How To Be a Good Fan

[billhoward]

You have been good sports about this even though it's humbling. But that is good practice for later in life if -- sorry, when (little slip of the keys) -- you find employment.

[daredevilcu]

-shrug-  If you wanna turn this into a personal attack, go back a few posts.  Down here we're talking hockey fans, not job placement rates.  If you wanna talk about that go back to where we were having the other stupid hypothetical discussion over whether or not I would've gotten into Cornell had I applied.  It'll just end up being another one of those if you wanna go there.  

Did you not get accepted to Clarkson or something?  Is that why you're bitter?  Or do you hate most aspects of Cornell (not hockey) and are transferring that hate towards Clarkson?

Personally, I think Cornell is great... for me to poop on!
I kid... I kid...

[RichH]

[Q]daredevilcu Wrote:

 -shrug-  If you wanna turn this into a personal attack, go back a few posts.  Down here we're talking hockey fans, not job placement rates.  If you wanna talk about that go back to where we were having the other stupid hypothetical discussion over whether or not I would've gotten into Cornell had I applied.  It'll just end up being another one of those if you wanna go there.  

Did you not get accepted to Clarkson or something?  Is that why you're bitter?  Or do you hate most aspects of Cornell (not hockey) and are transferring that hate towards Clarkson?

Personally, I think Cornell is great... for me to poop on!
I kid... I kid...[/q]

eh....that's just bill.  I really wouldn't get too offended by what he says.  The more you respond, the more he'll write is all.

Actually a few of us here have a GREAT history with Clarkson people.  Current students weren't around back then (and alumni slow to get into our online communities), but in the mid-90s there were some wonderful Clarkson-Cornell interactions.  Several of us here used to frequent the original "Clarkson Hockey Roundtable," which was a running (1-thread) bulletin board.  We met some really cool (and some interesting) people that way.  Personally, I was in the Cornell band, and because a close friend of mine from high school was in the Clarkson band, I got to know many in the Clarkson band.  There were some really legendary parties in Ithaca and Potsdam with both bands in attendance.  Hooo...I could tell some stories.  Basically, from staying up until 5 am talking hockey every NC roadtrip I learned that when it comes down to it, we're all the same fans.  We just wear different colors.

And to relate to earlier comments about the size/quality of fans:  In the early '90s, Clarkson was IT.  Great teams, great fans, great band.  They filled Cheel easily (except for the QF round of the playoffs when the students were forced to buy tickets...then they stayed home.)  Meanwhile, Lynah wasn't full.  It was still loud, but not full.  The back-and-forth crowd chant-wars between the two schools were so incredibly entertaining.  As were the online discussions.  There are those of us here who are just waiting (and/or dreading) for Clarkson to get back to being a league powerhouse.

And since we're talking admissions...I had a tough time deciding between Cornell and Clarkson myself.  (It was easy to dismiss RPI as an option, though).  

Good to see some more Clarkson people post here.  I hope you guys come back more often.  

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]RichH Wrote:

Actually a few of us here have a GREAT history with Clarkson people.  Current students weren't around back then (and alumni slow to get into our online communities), but in the mid-90s there were some wonderful Clarkson-Cornell interactions.  Several of us here used to frequent the original "Clarkson Hockey Roundtable," which was a running (1-thread) bulletin board.  We met some really cool (and some interesting) people that way.[/q]

Also, the precursor to the current IRC Lynah Chat was a Java chat application Kyle Rose wrote as a companion the old Cornell Hockey Discussion Forum.  That chat program had special color-coding hard-wired into it for not only the #cornell channel, but also the #clarkson channel.

Oh, and for that matter, the reason my username has "cornell" in it is that it's the same username I use at USCHO, which comes from a later incarnation of the Roundtable, which in turn comes from signing my posts "JTW, Cornell '91" on the original Roundtable.  Good times.

[daredevilcu]

[Q]Personally, I was in the Cornell band, and because a close friend of mine from high school was in the Clarkson band, I got to know many in the Clarkson band. There were some really legendary parties in Ithaca and Potsdam with both bands in attendance. Hooo...I could tell some stories.[/Q]

I would love to see it come back -- rivalries are even more fun when you're friends after the game.  Since we (Clarkson and Cornell) both seem to be hating as of late, 4 years ago Brown became the Clarkson band's yearly party buddies, probably due to the abundance and lack of girls in each respective school and some other circumstances.  It's always a good time partying with them and I don't see any reason it would be different with any other band in the ECAC (except RPI's Grandmaster Chess band and the Harvard Philharmonic).

[Q](It was easy to dismiss RPI as an option, though). [/Q]

That it was, that it was.  Troy is quite the shithole.  Although one of my friends goes to Russell Sage and I would've had an in to the all-girls college...

