Interesting thread here. I'd like to throw in my 2 cents, sorry for being long winded...
IMHO, the thing we all should understand is that when you go on the road to someone else's arena, you should at least expect some friendly jabs, maybe more. It's part of the game. For example, a bunch of us roadtripped to Wright St back in November and got PLENTY of words & looks sent our way. We aren't rivals with them and it was only the 2nd meeting ever between our schools, but there was a lot of venom spewed. But that dosen't tarnish my view of their fanbase as a whole, and the vast majority of them were very respectful and cool with us. I've gotten all sorts of bad looks, derogatory remarks, insults, etc. at every visiting arena I've ever been to, (including Carver, as recently as our last game there a few weeks ago). But it's all part of the experience as far as I see it. Some arenas/fans are worse than others. It happens. I adopt the philosophy that a few bad apples don't always spoil the bunch. But a certain degree of animosity or lewd remarks should be expected, ESPECIALLY from the students, many of which are probably drunk .
As for Redbird Arena and our fans...
I'm the first one to admit we have our bad seeds, as everyone does. I can safely say that any issues your fans may have with ours stems almost solely from the rivalry. It's heated and it's been going on for decades and hopefully will continue to be (hopefully without serious incident of course.) Same with SIU and their fans. Our rivalry with them used to be red hot, but then they smoked us 11 straight times and the matchup lost it's luster, but I'd say it's back now---and in the process, both our fanbases have become much more vocal with each other. Lots of our fans who roadtripped there last year had little good to say about them. Many SIU fans said the same about us. The point is, IMHO, some jabs & heckling should be expected. When it's a rivalry game though, it's likely to be more intensified.
Lastly, regarding the "you suck" cheer...
That is something NONE of us are proud of. The original cheer, which has been going on at ISU (and now many other schools) for decades, was a simple "You, You, You, Yooouuuu" when one of our players would get fouled. The cheer was directed at the player who committed the foul. In the late 90s, the student section started to yell "Suck" at the end of the cheer. For laughs, nothing more. Harmless fun. It stayed like that all the way until last year, when some ***** students at the top of the student section started putting obscene words at the end of it, making it sound like "youuuu, suck...****". Not cool. The cheerleaders, band, dancers are no longer allowed to start that cheer because of it. A 30+ year traditional chant has been eliminated. The students still do the cheer, but nobody shouts any obscenities at the end of it. (At least there hasn't been so far this season.) Hope that helps clarify some things about that.
IMHO, the thing we all should understand is that when you go on the road to someone else's arena, you should at least expect some friendly jabs, maybe more. It's part of the game. For example, a bunch of us roadtripped to Wright St back in November and got PLENTY of words & looks sent our way. We aren't rivals with them and it was only the 2nd meeting ever between our schools, but there was a lot of venom spewed. But that dosen't tarnish my view of their fanbase as a whole, and the vast majority of them were very respectful and cool with us. I've gotten all sorts of bad looks, derogatory remarks, insults, etc. at every visiting arena I've ever been to, (including Carver, as recently as our last game there a few weeks ago). But it's all part of the experience as far as I see it. Some arenas/fans are worse than others. It happens. I adopt the philosophy that a few bad apples don't always spoil the bunch. But a certain degree of animosity or lewd remarks should be expected, ESPECIALLY from the students, many of which are probably drunk .
As for Redbird Arena and our fans...
I'm the first one to admit we have our bad seeds, as everyone does. I can safely say that any issues your fans may have with ours stems almost solely from the rivalry. It's heated and it's been going on for decades and hopefully will continue to be (hopefully without serious incident of course.) Same with SIU and their fans. Our rivalry with them used to be red hot, but then they smoked us 11 straight times and the matchup lost it's luster, but I'd say it's back now---and in the process, both our fanbases have become much more vocal with each other. Lots of our fans who roadtripped there last year had little good to say about them. Many SIU fans said the same about us. The point is, IMHO, some jabs & heckling should be expected. When it's a rivalry game though, it's likely to be more intensified.
Lastly, regarding the "you suck" cheer...
That is something NONE of us are proud of. The original cheer, which has been going on at ISU (and now many other schools) for decades, was a simple "You, You, You, Yooouuuu" when one of our players would get fouled. The cheer was directed at the player who committed the foul. In the late 90s, the student section started to yell "Suck" at the end of the cheer. For laughs, nothing more. Harmless fun. It stayed like that all the way until last year, when some ***** students at the top of the student section started putting obscene words at the end of it, making it sound like "youuuu, suck...****". Not cool. The cheerleaders, band, dancers are no longer allowed to start that cheer because of it. A 30+ year traditional chant has been eliminated. The students still do the cheer, but nobody shouts any obscenities at the end of it. (At least there hasn't been so far this season.) Hope that helps clarify some things about that.
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