah Welch falling at his own blueline allowing Greg Hornby to break in and score the eventual game-winning goal. In that case, the crowd does the usual goal celebration.

I think the "ugly" cheer died when the Saturday Night Live cheerleader's skit used it. That's a gauranteed way to kill any decent cheer.

I think today's cheers are in part more clever (Hey, ____! Your mother called, your sister called, mystery guest called) but also less clever (Sucks being the response to just about everything).

Back in the 80's, all we did when an opposing player went to the box, was yell "You! You! You! (ad infinitum)" I like what we do now better.

The one I'd like back is to have the whole house singing the goalie's name, such as "Syyyyyl.....vie" for UVM sieve Sylvain Turcotte, or "Hyyyyy...phen" for Grumet-Morris, much like is still done in the pros, especially with Cujo (or Hasek before he retired). Problem is, you start doing that at Lynah now, and the entire rink will yell "SUCKS", because that's how we do it now. I like it the old way simply for volume of harassment, it's usually a simple two-syllable thing so the whole rink can pick it up easily, and it can go on forever, rather than just three times. That's how you really get under a goalie's skin.

JH

The movie was the Goldie Hawn classic, "Wildcats."

Jeff Hopkins '82 wrote:

The one I'd like back is to have the whole house singing the goalie's name, such as "Syyyyyl.....vie" for UVM sieve Sylvain Turcotte, or "Hyyyyy...phen" for Grumet-Morris, much like is still done in the pros

LOL...I just had a rant about that tonight while watching the Leafs-Flyers game tonight. The Philadephia fans went to doing this exact thing to Belfour. I think that it's boring, uncreative, and dumb. You aren't saying anything about the sieve, just repeating his name. How is that taunting? My comment during the game tonight was that the mindless droning just shows how much better college hockey crowds are than the pros. College crowds talk about his 5-hole. Talk about his mother. Call him a sieve/funnel/vacuum/black hole. There's only two things NHL crowds do...this name-repeating thing and the "na na na hey hey hey goodbye" song. I really hope that college crowds would never want to be more like NHL crowds.

Just my opinion.

Jason Elliott once said something about how he didn't understand how the name-repeating thing was supposed to bug a goalie, and that he actually got a kick out of it when opposing fans tried to rattle him that way.

And I think that's the point. The fact that he even noticed, and thus lost some of his focus to "get a kick out of it," says that at some fundamental level, the cheer works.

Rich Hovorka '96 wrote:

You aren't saying anything about the sieve, just repeating his name.

It only makes sense if you are going after a player who is already having a bad game. It is a way of saying "all eyes are on you and your horrible performance." Otherwise it is just tedious.

As is doing any of the countless 'sieve' cheers against top goalies who we are in one goal games/tied with/losing against in the third period. Though I guess that's just what is done.

Daryl Strawberry might disagree -- he let it bother him whether he was having a bad game or not.

This taunt was a staple at Lynah rink several years before I heard it at any NHL game or other pro event. I managed to get most of the Oakland Coliseum on Orel Hershiser's case with it in the '88 World Series. It didn't work well enough.

After Ayers threw his 3rd period fit in the championship game, I tried to get this going, but only got a couple puzzled looks from the Faithful nearby. I realized afterwards that I should have been yelling Miiii-key instead of his last name. Oh well, we abused him pretty well anyway.

The version of this that I find very annoying and NHL-lame is the one BU fans seem to enjoy where they singsong someone's name three times and then yell "YOU SUCK!" Also, is there anyway to stop people from adding "you suck" after the "SIEVE"s in Gary Glitter? Basically if NHL fans have figured out how to do a cheer/taunt, it's probably beneath us as college fans. (And to every college team that plays Gary Glitter after goals: get a damn fight song already.)



Post Edited (04-23-03 16:45)

I'm not saying that college crowds should be more like NHL crowds. God forbid. I tried to get a "sieve" cheer going at a couple of games. and all I got were blank stares. Most NHL cheers consist of some combination of "Go" and the team name (e.g. "Let's go, Flyers!" or "Go Leafs, go!".