[RichH]

[Q]daredevilcu Wrote:

 How many times does Cornell's band practice per week?  For how long?  How many cheers are started by the band at Lynah?  Bottom line is, your band was weak for cheers without the Lynah Faithful. [/q]

Usually rehearsals are scheduled every 1-2 weeks, and attendance varies.  IIRC, rehearsals usually ran about an hour.  The Pep Band also plays at many other athletic contests throughout the year...soccer, lightweight football, lacrosse, basketball, volleyball...I think they even went to the "Head of the Charles" crew event one year.  There are only a certain number of hockey tickets available each game for the band, so in order to get in to hockey games, a priority point system is used.  The more events you show up for (including rehearsals), the more priority points you get --> the better chance you'll have to get into Lynah and go on roadtrips.  (Hey, I never had to shell out for season tickets or deal with whatever mess the hockey line turned out to be)

As far as cheers go, the band members basically act like any other student fans.  (Except they are strictly self-policed against any vulgarities...Athletics is sending them in some official capacity).  There are a lot of songs they play that the fans have developed one way or another into cheers: Screw BU, Hey Baby, William Tell Overture, Swanee...etc.

The fans basically have a give-and-take relationship with the band.  When the fans are down, the band can pick them up...when the band is thin or weak, the fans can help them out too.  On roadtrips, the band's location is often a central rallying place for Cornell fans.  More often than not, they get complimented by opposing fans.  The ultimate compliment was paid by the Clarkson band several years ago with an accusatory "mus-ic ma-jors!" chant.  At the time, there were a total of two music majors in the band.

I didn't make it to Cheel, but I thought the Clarkson band sounded the best it has in a few years when they came to Lynah this year.  It also helps that the Lynah staff didn't stick you in a postage stamp-size space of 2 rows right up against the glass like they have in the past.

[daredevilcu]

[Q]The ultimate compliment was paid by the Clarkson band several years ago with an accusatory "mus-ic ma-jors!" chant. At the time, there were a total of two music majors in the band.

I didn't make it to Cheel, but I thought the Clarkson band sounded the best it has in a few years when they came to Lynah this year. It also helps that the Lynah staff didn't stick you in a postage stamp-size space of 2 rows right up against the glass like they have in the past.[/Q]

We chanted that last year, after they decided to call us band camp rejects.  I believe it was also followed up with an intentionally garbled "we're not sober" so as not to get kicked out by the most inhospitable arena staff I've ever seen.  Seriously, they're the worst part about Lynah, not the fans.  This year, however, was much better, although they still didn't give us the back row.  That would just make things so much easier...

From what I gather, 2002-2003 were a weak 2 years for the Clarkson band.  The last two years has seen a huge jump in popularity, bringing in about 10 kids from each the freshmen and sophomore classes this year.  Those 20 kids are also all fairly hardcore bandies which makes me happy to think what my next two years will be like with the band.

[billhoward]

[Q]daredevilcu Wrote:Did you not get accepted to Clarkson or something?  Is that why you're bitter?  Or do you hate most aspects of Cornell (not hockey) and are transferring that hate towards Clarkson?[/q]To get rejected from Clarkson, Dr. F., one has to have decided to apply there. The Clarkson catalog sitting in what passed for our high school's guidance office, on the cover, had this picture, and you tell me if you think this image was Clarkson-typical: Sun shining, trees in full bloom, two women (good looking) in short sleeves and one guy (also good looking) talking amiably as they stroll across campus. Even at that tender age and not knowing the term yet, I wondered if I was seeing deceptive advertising.

Why should I hate Cornell? It gave me a degree in just four years and I continue to think of that as nothing short of amazing given the sum of my life skills is the inverted pyramid writing form. Of course, that was in the arts college, where writing what's on your mind got you a B+ much of the time. My fraternity brother engineers had to actually work for their grades. Which seems only right: capitalism is better than marxism but when you're an undergrad you can argue both sides of the coin especially if your TA's beliefs shade one way or the other; but the breaking point of reinforced concrete, give or take the margin-of-error fudge factors, that really only has one correct answer, and I want to make sure the multi-story garage I'm parking in was built by people who calculated correctly by engineers and architects since the rebar was laid and concrete poured no doubt by the lowest bidder.

[Robb]

Ugh.  As an engineer, I sincerely hope that the edifices of our government, health-care system, scientific research, arts, non-profits, et. al. are at least as well constructed as our parking garages...

:-D

[schoaff]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:

 [Q2]daredevilcu Wrote:Did you not get accepted to Clarkson or something?  Is that why you're bitter?  Or do you hate most aspects of Cornell (not hockey) and are transferring that hate towards Clarkson?[/Q]
To get rejected from Clarkson, Dr. F., one has to have decided to apply there. The Clarkson catalog sitting in what passed for our high school's guidance office, on the cover, had this picture, and you tell me if you think this image was Clarkson-typical: Sun shining, trees in full bloom, two women (good looking) in short sleeves and one guy (also good looking) talking amiably as they stroll across campus. Even at that tender age and not knowing the term yet, I wondered if I was seeing deceptive advertising. [/q]

I remember sitting around the Cornell Lunatic office in the late '80s and thumbing through the Cornell catalog when someone mentioned that there were more girls than guys in each of the pictures. So we actually started counting the people in every picture and keeping track. In something like 22 of the 24 pictures there were precisely 2 girls for every guy. Not 4:1 or 5:2 but exactly 2:1. It had to have been a directive to whomever put the publications together.

