Harvard @ Cornell Saturday

[Dafatone]

Wasn't there a "fuck you harvard" chant in the first period of both games?

[Trotsky]

I remember "Go start the bus", too.  Unless we played Army ("Go start the tank") or Sucks ("Go staht the cahr").

I think the whole "Hey goalie...your _____ Called" is uninteresting.  Nobody can hear anything but You suck".

I despise the tubas "Over There". Manly because the cheers don't fit the rhythm.  It sounds clumsy to me,

My annual Tepid Takes:

• The tubas are okay.  They lost Swanee River to the worry beaders so whatevs.  
• The "Ring, ring" cheer is just whatever person and/or frat does it masturbating in public.  It's embarrassing.  (Also, we stole it from BU, and they do it much better, which is even more embarrassing.)
  
• The worst thing is "Bend over," which is a lazy cheer that often continues right up until the other  team scores into our net.  Way to go, fans.
• The second-worst thing is the Jeopardy Theme, which is the pep band indulging itself.  It makes them sound stupid, which is terrible because our band is the best.
• I wish they would bring back "Go start the x," "Black hole" (the only chant I know of which was started by and stolen from Harvard), "Fight Maim Kill."
• Stop doing "Hey Baby" now that it's associated with sinkholes like Fenway.
• Finally, bring back the skating bear and the season-ending strip tease.  That was epic.

Post script: and for fuck's sake, TRY NEW THINGS!  When it's quiet, scream out some funny bit of inspiration.  That is where every Cornell cheer started.  Every one of our chants is the detritus of somebody auditioning, killing it, and it getting picked up first by their row, then their section, and finally the whole barn.  Put down your iPacifier and engage with the world, you nasty little shits.  

And keep my social security checks coming!

[Trotsky]

Wasn't there a "fuck you harvard" chant in the first period of both games?

Oh, yeah, and it was loud and clear on the broadcast.  I have a feeling we are going to get an off-season directive and it will go the way of "The ref fucks sheep."

[Al DeFlorio]

Great to see Goldstein!

[BearLover]

I remember "Go start the bus", too.  Unless we played Army ("Go start the tank") or Sucks ("Go staht the cahr").

I think the whole "Hey goalie...your _____ Called" is uninteresting.  Nobody can hear anything but You suck".

I despise the tubas "Over There". Manly because the cheers don't fit the rhythm.  It sounds clumsy to me,

My annual Tepid Takes:

• The tubas are okay.  They lost Swanee River to the worry beaders so whatevs.  
• The "Ring, ring" cheer is just whatever person and/or frat does it masturbating in public.  It's embarrassing.  (Also, we stole it from BU, and they do it much better.)
  
• The worst thing is "Bend over," which is a lazy cheer that often continues right up until the other  team scores into our net.  Way to go, fans.
• The second-worst thing is the Jeopardy Theme, which is the pep band indulging itself.  It makes them sound stupid, which is terrible because our band is the best.
• I wish they would bring back "Go start the x," "Black hole" (the only chant I know of which was started by and stolen from Harvard), "Fight Maim Kill."
• Stop doing "Hey Baby" now that it's associated with sinkholes like Fenway.
• Finally, bring back the skating bear and the season-ending strip tease.  That was epic.

The lamest cheer by far is the "hi ho, Silver, away!" or whatever they're saying, is plus the cringe hand-motions.

[Trotsky]

The lamest cheer by far is the "hi ho, Silver, away!" or whatever they're saying, is plus the cringe hand-motions.

That's actually a really old one; IINM it is a reference to an Ike Willis bit who did a Lone Ranger thing during the 1984 Zappa tour because one night (in I believe Buffalo, but in any case in upstate NY), he just got really silly on stage.  It caught on and, like the bit, it is great because it is so lame.  I personally adore it.  And I am fine with inside jokes in the band.  Some are wonderful.  But they need to be quick, in and out.

[jhib]

I remember "Go start the bus", too.  Unless we played Army ("Go start the tank") or Sucks ("Go staht the cahr").

I think the whole "Hey goalie...your _____ Called" is uninteresting.  Nobody can hear anything but You suck".

I despise the tubas "Over There". Manly because the cheers don't fit the rhythm.  It sounds clumsy to me,

My annual Tepid Takes:

• The tubas are okay.  They lost Swanee River to the worry beaders so whatevs.  
• The "Ring, ring" cheer is just whatever person and/or frat does it masturbating in public.  It's embarrassing.  (Also, we stole it from BU, and they do it much better, which is even more embarrassing.)
  