The true fans are so far away from the players that if one person ever tried "Hey Belfour, your mother called...." the sound would die before it left the upper deck. So when the fans, most of whom are corporate suits who aren't even watching the game, get their act together enough to sing the goalie's name, it's as creative as it gets.

While the intimacy of Lynah allows a more creative cheer selection, I'm just saying that 3800 fans all singing the goalie's name at the top of their lungs can be pretty intimidating to a goalie whose confidence has been shaken. Opposing goalies have said so. But it only works when you've got a big lead. Besides, it's a hell of a lot more interesting than just yelling "SUCKS!"

BTW, I positively loved it when the Flyers fans last night started "Bel-four" and "Na, Na, hey hey", not to mention "Domi Sucks". After all, I am a Flyers fan. Die, Sens, Die!

JH

John T. Whelan '91 wrote:

The version of this that I find very annoying and NHL-lame is the one BU fans seem to enjoy where they singsong someone's name three times and then yell "YOU SUCK!" Also, is there anyway to stop people from adding "you suck" after the "SIEVE"s in Gary Glitter? Basically if NHL fans have figured out how to do a cheer/taunt, it's probably beneath us as college fans. (And to every college team that plays Gary Glitter after goals: get a damn fight song already.)

Post Edited (04-23-03 16:45)

Which reminds me of when we were watching the playoffs last night and my wife asked me, "Does every team play the same song after every goal."

I've been saying for a while that the best cheers are the individual creative ones, and not the "suck this" and "suck that" that everything's become. Besides, excessive use of the work "suck" will nearly get you kicked out of Hobey Baker Rink.

[Q]Jeff Hopkins wrote: The true fans are so far away from the players that if one person ever tried "Hey Belfour, your mother called...." the sound would die before it left the upper deck.[/Q]Thus the problem with the Frozen Four in Buffalo, Boston, etc..

I thought the exact same thing, Jim, as I was writing that last post.

JH

When the San Diego Sockers were the best sports team in my home town the whole crowd would sing "Saaaaah-keeers....Saaaah-keeeers" to intimidate the other team. I guess its all about context.

[Q] John T. Whelan '91 wrote:

Also, is there anyway to stop people from adding "you suck" after the "SIEVE"s in Gary Glitter?[/Q]

Damn, that's the other one I forgot - this one drives me nuts. If there IS anyway to make this stop, please someone let me know how I can support the cause...

The one thing to be said for the "Firrrrrrrrrrrrst Naaaaaaaaaaame" chant is that it gets the most people involved -- it's an easy cadence, an obvious cheer, and if you don't know the goalie's first name odds are good the fan in the next seat does. That's why it's a staple even in dead arenas.

Having said which... one of the coolest, if not the coolest thing about Lynah is that complex cheers catch on fast and are built on creatively. I could count on one hand the number of other college rinks where that happens -- if I was missing all five fingers.

On the subject of dead cheers:

(1) one I miss: I didn't hear "fight, maim, kill" in any of the games I saw this year, and I don't think I heard it over the broadcasts either. Dead?

(2) one I don't miss: I didn't hear "scrape em off the ice" this year, and thank the various gods, goddesses, great green pixies, lizard kings, etc... I think it may be dead, finally. Stupid, malicious, idiotic, grrr....

(3) one I miss but for all I know it's back: from time to time (every third year or so), there's one guy who just gets the Lynah crowd's goat and they take every possible chance to make fun of him. My alltime favorite was Sedgewick, a role player at Dartmouth who made the mistake of getting into a fight with a Cornell player on the road once. For the rest of his career, every time the poor bastid stepped on the Lynah ice he was greeted with boos, jeers, chants, statements about his uncertain parentage, etc... the very over-the-top obscurity of it was what made it hysterical. Probably the best example in recent memory was Weder.



