Origin of "Red!" during national anthem?

[adamw]

An interesting project. As a 1973(!) graduate, I feel that like a game of telephone, or that Star Trek episode with the Coms and the Yangs, some of the cheers have become garbled over the decades. The one I miss most is the cheer after we score, which went ONE! WE WANT MORE, hopefully followed by ONE! TWO! WE WANT MORE,, etc. This was done slowly and deliberately, so the full impact of our scoring prowess could be absorbed by our adversary.
Over the last decade(?), the words are said,  but without any understanding why, IMHO.
As for RED, I always thought we stole it from someone else, maybe Colgate. It was not done during my era.

One funny anecdote. At the first game at MSG on Thanksgiving weekend, maybe 10 or so years ago. The Garden had some guy on hand to sing the Star Spangled Banner. No one had bothered to tell him about our little tradition, and so when he got to rockets red glare, and the place erupted with RED, he literally stopped for several beats while he tried to figure out WTF. A highlight of the evening.

I was an Ithaca freshman during the 1988-89 season - my first game at Lynah as a reporter would've been November 1988 or maybe January 1989. Back then, there was no press box - just a press row of seats, about 3 rows off the glass. The crowd was definitely doing the "Red" thing then - because I distinctly remember nearly having a heart attack when it happened.  I was totally unprepared.

There was a pressbox at Lynah, at the top of section C, but it was very small, only had room for WHCU, the visiting radio, the SID, and the Ithaca Journal reporter. All others with media credentials sat, as Adam described, in a row behind the timekeeper and announcer, who were directly behind the single penalty bench.

right, of course, my bad ... Arthur correcting me has also been a very important part of my Cornell hockey history

[Trotsky]

As a C season ticket holder both as a student and then as an alum after they (stupidly) took the section from the students, the press box was a fun part of the experience as a fan.  If you made friends with the right person you got line sheets, and certain visiting radio guys were... shall we say... easy to wind up (lookin at you, SLU and UVM).

[stereax]

As a C season ticket holder both as a student and then as an alum after they (stupidly) took the section from the students, the press box was a fun part of the experience as a fan.  If you made friends with the right person you got line sheets, and certain visiting radio guys were... shall we say... easy to wind up (lookin at you, SLU and UVM).

Line sheets ::popcorn::

[ugarte]

As a C season ticket holder both as a student and then as an alum after they (stupidly) took the section from the students, the press box was a fun part of the experience as a fan.  If you made friends with the right person you got line sheets, and certain visiting radio guys were... shall we say... easy to wind up (lookin at you, SLU and UVM).

Line sheets ::popcorn::

they put them on the internet now but there was a time...