• The worst thing is "Bend over," which is a lazy cheer that often continues right up until the other  team scores into our net.  Way to go, fans.
• The second-worst thing is the Jeopardy Theme, which is the pep band indulging itself.  It makes them sound stupid, which is terrible because our band is the best.
• I wish they would bring back "Go start the x," "Black hole" (the only chant I know of which was started by and stolen from Harvard), "Fight Maim Kill."
• Stop doing "Hey Baby" now that it's associated with sinkholes like Fenway.
• Finally, bring back the skating bear and the season-ending strip tease.  That was epic.

Post script: and for fuck's sake, TRY NEW THINGS!  When it's quiet, scream out some funny bit of inspiration.  That is where every Cornell cheer started.  Every one of our chants is the detritus of somebody auditioning, killing it, and it getting picked up first by their row, then their section, and finally the whole barn.  Put down your iPacifier and engage with the world, you nasty little shits.  

And keep my social security checks coming!

I agree with just about all of this.
- While "bend over" is just cringey and lazy (made even worse by how common it is during a game), "Ugly" always still cracks me up during timeouts when the mask comes off.
- Whoever first screwed up the nice, clear, blunt "Die, Drop dead, Go home" and replaced them with the long garbled nonsense needs to, well, die, drop dead, and/or just go home.
- I still can't believe they haven't figured out how to make a "Let's go Red" chant last more than about 5 seconds. And not only that chant, but why is everything always so rushed? What's even the point of the goal count and "sieve" if they just do it as quickly as possible to get to the "it's all your fault"?
- Do they still do "good goalie, bad goalie"?
- IMHO, The bests are the slight twists on the classics - like "Go start the tank" mentioned above and "good goalie" to the empty net that the CU player just barely missed and "bad goalie" to the pulled one on the bench.

[CU2007]

It was AWESOME to hear the students singing the Gary Glitter song last night. I miss that from the pre-covid days, when it would continue on after the puck dropped. Sorry you got the boot Dunc!

[CU2007]

What was going on with the Harvard players not leaving the ice at the end of the 2nd period? They were all standing around by the Zamboni door.  Was that related to the F Bombs? Can't think they would actually care.

[Trotsky]

When they pull their goalie, Goalie! < point to our net >, Sieve! < point to empty net >, Sieve! < point to departed goalie on bench >

When they replace their goalie, "Second string sieve!"

I believe we were told expressly to stop doing "Die!" which... yeah, I get that.  "Dieeeeeeeeee" is so  dumb nobody is insulted by it.

The speeding up is what happens when you are mostly training a new crowd, which, remember, we still are.  The crowd has to realize the cheer has a  purpose, it is not for them, it is to raise the level of intensity of the barn to hype up the team.  That is why long, slow, building chants are so effective.  Lynah doesn't really have anything like it anymore, but in more disciplined days, and in other buildings, when you can get a crowd to be slow, in sync, and in full voice, it is fucking terrifying, it sounds like a bell tolling and The Furies are going to swoop down from the rafters and carry your sorry ass visiting team soul to hell.

One of my favorite Faithful memoires isn't even at Lynah, it was at the Garden with Harvard and RPI playing the 1985 final.  The Faithful had an entire section and we had all shown up despite being destroyed by eventual national champion RPI the prior night, since, why not, we're here already?

During a quiet time during play, when all you could hear was skates on the ice, as one the Faithful chanted, slowly, "the coach is bald!" and pointed at Cleary. Then "the coach is fat!" and pointed at Adessa.  And then, again, slowly, alternating back and forth, "Bald!... Fat!...  Bald!...  Fat!..."

Harvard was used to it because of Fish N Fowl, but at a stoppage I saw two RPI players turn around and just look in the stands, like, "What is WRONG with you people?  Your team isn't even here." It was so gratifying.

That is what is missing now.  I believe it can and will come again.

[Trotsky]

What was going on with the Harvard players not leaving the ice at the end of the 2nd period? They were all standing around by the Zamboni door.  Was that related to the F Bombs? Can't think they would actually care.

No, the team doesn't give a shit about stuff like that, it's parents with kids who don't want to hear it and complain to the AD, and TBH I'm fine with it. It's a public place where famlies are welcome.  And profanity is the last refuge of the fucking incompetent.

[Robb]

Why does the ECAC Commissioner care if the band plays a song?