Post Edited (04-25-03 15:03)

Damn, that's the other one I forgot - this one drives me nuts. If there IS anyway to make this stop, please someone let me know how I can support the cause...

The only possible way I see of fighting these things is to whup the offender upside the head when he does it. I think a couple of well-placed, anonymous noogies would get the facetimers to stop doing "Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiie" pretty much permanently.

Too lazy to quote various pieces, but to respond:

Gary Glitter 'you suck's:
I don't know what you guys think is so horrible about this one. Yeah, the word suck(s) is overused, but I actually think the people who created this one found a pretty neat 'backbeat' to use in that. The timing is great musically (it coincides with the beginning of the next go 'round of the cheer) and I think it's good cheer-wise - it would have been nice to come up with something more unique than "you suck", but I don't think it's worth killing an otherwise good idea for. Not everything new is bad .

Fight, Maim, Kill
It still exists. Of course it's up to the band to lead it, it's probably about once a game, though possibly not at all games, and doesn't enjoy full participation. One of the oldies that half the place knows, or at least choses to do. May not make it over the radio.

Stopping cheers
Well, stopping long cheers anyway, can be done by being verbally, um, agressive towards to do-ers. More than once this year a chant of "put the keys away" has been started - amazing how some people are so dense as to smile and jiggle their keys right through it. As for DII...IE, I mentioned this in another thread once but got zero response. I started yelling "SHUT UP!" after a couple seconds of it and was rewarded by a significant drop off in participation. Since I'll have another year in Lynah I will seriously consider doing it again, and would appreciate anyone who wishes to help. I don't wanna leave Cornell with that being the norm < shudder >.

-Fred

Edit: Can we also PLEEAASE fix frustrated?!?! It used to be one of my favorite cheers, it was actually the first cheer I ever started (as a freshman), but the way these retards say it make it sound like we're all deaf, dumb, and have no beat.



Post Edited (04-25-03 16:07)

[q]The only possible way I see of fighting these things is to whup the offender upside the head when he does it. I think a couple of well-placed, anonymous noogies would get the facetimers to stop doing "Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiie" pretty much permanently.[/q]

Section C is just a few short steps from the offenders, maybe someone should take the initiative

[q]Fight, Maim, Kill
It still exists. Of course it's up to the band to lead it, it's probably about once a game, though possibly not at all games, and doesn't enjoy full participation. One of the oldies that half the place knows, or at least choses to do. May not make it over the radio.[/q]

It enjoys about the same amount of the participation within the band. There are a few hard core supporters, but there are a few major detractors. It is really up to the Trumpet section and conductor whether it is played or not.

[q] Not everything new is bad [/q]

Not everything new is good, either. The "one in ten" rule applies almost universally -- about one new thing in ten is worth keeping. Hint: the Gary Glitter "you suck" is not the one.

[Q]Gary Glitter 'you suck's:
I don't know what you guys think is so horrible about this one. Yeah, the word suck(s) is overused, but I actually think the people who created this one found a pretty neat 'backbeat' to use in that. The timing is great musically (it coincides with the beginning of the next go 'round of the cheer) and I think it's good cheer-wise - it would have been nice to come up with something more unique than "you suck", but I don't think it's worth killing an otherwise good idea [/Q]

I think I may have been partially responsible for this. In the Fall of 2000, athletics and the ushers in particular decided to crack down on language, particularly within the band because it's easy to target.
The band was told basically that we could not start or participate in any cheers that used the word "suck." When the policy was questioned for such cheers as black hole, where suck is only one of many words, we were told that "suck(s)" would be permissible only if the cheer were "long and creative."
So, during the black hole cheer in the exhibition game that year, many of us took the opportunity to say suck. I was picked out of the back line of the band and told I was being thrown out. The usher's words were something like 'I heard you buddy. S-U-C-K suck." The he went on a tirade about how if he didn't throw me out he'd lose his job. After basically telling him, I'd take the whole band with me and if the band left he'd be out of a job too, he stood down.... but anyway. During gary glitter at the next game (the unofortunate SHU game) myself and a few others who witnessed the usher's tirade, pointed at the goalie on "sieve" and the usher on "you suck." It was all rather impromptu. Apparently other people heard us and well.....


