key 'cheer'

Apparently there's a movement among certainly louder members of the Lynah faithful to kill the key jingling all together. While I think everyone's gotta be more careful on the timing, I'm curious about this new attempt. They sai it's first because it's 'lame as hell' and second because it 'doesn't belong to us, it's something people at Syracuse do.'

I was curious about... what do people think of the tradition (great, cool, eh, stupid, lame)? how long has it been a tradition? did we really rip it off from anybody or is it just in multiple places coincidently?

I hate the keys. I find them especially annoying when people get them out 4 or 5 mintues before the game is over.

It's been around since the late 60s or as the saying goes..."since before you were born"!

[Q]I hate the keys. I find them especially annoying when people get them out 4 or 5 mintues before the game is over.[/Q]
Everyone hates when people shake them too early - I refused todo it at all last night for shutout reasons. The question here is whether people hate them even when used appropriately. Ya know, like, diiiiiiiieee (as if that could ever be done 'appropriately').

Yes, I hate them period.

why?

I actually like the keys cheer at the end of a good game.. Telling them to warm up the bus and having our keys out is a fitting tribute for the losing team.

I do agree that recently, people have been taking them out too early. It does make me feel uncomfortable. But I think the cheer itself fits really well.. especially after close wins or an intense game/3rd period.

Yeah, I like it too... it's a bit more subtle/clever than "warm up the bus" - it's a persistent, mocking signal to the other team that they lost and should get outta here - I like it, when used as it should be

and I'd really like to hear an explanation on what is to dislike about it

I think the major problem that section b has is that the last three times (with the exception of last night) that the band has busted out their keys in the closing five minutes, the opposing team has stolen lenny's shutout (uvm, dmouth, 'gate). I know that i find it almost woofing when they jingle them that early. I have no problem jingling them if we don't have a shutout and have a significant lead, and i don't think very many other people do. Also, to quote John (happy now? ) - "Jingling your keys for more than four minutes is just plain annoying."

The keys are just very annoying. As a freshman I really liked the keys and each year I have shifted more and more towards hating them. I don't think that we should stop shaking them, but I think that we should limit them to the last minute of the game when we are up by at least two goals.

I have no problem with the key cheer if people follow the rule:

(Our score) - (Opponent's score) - 1

I think one factor in the older people seeming to be more opposed to it is that the score differential is much higher now than, say, two years ago, when one goal games were common.

There was a large reaction against them last night especially, because people didn't want to jinx the shutout. I personally didn't jingle my keys, but since there's no 'rule' against it I don't think other people shouldn't be allowed to. It's more of a personal judgement thing; I would urge people not to do it in a possible shutout game, in a year with Lenny chasing records, but if they want to, then go ahead.

Finally, if it is a blowout game, it still doesn't hurt to wait until the final 2/3 minutes. Starting with 6 minutes left (ala Vermont), it just gets annoying after awhile and plus, by the time the game ends, the jinglers are usually bored themselves. To me, the whole point is to finish off the game with it, so I wouldn't start to early for that reason.

I like the cheer when done "correctly" as well. The variation in medium (jingling metal as opposed to hoarse voices) makes it all the more interesting. It's a unique sound.

Who cares if we didn't start the cheer? We weren't the first to play hockey, yet that doesn't stop us from enjoying it.

Big Ben '03 wrote:

Also, to quote Age - "Jingling your keys for more than four minutes is just plain annoying."

Can't you people read? Age did not write, nor does he maintain the cheers page.

Some other sucker is responsible.

It may have been done in the '60's but they weren't doing it at Lynah when I was a soph. I remember hearing it on the radio when we lost at Brown my junior year ('90-'91), and I think the band brought it back with them.

edited to reflect my horrific error. indeed, i can't read

We were doing it at Lynah in '87-88, '88-89, and '89-90. And in Schoellkopf, on those occasions when we won some games.

Beeeej

If you say so, but I only remember chanting "go start the bus" ("go start the tank" against Army was my favorite variation) until the Brown loss, when the keys became a substitute. I remember the debate at the time over whether jangling keys were a worthwhile addition to the canon or just a rip-off of someone else's cheer.

I'm with BigRed Apple on this one Beej, I don't remember hearing it at all my undergraduate years from 86-90, although I admit I didn't have season tickets my freshman year. I complete believe that it was used before that as it is a pretty obvious thing to do, but as far as I remember it was never done during those years.

The first time I heard it was during the quarterfinal playoff series in '91 where we crushed Colgate 10-3 and 8-1. I had season tickets that year because my friend Joe Suh was still at school there and the drive in from Boston was pretty easy for a weekend series.

As for whether it was ripped off, well...

I doubt anyone will believe me (or even if they believe that I believe it they will assume that I was mistaken) but Joe and I were the one's who started it during that playoff series. We were absolutely giddy with crushing Colgate after some nasty battles the previous few years, and I pulled out my keys and started shaking them, Joe followed suit, and pretty soon all of section G was doing it, and pretty soon the entire rink including the townies had followed suit. Like I said, it's pretty obvious and not real imaginative, but I'd never seen it done anywhere else so I don't feel like we ripped it off from anyone.

