New Lynah scoreboard

[Swampy]

We should have screens above the urinals, obviously. And why not add ear-splitting advertisements, preferably with soulless techno: "This bathroom brought to you by Shortline! We gooooooooooo the distance!"

Apparently you haven't been to an NHL or AHL arena recently.  You can be sure there will be ads above the urinals.

Actually, the visual ad creep doesn't bug me that much; indeed, I've chuckled at more than a few over-urinal ads. I can look at them or ignore them.

But audio ad creep and audio intrusions (like "Jock Jams" shoved into every stoppage) make me want to tear out patch cables and kick over amps. The idiots who think "it's just one short ad" or that they're "giving the people what they want" don't seem to realize that what they're actually doing is suppressing crowd involvement. And none of us can just "ignore them." That's not the way our ears work.

It's all anti-human.

Minor league baseball was basically ruined by this by around the late 90s.

Also Junior Hockey.

It's crept into MLB now, too.  There has to be noise between EVERY pitch.  The entire experience is now pitched to 6-year olds.  I'm sure the algorithms (developed by Cornell HumEcies) show rats hit the feeder bar more frequently when bombarded by constant noise.  God bless consumerism.

I assume symphonies now have piped in crowd noise and movie clips between movements.

A USHL team plays at a rink just a few minutes away from us.  I've seen several Cornell-bound players there.  The hockey is enjoyable, but we very rarely go because they turn up the volume so loud that it is painful and I don't want any more hearing loss.

This is common to far too many rinks...   I often carry earplugs to rinks for that very reason...  It's just plain offensive!!!

Yes, wish I had discovered these when I was at Cornell and had been smart enough to use them.

Worksite headphones get the point across better.  Also have that nice "I'm an introvert, I don't want to interact with you" feel.

Actually, a cell phone will have that same effect.

Yeah, but my problem while at Cornell was not absence of earplugs at hockey games. I had friends who were in bands, and when I went to their shows -- as well as to those of strangers -- I would deliberately sit in front of the speakers. It created a sensory high after the show was over. Years later, when I went for a hearing test, the audiologist guessed that this is what I had done, because the portion of my hearing that's gone commonly goes due to this practice. Over time it worsened and became tinnitus. "Tinnitus ... can also result from prolonged exposure to excessively loud noise." Today I still go to rock concerts and even stand by the speakers, but wearing musician's earplugs.

[jtwcornell91]

Some teams do better than others with noise in MLB.

The ones who blare the bit from The Natural after a home homerun or walk off are the worst.  It sucks all the actual excitement out of the moment and replaces it with cornball Disney generic treacle.

Just let the ambient crowd noise define the moment you fucking MBA assholes.  Real life is captivating .  It does not need your programmed lard.

Fun fact (spoilers): in the book, Roy Hobbs strikes out.

On your 2nd point, on some platforms of the MLB.tv service, you can choose home/away broadcasts for video, and for audio, you can select TV announcers, radio, Spanish language (if available), or remove announcers completely and just have ballpark ambient sound. That last option may be the greatest feature in sports broadcasting since the yellow line technology.

Does anybody remember the NFL game back in 1980 where they had no announcers at all?  They had graphics on screen and mics on the ref.  That's it.  It was wonderful.

My recollection of that game is that the PA announcer overcompensated, however.  (There was also the game where they experimented with only one announcer, but I think it was not good for his mental health.)

[jtwcornell91]

We should have screens above the urinals, obviously. And why not add ear-splitting advertisements, preferably with soulless techno: "This bathroom brought to you by Shortline! We gooooooooooo the distance!"

Apparently you haven't been to an NHL or AHL arena recently.  You can be sure there will be ads above the urinals.

Actually, the visual ad creep doesn't bug me that much; indeed, I've chuckled at more than a few over-urinal ads. I can look at them or ignore them.

But audio ad creep and audio intrusions (like "Jock Jams" shoved into every stoppage) make me want to tear out patch cables and kick over amps. The idiots who think "it's just one short ad" or that they're "giving the people what they want" don't seem to realize that what they're actually doing is suppressing crowd involvement. And none of us can just "ignore them." That's not the way our ears work.

It's all anti-human.

Minor league baseball was basically ruined by this by around the late 90s.

Also Junior Hockey.