[Q]Fight, Maim, Kill
It still exists. Of course it's up to the band to lead it, it's probably about once a game, though possibly not at all games, and doesn't enjoy full participation. One of the oldies that half the place knows, or at least choses to do. May not make it over the radio.[/Q]

As Grant pointed out this is a trumpet cheer. Nobody in the band likes it. Nobody in the crowd knows the words. The trumpets MIGHT have played it twice this year, but I think the number is closer to one or zero.
I recall once last year hearing people in A responding "Sieve Sieve Sieve" instead of "fight maim kill."

[Q] there's one guy who just gets the Lynah crowd's goat and they take every possible chance to make fun of him. [/Q]

It's not quite the same thing, but I was impressed with the Cornell partisans in New Haven this year who booed Higgins with his every touch of the puck. It was also nice to see people berating him and his fellow suspended teammates in Lynah this year as they watched their team get pounded.

[Q]The past couple years, whenever the opposing sieve has his mask raised, the students immediately give him the more simple "UG-LY, UG-LY..." chant and continue until his mask comes down[/Q]

Thanks to editing the pep band cd (which is finally in production!!) I know that during the Harvard/Brown weekend last year, the crowd chanted ugly, for almost 90 seconds. I think it was 84. It was really amazing.

Also during the OSU/BC game in Providence, we started chanting "ugly" at Matti K. He looked at us and sorta frowned. Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly as attentive the next day.

[Q]

[Q]Fight, Maim, Kill
It still exists. Of course it's up to the band to lead it, it's probably about once a game, though possibly not at all games, and doesn't enjoy full participation. One of the oldies that half the place knows, or at least choses to do. May not make it over the radio.[/Q]


As Grant pointed out this is a trumpet cheer. Nobody in the band likes it. Nobody in the crowd knows the words. The trumpets MIGHT have played it twice this year, but I think the number is closer to one or zero.
[/Q]

And yet, somehow the band and the current students like and know "Swanee", which is essentially structured the same? And "Hey Bâby", which includes a reference to "kill"? Given Cornell's style of play, I would think "Fight, Maim, Kill" would be popular (especially among those who appreciate the irony play going on).

"Fight, Maim, Kill" may be thought of among undergrad bandies as a trumpet cheer now, but it had a long run with *everyone* in the crowd knowing it. Cheers do die, but please this was hardly a case of a cheer that stayed "insider." I do remember when it was created as an insider bandie cheer -- but that was in 1985!



Post Edited (04-25-03 18:00)

[q]And yet, somehow the band and the current students like and know "Swanee", which is essentially structured the same? And "Hey Bâby", which includes a reference to "kill"? Given Cornell's style of play, I would think "Fight, Maim, Kill" would be popular (especially among those who appreciate the irony play going on).[/q]

[q]"Fight, Maim, Kill" may be thought of among undergrad bandies as a trumpet cheer now, but it had a long run with *everyone* in the crowd knowing it. Cheers do die, but please this was hardly a case of a cheer that stayed "insider." I do remember when it was created as an insider bandie cheer -- but that was in 1985![/q]

The issue is not whether it is appropriate, as CULater is suggesting, or whether we didn't like it going "outside" the band as Greg suggests. There are issues within the band that cause a serious rift as to its popularity. Yes, it is often the "odd cheer out," but would you really want it to replace Swanee, Hey Bâby, or Leneveu/Underhill/Underbone? Those cheers all enjoy full audience participation. Perhaps there will be room for it next year (aside from the questionably appropriate Hornby substitution for Bâby in Hey Bâby, it may not return). There simply aren't enough breaks for us to play cheers that, for better or worse, don't encourage crowd participation.

I think a Hornby substitution in Hey Bâby is perfectly appropriate; I mean, the crowd loves the guy, not to mention the tune by now. Why not let it last one more year?

