To Hide Fish

[Tom Lento]

Well said, Age.  Good show old man.  Tea tomorrow?

:-))

I really like this laughing dude.  Although I feel a little bit more like this guy:  :-|

zzzzzzzzz

[Tom Lento]

Damn.  Sorry, wrong smiley with the eye-rolling thing.  

[jtwcornell91]

When we hosted Harvard in the playoffs a couple of years back, with one of the games televised on NESN, there was a big scare effort which basically implied there would be a penalty at the first tossing of fish (e.g., pre-game announcements).  The result was that everyone got nervous and then decided it was safe to throw them with the newspapers, with the result that the cleanup happened before and after the anthems, with the awkward spectacle of the rink crew standing at attention on the ice.

And after the game one of the players asked "Where were the fish?"

I think there's a chance to keep the fish-throwing tradition while fending off the penalties if the announcement Arthur read in the second intermission, about not hurting the team with bench minors, were read in the first intermission as well.  Or the ushers who try so diligently to find out who said "@!#$" this time could look for the second-period fish-tossers pre-emptively; since there relatively few of them, it might be possible to stop them.  Or we could lose a game because of the fish penalty; that got people to get it straight for a couple of yeats.

[Jim Hyla]

Age, I think you have tried to imply that I want to throw out the baby with the bath water. I don't see where I, nor anyone else thought we should get rid of all traditions.

You see, some of us were here before the fish, and interestingly enough there were traditions even then. In fact, intimidating fans can exist without fish or, heaven forbid, even without the word suck. Need I remind everyone of the Boston Globe quote from 1970, "Cornell fans made the timbers tremble", referring to the noise during the ECAC's at the Garden.

No, I do not wish that we were like Yale; for I have become hoarse many, too many, times to want to miss that feeling again. However, sometimes we need to admit when some things we do are not in the best interest of the team or the university. IMHO the fish have become that. It seems that too many people cannot distinquish between throwing fish before the game, and throwing them later or throwing anything else for that matter. When the coach has to get angry at the fans, I think we need to seriously look at our behavior and decide the best way to change it.

If you have a better suggestion to curb bad behavior, then I am more than willing to listen to it. All I ask in return is for you to return the favor, and not to blow me, and others, off without responding to the issue at hand.

I know this has been a difficult and time consuming time for many fans, but civility is still important, both as a student as well as later in life.

Let's all try and come up with the best solution to difficult problems, while still respecting everyone's opinion.

[Greg Berge]

I think the best solution is:

(1) Keep the fish tradition.

(2) Widespread info campaign (in the papers, among the frats, in the dorms, in whatever unofficial "inside story on Cornell" stuff circulates on the net) about there being only one very tightly defined time at which it's ok to throw fish.

(3) Significant disciplinary action against anyone throwing any sort of bottles, etc. on the ice, with genuine student support to narc out their own.  People who throw bottles are not representative of our traditions.  They threaten them because the administration, if sufficiently provoked, will crack down on everybody.

It's possible to change crowd behavior.  "The ref f*cks sheep" was a mainstay of the Faithful throughout my undergrad days; now it's all but dead and good riddance.  Hopefully, bottle-throwing will die off before it gets started.

[CowbellGuy]

Jim Hyla wrote:

fans can exist without fish or, heaven forbid, even without the word suck.

And therein lies the core of the problem. Lots of great Lynah traditions have come and gone with little to replace them. Now all we have is little more than suck and fish. The crowd is only on time and vocal once a year. You take away what little tradition is left, and in 5 years we might not be talking about how loud it was all the time, but how loud it was during the Harvard games once a year.

I see no problem with the fish. If it results in a penalty once every five years, that's unfortunate, but it should fall to the Faithful to police themselves, and not have to resort to abolishing what semblance of tradition is left.

[Ben Doyle 03]

Greg, how 'bout "The Ref beats his Wife (repeat)?" I know it's a little vulgar but we're not exactly trying to make friends, rather we're letting him know we're not happy with his calls. . .of course, this would be saved for extreme circumstances.


     ***Please, (in light of recent threads) do not respond to this
      and "rip me a new one," this is a suggestion in good fun***

[jtwcornell91]

Personally, I've always enjoyed "The ref beats his sheep" as well as the other hybrid cheer...
;-)

[melissa]

sounds like a good plan Greg. Don't know how easy it would actually be to implement. Sadly, I think the % of factimers to legitimate hockey fans  is stacked against us and well, let's be honest, the facetimers for the most part don't gove a damn what happens as long as they are obnoxious and amused. As for the "The ref f*cks sheep" cheer - don't think that it is completely dead. Have heard it on several occasions - tho it seems to be saved for REALLY crappy calls (or non-calls).