Quiet crowd

[Jordan 04]

Disclaimer:  I haven't been to Lynah yet this year.  Listened to the audio from the first weekend, and watched this weekend's games on the webcast.

Because I haven't been to Lynah yet, I can't compare noise levels with previous years, but if you're finding it a bit quieter than in the past, one possible reason (excuse?) I can think of is the relative ease with which we have run through our opponents this year.  Three 7-goal games, and a 2-0 shutout that wasn't that close.

Certainly in my years at Lynah, the games I've been most juiced over are the ones where we're in a battle, or the ones that really have something on the line.  Not that I expect it to reach 2002-3 levels, but in many respects home games were somewhat boring that year, when the only suspense was whether or not LeNeveu would get the shutout.  The BU games and the games at the end of the year when we were going for the perfect home season were the few games that really carried some intensity, especially the Senior Night comeback win against Union. (Was that the only time that year we trailed at home??)

So maybe that's the reason for some early quiet crowds?  Lack of competition?  I guess it also takes a little bit of time for the newbies to pick up on the cheers, or morph them into new ones, "You Goots!" ...:-)

[Beeeej]

For what it's worth, by the way, without any prodding, back-story, or preconceived notions, my girlfriend Jessica - upon her first-ever visit to Lynah - declared that "{Opponent School} Sucks" is way overused and gets old very quickly.  And she told me this about five minutes into the second period on Friday.

(I told her to imagine what it'd be like after seventeen years.)

Beeeej

[KateWithThe8]

"which team is four the point teamend?"  - I had to laugh outloud at this one because this is exactly what it sounded like.  Bravo for the translation.  :-)

I too will say that as class of '03 sitting in Section O, minus some tiny compaints here and there, the rink was impressive this weekend.  I also found myself commenting that I think Sections D/E are turning into the new A/B.  The "It's All Your Fault" cheer was also great, with the few Brown fans behind us getting all giggly about it the first few times and exclaiming "This place is unreal!  Every single person in the rink is all pointing in unison!"  I think this is exactly the impression we want to give visiting fans, so mission accomplished.

[CowbellGuy]

I stopped counting after the twelfth time in the Harvard game.

[Beeeej]

[Q]CowbellGuy Wrote:
 I stopped counting after the twelfth time in the Harvard game.[/q]
I think that was right about when Arthur started announcing the lineups.

Beeeej

[puff]

I thought it was even more repetitive in the Brown game.

And D-E on any sort of clapping, its like the over excited children x-mas morning, they can't contain themselves. especially before the third period, they get way ahead with the clapping and also with the singing.

The thing that kind of got to me though was during the alma mater when some guys a few rows behind me who didn't know the words, started making up thier own verses. Its like learn the song, or keep your mouth shut.

[Josh '99]

[Q]Beeeej Wrote:
What the hell was with Section B for standing quietly and staring dumbly at Greg & me when we did "Hey, Dov, you're an embarrassment..." all by ourselves?!  It hasn't been that long, has it?[/q]Since people in Section C started a cheer?  Maybe.  :-P

[Pace]

I agree, many in D do tend to get a little hyper on the tempo of the clapping and songs. But remember, we're further from the band, we're also blocked off from it by a wall of noise that is section B. Add to this a few intrinsically tempo-challenged people in D, and the result is that all one can hear in D is the fast tempo. But the guys and I are working on calming D down a little. With luck, we might also stop them taking the keys out half way through third.

[gtsully]

I had standing room tickets for both games, and ended up standing behind section F all night Friday and for the first period Saturday (we were able to score empty seats in section C for the second and third periods).  I'm generally the type to gripe about how much better it was back in the "old days" (meaning '98-'00, when I had season tickets), but I thought the crowd was pretty good this weekend.  There are things that still drive me nuts (D, E, and F not clapping along with the cowbell, little variety in the chants, not saying "goon," the Gary Glitter dance ::help:: , Macho Man ::yark:: ... there's more, but I'll stop), but the noise level was high and the fans were into it.  Well, except for the guy in the back row of section F talking on his cell phone for most of the 1st period on Saturday.

I will say that the quality of the noise, chants, etc. improved dramatically when I was sitting in C (where I could hear A & B), than when I was standing behind F, but the D/E/F area was louder.

And I just want to chime in on the "Who's your daddy?" thing.  I thought it was great at the Harvard game, since it only happened once, Harvard is our main rival, and they haven't beaten us since That Game in Lake Placid.  But to use it against Brown, over and over... I mean... I realize we were smoking them, but it's Brown.  Would Yankees fans use that chant against the Devil Rays?  Of course not.  Of course, Cornell would never blow a 3-0 lead against Harvard either, but that's beside the point. :-P

[A-19]

i figured who's your daddy was pretty appropriate for harvard, given the red sox. it could be used with any other boston team we play, too

[CowbellGuy]

[Q]gtsully Wrote:

Well, except for the guy in the back row of section F talking on his cell phone for most of the 1st period on Saturday.[/q]
At least he was there. The idiots next to us are usually hard-pressed to make it to more than half of any given game. For Harvard, they showed up for about 2/3 of the second period, left at the end and came back for a bit of the third, though they didn't stay long. It gets better. For Brown, they showed up (I shit you not) when Cornell scored their last goal (2:44 left) and could quite bring themselves to stay til the end. I'm sure everyone who couldn't get a ticket this year is delighted to hear that.

[dodger916]

If you can't hear the band, try looking at others who can hear and see Sections A&B, like fans in sections H and up.  You can time your claps visually.

[puff]

What part of D are you in? I'm 5 rows back near the middle. I agree, if enough of us encourage people to slow down and fix things, we can maybe have some progress. Only time will tell.

[ithacat]

I think the student section is amazing to watch from the other side (I sit in N). My main wish is that people would show up earlier and start singing and chanting, knock the dust off the rafters, and make the visitors shake in their skates before the game even begins.

Is there a student hockey association that has a fan primer or organizes a meeting before the season begins where they talk about chant history, timing and cadence, and brainstorm new chants? If not, it's probably a little too fanatical for most but beside studying (eating and sleeping are probably optional) what else is there for students to do in the winter?

[ugarte]

[Q]A-19 Wrote:

 i figured who's your daddy was pretty appropriate for harvard, given the red sox. it could be used with any other boston team we play, too[/q] You must have stopped watching baseball after game 3 of the ALCS. "Who's your daddy!" is dead letter, in the history file with "Cowboy Up!"