Avash '05 wrote:
I think a Hornby substitution in Hey Bâby is perfectly appropriate; I mean, the crowd loves the guy, not to mention the tune by now. Why not let it last one more year?

How about because it's stupid because the real name of the song is nothing like "Hey Hornby"? If you want to give him one of Bâby's cheers, why not Austin Powers with the line "Do I make you Hornby, baby?" replacing "Yeah, Bâby, yeah!"

DeltaOne81 '03 wrote:
Gary Glitter 'you suck's:
I don't know what you guys think is so horrible about this one. Yeah, the word suck(s) is overused, but I actually think the people who created this one found a pretty neat 'backbeat' to use in that. The timing is great musically (it coincides with the beginning of the next go 'round of the cheer) and I think it's good cheer-wise - it would have been nice to come up with something more unique than "you suck", but I don't think it's worth killing an otherwise good idea for. Not everything new is bad .

This one is uncreative not just because it's another overuse of "suck" but because everyone else does it. Gary Glitter, the ultimate Jock Jam, is so overused as to be generic in sports (e.g., used by every team that can't think of something better to play after a goal), but we've made it our own with the "sieve" and "Rough 'em up, rough 'em up, go CU" parts. ("We're gonna beat the hell out of you" has been around longer and is more widely used.) A few years ago people everywhere started changing the "hey" to "hey--you suck", and I'd have hoped we'd just stick with our own stamp on that rather than copying the "you suck" generica.

Incidentally, there's a modification of a standard Jock Jam that I'm sorry never caught on; one of these little tunes happens to consist of a repeating four-bar pattern with roughly the same cadence as the cowbell; at a Dartmouth game a few years ago (sans Age) they were piping it in and some of us started doing the cowbell cheer to it. I think when I have heard this tune at Lynah, if anyone says anything, it's "sieve".

Incidentally incidentally, speaking of Jock Jams, if anyone feels up for reviving the old pastime of stealing from the Clarkson band, they do a great thing to "Y'all Ready for This?", where they yell "sieve ... sieve ... sieve ... sieve sieve" at the appropriate intervals; it's pretty cool and not yet done to death.



Post Edited (04-25-03 19:17)

[q]How about because it's stupid because the real name of the song is nothing like "Hey Hornby"? If you want to give him one of Bâby's cheers, why not Austin Powers with the line "Do I make you Hornby, baby?" replacing "Yeah, Bâby, yeah!"[/q]

JTW sums it up nicely. I am going to be pushing to kill the song, because it loses the all important "clever" factor. The Austin Powers cheer is virtually guaranteed to become "Do I make you Hornby?" That should be enough.

Okay, okay, I understand...hey maybe if Bâby ever comes back and coaches here, it could return. Ya never know.

Grant, any new songs the band might be playing next year?

New Songs: Definitely
New Cheers: Uncertain

Talk to me if I win the conductor election study week

Sorry, I have to say that I think that playing the Hey Bâby song for Hornby is perfectly appropriate. Yes, it loses a degree of cleverness when the player's name isn't actually in the lyrics, but it's a catchy tune and a blast to sing. And, the words of the cheer part are MUCH more applicable to Hornby than Bâby (or his mom).

The Austin Powers thing is kinda cute, but it's not really a satisfying cheer -- the Hornby reference is just tacked onto the end and it is often just a mumble in the crowd.

Since someone mentioned it, I really had a problem with the band playing Underdog last season. I understand that many people were singing the alternate lyrics, substituting LeNeveu, etc., but it is rarely appropriate to call a top 10 team an underdog. If Hey Bâby needs to be dropped because Bâby is no longer on the team (waaaah), then Underdog has to go until Underhill's son plays for Cornell.

If the issue is crowd participation, I would suggest that more people sing along with Hey Bâby than Underdog (whichever lyrics they choose to use). In addition, the Underdog/LeNeveu song would never keep going when the band stops playing.