After that "Cornell: 2 girls to every guy!" became an inside joke.

[Drew]

[Q]daredevilcu Wrote:
[Q2](It was easy to dismiss RPI as an option, though). [/Q]
That it was, that it was.  Troy is quite the shithole.  Although one of my friends goes to Russell Sage and I would've had an in to the all-girls college...[/q]

Of course RPI and Troy are a shithole, Affectionately known at Clarkson as  "Troylet";-)

[CowbellGuy]

Credit where it's due: Clarkson's band sounds good this year. They've got the tightest percussion section in the ECAC, and also the biggest. Big enough that it drowns out most of the rest of the instruments, but I guess you flaunt what you've got. Maybe it's just as well, since their arrangements are kept simple and the ranges easy. In the end, it's nothing flashy, but it holds up quite well. They're still never forgiven for the electric bass. Never.

RPI is safety in numbers. When your band is the size of a medium-sized liberal arts school, mediocrity wins out. They tend to play the same or very similar arrangements to Cornell's band, so they have that going for them, but my only sample this year was the game over break where they had about 11 people. They sounded horrible.

Yale either has some prolific arrangers or a good line on sheet music. They may not be that great, but it's always amusing to hear what they've got in their repertoire. At least I think they're down to one Britney song per game. They seem to be well-supported by the school and faculty, which would be nice to see at Cornell for a change.

Brown... Brown has the skating thing going for them, I guess.

Vermont need not apply. A townie band with a drum kit. Bah. Go to HEA.

Colgate's band is fairly small and has never sounded noteworthy. They seemed particularly off this year.

Princeton's band hasn't been able to tear itself away from squeakball for so many years, I forgot what they sound like. Actually, if memory serves, they're decent, but it's hard to hear over their loud... uniforms.

Harvard's pep band used to be a joke, when it even bothered to show, and even then, rarely on time. They've gotten a whole lot better over the last few years, up to about the Yale level. I'm just not sure who they're playing to for half and hour after the game ends. Cornell fans, near as I can figure.

As for Cornell, don't get me wrong. I really appreciate the band. And this has nothing to do with Macho Man. They have, however, been on a bit of a downward trend the last few years. There hasn't been a very strong solo trumpet since Chris Orelup. The middle brass is thin and often, well, poor. But I think my biggest issue lately has been percussion. The percussion section is small, but still the most audible. However, they often seem to think they should be conducting and are completely off doing their own thing. There's rarely someone on bass drum who actually knows the songs. At Clarkson, I actually watched the conductor walk up and remind the guy he was supposed to be playing. He later discovered you can't play the bass drum while talking on a cell phone. Maybe I was spoiled by the band in the late 90's. Hopefully it's just cyclical. And the band certainly has nights when they sound like the best band in the ECAC. But there are other nights... I know the band gets almost no support. I literally watched instruments fall apart at Colgate. I guess I just don't like seeing other schools do it better.

[RichS]

You're right, you are hypocritical.

In terms of qualifying for the NCAA field, the playoff championship is more significant, although as I pointed out, at one time they were equal.  But minimizing winning the RS championship disrespects the efforts made by players and coaches over the long haul of the season.  Have you ever played or coached a team in a similar set up?  If so, I imagine you'd feel differently.

It was all to convenient for many people here to trash Clarkson's winning the RS and not the plaoff crown, having nothing to do with their poor performance in the NCAAs.  On that point, as I said at the time, if Clarkson were such a poor team, where were all the other ECAC teams and why weren't they there to do better?

cornell has done better in recent years as did Slt Lawrence one year and that's great for the league but you guys insist on beating a dead horse.  Focus on supporting your team and stop the childish bashing of others.

If I interpret your statement correctly, I imagine Schafer and his boys pissed in the Cleary Cup?  ::rolleyes::   And grow up and get over your hate for Cleary.  It's really getting old and pathetic.

[RichS]

How's that?  Check your history.

Except for the past three years Clarkson hasn't been in "never-neverland" since 1974.   Oh, and they did awaken last year long enough to defeat the high and mighty red at Lynah, no less and get to the finals in Albany.  But I'm sure you guys have conveniently forgotten that, as if it "Albany" did not exist since you weren't there.

Your "gracious loser" comment is one of the dumber things I've ever read.

[Facetimer]

[Q]CowbellGuy Wrote:

The middle brass is thin and often, well, poor.[/q]

Maybe this is because SAFC refuses to believe trombones are necessary. :-D