Dead (or Zombie) Cheers

[Greenberg \'97]

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.

[Jim Hyla]

[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..

[Jeff Hopkins \'82]

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

JH

[John ILR \'02]

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.

[gtsully]

[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...

[Greg Berge]

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)

[Greg Berge]

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.

[DeltaOne81]

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 :-P.

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)

[Tub(a)]

[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 ::twak::

:-P

[Tub(a)]

[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.

[Greg Berge]

[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.

[Chris Parkin \'03]

[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.

[CUlater]

[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 Baby", 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).

[Greg Berge]

"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)

[Tub(a)]

[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 Baby, 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 Baby in Hey Baby, 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.