Since I'm on a roll, and this post is already way too long, I'll just mention that I really enjoy it when the band plays the theme from the Muppet Show. And there is a certain resemblance between Hornby and Animal....



Post Edited (04-26-03 12:32)

re: band music... explained!

Before reading further, try to think how many new songs/cheers you think you heard the band play this semester...

Now then, the retention of the band with music is about as low as the retention of Lynah with new cheers. That being said, the following were new songs that the band played at a rehearsal this semester:
Cum on Feel the Noize
Cleveland Rocks
Back in Black
A Little Less Conversation
Cruel Summer
Let it Whip
The Time Warp

And the following were new cheers played in rehearsal:
Aaron Sommers' Theme (dunno real title, that's what RPI calls it though, predates any idiot named after a stupid movie)
Living on a Prayer
We're Not Going to Take It
The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
Phantom of the Opera Overture
'Everybody Dance Now' (sorry, so far below my musical radar as to not care what the actual name is)

The last 3 cheers were never played at a game, nor would I count on hearing Little Less Conversation or Cleveland Rocks in the future, but I doubt many non-band people could name the rest, and let's just say that this was an extremely promiscuous semester for music, with the standard numbers being much lower. Compare it to the list of all the new pepband music of the last four years in approximate chronological order.

Side Note: 2 conductors elected each semester, each conductor gets a $50 budget for music (approx 1 song), plus there are student/alumni done arrangements (average is about 1 song or cheer sheet a semester).
* Means retired and cut from the folder.

Full Songs:
Karn Evil 9; 2nd Impression
Any Way You Want It
Money*
Sell Out*
Roundabout (Semi retired)
Rocking the Paradise (Semi retired)
Hazy Shade of Winter*
Love Shack*
Paradise City
Video Killed the Radio Star*
Wooly Bully*
What's my Age Again*

Just as an FYI: Roundabout and Rocking the Paradise never sound good, but won't die either, which is why they're rarely heard outside of rehearsal.

Cheers: (* meaning people would be shocked if they were called up)
Low Rider*
Watermelon Man*
Soul Bossa Nova
Oye Como Va*
We Got the Beat*
Macho Man
Twilight Zone
Shake Your Booty*
Funky Town* (semi retired)
Boss of Me

Sectional Cheers wax and wane with the skill/numbers of the section, as well as the relative incompetence of the conductor. A very strong bone section for the 1999-2002 era is most of the reason why Underbone got played basically all the time, and the loss of some strong players this year is more responsable for it not being played than Underhill graduating. Same goes for the trumpet things, like MacGuyver. If you have conductors who don't know a damn thing about hockey also, people get impatient and you start hearing the various sections play on their own a lot more as well, and there were definitely semesters (or even individual games) where that happened with err... regularity.

Nothing like being called to work Hot Truck at the last minute on a Saturday night to give you insomnia at 4:30.

And just for the record, the flute section are the only people in the band that enjoy playing the Muppet theme. If not for them whining in their high pitched voices whenever anybody tries to get rid of it, it'd have been gone years ago.

Did anything ever come of that arrangement of "Message to You Rudy" that someone worked out?

I thought you guys did Battlestar Galactica.

People talking about the band on elynah make me sick. Especially when the bulk of them are idiots.


So for a relevant point. When people say trumpet cheers, they mean, performed by trumpets. Not some clique thing.

With trombones, the underdog song is a song that they like to play.

In both cases, songs are ultimately controlled by those people

[Q]...but would you really want it to replace Swanee,... [/Q]

I would, but there should be room for both, since they are basically part of the same "theme" (tough-talking cheers interspersed into simple, childhood melodies).

Do you seriously think "Fight, Maim, Kill" would be hard to catch onto? And the ending (with the sound of the entire rink shouting "Fight, Maim, Kill" echoing around) is a lot more impressive than "Swanee".