The entire rink shaking their keys was the absolutely eeriest sound I've ever heard. Not something I'm ever likely to forget. It was the sort of thing which was really cool once, but would be really annoying if it happened every game.

That was the last game I attended at Lynah for almost a decade. The only game I've been to since then was an early season victory over Union in 2000 (I think). It wasn't done at that game.

My personal favorite cheer while at Cornell was chanting Safety School at the Harvard football team after they took a late game safety in '87 to seal a Cornell victory.

I'm just as sure - because of how shocking it was that we were beating them - that we did it during the 6-2, 4-2 sweep of Hahvahd in the 1990 QFs, and I don't remember it being a surprise or "new thing" of any sort. I also remember asking my brother for the first time what the keys meant at the Cornell/Colgate "freshmen on the field" football game in Schoellkopf in 1987. Other than that, it's not the sort of thing I tended to take notice of.

Beeeej

Well the '87 game was at Penn. You might be thinking of the '88 "Ivy League Championship" game. I have to admit I'd gone down to the sidelines getting ready to tear down the goalpost so people may very well have been shaking keys then.

I really don't remember it at the Harvard series, but who knows. Of course if you're right about the '90 QF that also predates the Brown game that everyone seems to remember it coming from, which would preclude it being stolen from them as well.

By the way, was your brother Mark? If so I doubt he remember me but we had a mutual friend.

See my edited post... I was at the '87 game at Penn (my girlfriend at the time, a soph at Rutgers, met me there for the weekend), but the game I was thinking of with the keys was the first home game of the '87 season, which was Colgate. I also helped tear down the goalpost at the Penn game in '88, and helped pitch it into Cascadilla Gorge. Damn, that was fun. :-{)}

Yep, Mark was and still is my brother, and an occasional eLF lurker/poster.

Beeeej

I think the major problem that section b has is that the last three times (with the exception of last night) that the band has busted out their keys in the closing five minutes, the opposing team has stolen lenny's shutout (uvm, dmouth, 'gate). I know that i find it almost woofing when they jingle them that early. I have no problem jingling them if we don't have a shutout and have a significant lead, and i don't think very many other people do.

Right on the mark. People, especially the Section A bandies, will start jingling the keys, watch our team give up two shutouts, and then the very next time our team is in the same situation, they'll do it again. Ever think that it could distract our own players? Perhaps I'm just being superstitious, but when I see the same thing happen to our team three times this year, I think I'm rightfully so.

I'm not implying that the jingling be gotten rid of all together, but it should only be done when we have nothing on the line. Up by at least two or three, and no shutout -- and only for the last minute or two. It's annoying, and even more than that, just plain obnoxious, when it's done for 5 minutes straight, regardless of the score.

[q]Ever think that it could distract our own players?[/q]

No.

[q] Perhaps I'm just being superstitious[/q]

Yes. Which you have every right to be, obviously. I took, have been a bit disappointed by the keys with the shutout going and with the "Zero Offense!" chants. Do I think that's the reason the shutouts have been lost or that it affect the team? No. But it just doesn't look/sound/feel right.

I pretty much suck at hockey, but I have played at Lynah with a crowd and the band (Campus Hockey Tournament, '98). when I was on the ice I was able to totally forget that there were people in the arena. So I hardly think keys would affect someone who can actually play hockey.

I see no problem at all with keys in a shutout. The whole point is taunting a team that you are beating (regardless of whether they notice). It's not a cheer that you can do post-game. What you're saying basically means you can't ever do things like "it's Friday night and you can't score!". Yes, it sucks to do that cheer and lose the shutout but the chance of that is no reason not to do it,

Though I do respect sports superstition. Absolutely...

What Keith said.

The key jingling cheer is not "You can't score." It is "We are beating you, get out of our rink."

To say that jingling keys adversely affects a shutout is to say that drowing out Swanee with a prolonged "Dieeeee" sounds good.

I remember the first time I ever heard it was during the sweep of Harvard in the '90 QF. I didn't attend many games between 87 and 90, so I assumed it had started then. I do not recall it being done even once during my students days (82-86).

I just think that some of you are plain wrong about the band starting the keys early. "n-1" is well known in the band, and there are enough of us in the know to verbally berate people who do it early, which really isnt often. N-1 is also the "winning team" time, we know not to shake our keys early.

Saying that the band cost Leneveu his shutouts. Yeah, because key jingling on the other side of the rink made lenny stand up and go "huh? what is that?". Yes you can say "oh I am just superstitous", but actually listen to yourself talk.

Well all have our little battles about cheers (remote control goalie, dancing guy and his fan club, diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie), but come on, Im surprised this is even an issue. Go yell at the guys in F that started the "you suck cock" cheer.