Because the vast majority of the students chant "Fuck 'em up, fuck 'em up, Go CU!" during Gary Glitter instead of "Rough 'em up." Rumor has it the ECAC commish was already very displeased with the student section behavior during Game 1, and Schafer's reading of the riot act to the students over the PA during the period break last night may have been a result of that (and the students' continued F-bomb-laden chants.)

The vast majority of students have been chanting that for at least the last 15 years. They've also been chanting "Fuck you, Harvard!" for a long time now. What changed Friday night?

Are we never allowed to play Gary Glitter again now? That's everybody's favorite cheer (including the players' if you listen to their interviews).

what changed Friday night was that it was not a Cornell home game.  It was an ECAC playoff game, put on by the ECAC.  If they have different ideas of the rules, or how strictly they should be enforced, well, that's their prerogative.  What was acceptable to the Cornell administration during the regular season just isn't relevant.

[adamw]

Just going to chime in with my usual old man two cents - but I agree with just about everything written here - especially Trotsky's request to bring back the striptease. What a loss. And when did the post-quarters flood the ice tradition end? Covid? That's a massive shame.

But since Cleary was brought up - I'll throw in the same story that always periodically gets told, sometimes by me. The 1990 Cornell-Harvard series - Cleary's last before retirement. And him sitting with the pep band pre-game laughing it up. And then after Cornell won the series, him being serenaded with ... whatever ... as he was going off the ice, and him waving goodbye. Those memories were indelibly etched on a young reporter's brain. Just great stuff.

It was also the series where I snapped a picture of Tim Vanini scoring a big goal in Game 2 - which I still have - and with him doing the broadcasts these days, it was hard not to think of that constantly this weekend, especially since he talked about the series a lot - go figure.

[BearLover]

Why does the ECAC Commissioner care if the band plays a song?

Because the vast majority of the students chant "Fuck 'em up, fuck 'em up, Go CU!" during Gary Glitter instead of "Rough 'em up." Rumor has it the ECAC commish was already very displeased with the student section behavior during Game 1, and Schafer's reading of the riot act to the students over the PA during the period break last night may have been a result of that (and the students' continued F-bomb-laden chants.)

The vast majority of students have been chanting that for at least the last 15 years. They've also been chanting "Fuck you, Harvard!" for a long time now. What changed Friday night?

Are we never allowed to play Gary Glitter again now? That's everybody's favorite cheer (including the players' if you listen to their interviews).

what changed Friday night was that it was not a Cornell home game.  It was an ECAC playoff game, put on by the ECAC.  If they have different ideas of the rules, or how strictly they should be enforced, well, that's their prerogative.  What was acceptable to the Cornell administration during the regular season just isn't relevant.

The ECAC gets to dictate the rules during the conference tournament, but not during the regular season? Cornell hosted the playoff game, just as they host home games during the regular season. I wasn't aware there was a substantive difference. It seems bizarre to me the ECAC has authority during a playoff game hosted by a team that it does not have during a regular season game hosted by that same team, against another ECAC team.

[Robb]

Why does the ECAC Commissioner care if the band plays a song?

Because the vast majority of the students chant "Fuck 'em up, fuck 'em up, Go CU!" during Gary Glitter instead of "Rough 'em up." Rumor has it the ECAC commish was already very displeased with the student section behavior during Game 1, and Schafer's reading of the riot act to the students over the PA during the period break last night may have been a result of that (and the students' continued F-bomb-laden chants.)

The vast majority of students have been chanting that for at least the last 15 years. They've also been chanting "Fuck you, Harvard!" for a long time now. What changed Friday night?

Are we never allowed to play Gary Glitter again now? That's everybody's favorite cheer (including the players' if you listen to their interviews).

what changed Friday night was that it was not a Cornell home game.  It was an ECAC playoff game, put on by the ECAC.  If they have different ideas of the rules, or how strictly they should be enforced, well, that's their prerogative.  What was acceptable to the Cornell administration during the regular season just isn't relevant.

The ECAC gets to dictate the rules during the conference tournament, but not during the regular season? Cornell hosted the playoff game, just as they host home games during the regular season. I wasn't aware there was a substantive difference. It seems bizarre to me the ECAC has authority during a playoff game hosted by a team that it does not have during a regular season game hosted by that same team, against another ECAC team.

Yes.  Same as the NcAA gets to ban alcohol sales for NCAA tournament games at arenas that normally have alcohol sales during the regular season, for another example.