CULater:

You should include the rest of the sentence in your quote so I don't look like I was holding Swanee up as the supreme infallible cheer that no one should ever speak of removing I did mention other cheers in that sentence. [q]but would you really want it to replace Swanee, Hey Bâby, or Leneveu/Underhill/Underbone?[/q]

I personally don't have a problem with the cheer, but it simply didn't impress the few times we played it this year. Half of the reaction was confusion, some didn't understand why we were playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and a small group of individuals actually did the cheer.

It also is a long cheer which is hard to fit in time-wise. Sure, Swanee goes over occasionally, but a couple of tubas are hardly as distracting or noisy as 15 trumpets. With the 15 second faceoff rule in effect, fewer and fewer "long" cheers can be played. Unless the band suddenly starts liking it, or hundreds of fans flood the conductors' inboxes, it will likely not be played.

[q]I thought you guys did Battlestar Galactica.[/q]

Yeah, we do, but I think "Mike" was just listing conductor introduced songs. **)

[q]In both cases, songs are ultimately controlled by those people[/q]

I didn't know that G-d fought for the Pep Band! Wouldn't G-d have an email though?

Grant MacIntyre '05 wrote:
Unless the band suddenly starts liking it, or hundreds of fans flood the conductors' inboxes, it will likely not be played.

What if one fan floods the conductors' inboxes hundreds of times?

Well, here's another vote for doing it. If the cheer died, it's only because the band stopped playing it. I think the students can handle learning 3 words in fairly short order if it becomes more routine. And since Chris hasn't said anything about it, I'll throw it out in a public forum. I think the Molson Anthem (I Am Canadian) would be cool...

[www.hockey.cornell.edu]

Considering that "Fight, Maim, Kill" has been printed on buttons and banners over the years, it'd be a shame to see it go away as part of Cornell Hockey Fandom.

> People talking about the band on elynah make me sick.

LOL. Because the band is a vital issue important to the future of mankind and it should not be tampered with? Um, yeah... I see.

Look, the band is cute (although a helluva lot less cute now that a certain redhead drummer has moved on) and it helps coordinate crowd action, but it's an appendage to Lynah, Lynah is not an appendage to it. If the band is doing (or not doing) stuff according to the crowd's wishes, then that's a problem for the band, not the crowd. Hundred of people go to road games when the band isn't there. Nobody goes to watch the band practice when the team isn't there. I love bandies and am glad they do their thing, but when they start talking as if they have meaning or value to us independent of directly assisting the Lynah experience, they're reality challenged. Shut up and play your instrument.

Greg wrote:

I love bandies and am glad they do their thing, but when they start talking as if they have meaning or value to us independent of directly assisting the Lynah experience, they're reality challenged. Shut up and play your instrument.

I really don't think that's what the anonymous person was saying, Greg. I think s/he is more upset about fans outside the band telling the band what it should/shouldn't do. I really don't think anyone in the band thinks they're bigger than Lynah.

Here's another vote for increased "Fight, Maim, Kill." I love hearing that, especially when there's a lot of participation...it just echoes and is a very, very strong statement from the crowd.

[q]I really don't think that's what the anonymous person was saying, Greg. I think s/he is more upset about fans outside the band telling the band what it should/shouldn't do. I really don't think anyone in the band thinks they're bigger than Lynah.[/q]

Rich is correct. I don't know who this "god" person is. Please don't judge the band on this person's comments, because the comments are stupid. No one that I know in the band feels that way.

I'm not meaning to judge all bandies by the one dumb poster's comments. Hopefully nobody will judge all cantankerous fans by my dumb comments.

And as I said, I love bandies. In the end, they can choose any repertoire (too lazy to look up the correct spelling) they want, as I think "Macho Man" is ample testament.

"Mary Had a Little Lamb"

does anyone else out there get confused when they hear Mary Had a Little Lamb out in Lynah? I know "Fight Maim Kill" only has the words "fight", "maim", and "kill" in it but then there's also:
JR* is a great big sieve, great big sieve, great big sieve.
JR is a great big sieve, he let the pucks go by...X** times!
* first goalie to pop into my head
** fill in your own number

and this is sung to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb...and is what pops into my head if I'm at Lynah and hearing Mary Had a Little Lamb.
and if for some ungodly reason, you're in the bathroom when one of these is going on, it gets a little confusing cuz of the muffle.

and I guess my personal preference that differs the others but "fight maim kill" just doesn't seem to have the energy as some of the other cheers, but maybe it's cuz the cheer has gone downhill in the last 6(?) years and I missed the hey day?