It's crept into MLB now, too.  There has to be noise between EVERY pitch.  The entire experience is now pitched to 6-year olds.  I'm sure the algorithms (developed by Cornell HumEcies) show rats hit the feeder bar more frequently when bombarded by constant noise.  God bless consumerism.

I assume symphonies now have piped in crowd noise and movie clips between movements.

Some teams do better than others with noise in MLB. An organ is a nice touch. "EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS" is not.

I went to my first European hockey game in 10+ years last weekend, and I was reminded of how much of a better job they do here of using piped-in music to encourage rather than suppress audience participation.  It also helps that the fan clubs have drums which they play basically throughout the game, leading cheers and songs.  We were at the opposite end of the rink from the standing section, and it was still incredibly loud.  (The two-year-old--attending her first hockey game--still decided it was a good environment to take a nap.)

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

We should have screens above the urinals, obviously. And why not add ear-splitting advertisements, preferably with soulless techno: "This bathroom brought to you by Shortline! We gooooooooooo the distance!"

Apparently you haven't been to an NHL or AHL arena recently.  You can be sure there will be ads above the urinals.

Actually, the visual ad creep doesn't bug me that much; indeed, I've chuckled at more than a few over-urinal ads. I can look at them or ignore them.

But audio ad creep and audio intrusions (like "Jock Jams" shoved into every stoppage) make me want to tear out patch cables and kick over amps. The idiots who think "it's just one short ad" or that they're "giving the people what they want" don't seem to realize that what they're actually doing is suppressing crowd involvement. And none of us can just "ignore them." That's not the way our ears work.

It's all anti-human.

Minor league baseball was basically ruined by this by around the late 90s.

Also Junior Hockey.

It's crept into MLB now, too.  There has to be noise between EVERY pitch.  The entire experience is now pitched to 6-year olds.  I'm sure the algorithms (developed by Cornell HumEcies) show rats hit the feeder bar more frequently when bombarded by constant noise.  God bless consumerism.

I assume symphonies now have piped in crowd noise and movie clips between movements.

Some teams do better than others with noise in MLB. An organ is a nice touch. "EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS" is not.

I went to my first European hockey game in 10+ years last weekend, and I was reminded of how much of a better job they do here of using piped-in music to encourage rather than suppress audience participation.  It also helps that the fan clubs have drums which they play basically throughout the game, leading cheers and songs.  We were at the opposite end of the rink from the standing section, and it was still incredibly loud.  (The two-year-old--attending her first hockey game--still decided it was a good environment to take a nap.)

I've been to games in Korea, and it's similar.  A fan club with drums at the end of the rink, and fairly organized cheers and limited music except for extended breaks.  They also have a few cheerleaders at the fan club end.

[billhoward]

Closing in on 150 posts. Reminds me of the pitch for Seinfeld and what the show was about.

Seinfield pitch (2:33)

[redice]

All of this brings to mind my hopes and prayers that the CU pep band has improved over last year's edition.  In 50+ years of watching hockey at Lynah, last year's edition was the first to make me long for games WITHOUT a pep band.   They were just plain "noise".   Fingers crossed!!

[RichH]

Closing in on 150 posts. Reminds me of the pitch for Seinfeld and what the show was about.

Seinfield pitch (2:33)

It's called a DISCUSSION FORUM, Bill. I'm enjoying the talk here, too bad you aren't.  You really want a thread of nothing, go read through the Harvard thread.

[Trotsky]

Is this a good time to mention that Seinfeld sucks?

[Scersk '97]

Closing in on 150 posts. Reminds me of the pitch for Seinfeld and what the show was about.

Seinfield pitch (2:33)

It's called a DISCUSSION FORUM, Bill. I'm enjoying the talk here, too bad you aren't.  You really want a thread of nothing, go read through the Harvard thread.

Not enough posts from Bill on that thread to qualify.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Is this a good time to mention that Seinfeld sucks?

+1

[French Rage]

Is this a good time to mention that Seinfeld sucks?

[Trotsky]

Don't call me Ariel.  My name is Helvetica.

[Jim Hyla]

Anybody know anything new?

[Trotsky]

Anybody know anything new?

"Who, me?  I know lots of things.  I know Carson City is the capital of Nevada!"

[Swampy]

Anybody know anything new?

"Who, me?  I know lots of things.  I know Carson City is the capital of Nevada!"

That's new? Did you learn it yesterday?