Yeah - but I think it's pretty cool that we have two cheers to MHALL. Just part of the culture - you have to be an insider to know that when the trumpets play, it's FMK, but when the crowd starts it, it's Great Big Sieve time. A couple other folks and I made a (large) Fight Maim Kill banner for Lake Placid in '96, but it apparently got some negative feedback from other teams' fans (imagine that), so we never did it again. I'm definitely a fan of FMK, in case you couldn't tell....

Of course, I hope that no player ever gets maimed in the course of playing hockey, but I never really want Schafer to kill anyone either. Somehow the "maim" aspect of the cheer seems the most brutal to me - "killing" is so overused (think of the list of things that can be killed - kegs, volleyballs, momentum, etc) that "maim" just seems to catch people's attention more.

Robb Newman wrote:
when the crowd starts it, it's Great Big Sieve time.

Is that like Big Red Touchdown Time?

You know what cheer I miss most of all?

Davy in 3. -sigh-

As usual, the words of God are misunderstood.

I was just saying that My groan can be heard across the heavens when someone says "the band should play Drive me McCrae-zy, or this or that or the other thing", or "I dont like when they play make me smile, because hockey shouldnt be about smiling".. whats next, lighting candles for Chabot?

Greg, no heaven for you. And no Boyd, either. Please try and think before you attempt to rant. "Shut up and play your instrument" is quite inflammatory for the band members, who, last I checked, are also allowed to be fans, and if you want to stay in My good graces, I suggest you treat them like other members of the faithful, not like some appendage.

And from now on, stop playing with yourself.

Wow, it IS God.....

Mike Steinfeld wrote:

You know what cheer I miss most of all?

Davy in 3. -sigh-

Amen

Why am I picturing the scene in "Real Genius" where they wire the voice of God through the guy's braces....

Only this time it's probably coming out the bell end of a trumpet!

JH

Jeff Hopkins '82 wrote:
Why am I picturing the scene in "Real Genius" where they wire the voice of God through the guy's braces....

Only this time it's probably coming out the bell end of a trumpet!

And why am I now picturing a scene from American Pie 2?

Another vote for Fight-Maim-Kill...

But when did it become a trumpet cheer? When I was around, the tubas would run around behind Section O and lay into it... then again, I imagine 10 trumpets does a better job of startling enemy fans than 3 tubas.

Jon Getty '96 wrote:

Another vote for Fight-Maim-Kill...

But when did it become a trumpet cheer? When I was around, the tubas would run around behind Section O and lay into it... then again, I imagine 10 trumpets does a better job of startling enemy fans than 3 tubas.

Fight-Maim-Kill was always a trumpet cheer when we were around, Jon. You're confusing it with Swanee (Die-Drop Dead-Go Home) which is what the tubas played on the M-N-O side. Fight-Maim-Kill is to the tune of "Mary had a little lamb."

Or maybe you spent too much time in Phillips Hall.

Jon DEFINITELY spent too much time in Phillips hall - rumor is that his GPA was higher than Skazyk's career GAA...

Robb Newman wrote:

Jon DEFINITELY spent too much time in Phillips hall - rumor is that his GPA was higher than Skazyk's career GAA...

Meanwhile, Beeeej's grades in the English department were rumored to be almost identical to Underhill's GAA....

U.G.L.Y! You don't got no alibi! You ugly! Yeah! Yeah! You ugly!

M.A.M.A! That is where you got it from! Your mama! Yeah! Yrah! Your mama

P.A.P.A.! That is why he ran away! You ugly! Yeah! Yeah! You ugly!

Bring it back! Ah, the memories...