Red Sea Cheers

[BUBraves06]

Yeah, I remember that. I don't know what they could do about a cheer though. Does anyone remember IU's chant of I-L-L D-U-I? I hate IU, but what a chant!

What "they'll" do is, KK will come over and that will be the end of it. It's not even worth it to tell you the truth. I agree that it's funny and if I was in charge, things would be different, but as soon as KK hears it, that'll be it for any cheer/sign, or anything similar to it.

[amckillip]

It seems like all of sudden there are a lot more students here and that's great, but before the season gets too far gone, we need to get organized. The Iowa State crowd student-wise was awesome, but we can be even better.

Agreed completely. But how do we get everyone organized? I've missed 1 game the last two (well I gues three now) years and never seen an incredibly strong effort. Someone made some sheets that were pretty decent awhile ago. It might have been the Red Dot ones you made. What kind of efforts could we make beyond having sheets?

I think a couple of us could make sheets fairly easy, come up with a format and what content we want in them then just rotate between a few people to make them for actual games.

[BU ICEMAN]

What "they'll" do is, KK will come over and that will be the end of it. It's not even worth it to tell you the truth. I agree that it's funny and if I was in charge, things would be different, but as soon as KK hears it, that'll be it for any cheer/sign, or anything similar to it.

Wow, things have certainly changed.....I remember ol' Jamar Smiley gettin' busted for auto theft/UUV and everytime he had the ball everybody jangled their keys at him......guess that wouldn't fly now...not good.

Believe me, I'm no bleeding heart, but so much for college and its associated events being bastions of free speech. I can't see how if there's nothing offensive or inciting a negative event (i.e. yelling "Fire!"), in the legal definition of offensive, they can restrict it. I'm sure there's sign policies at all the arenas that can be used to get around the speech issues so they can curb signs, but it'd be hard to restrict a chant. Sure they may not be happy about it and can ask for it to stop, but I don't think they can order it to stop. Perhaps you can head it off at the pass and make some unofficial backchannel requests on how far you can go.....

That being said, given what's been said about the racial/ethnic/religious stuff going on, you gotta be smarter and realize that stuff is immediately out-of-bounds. It's one thing to make fun of the name, but stick to the name, not it's ethnicity.

[audacious_aficionado]

Give us ONE idea, anything, anything not stolen from another school, or not just shooting down an idea. It's unbelievably easy to rip and tear down what others are doing. Now grow a pair and throw an idea out there.

i respectfully disagree with you. part of making the student section better is "cutting the fat". shooting down ideas that have been tried and failed is also important in making our student section better. yes, this means the wave as well as the "we are bradley" chant failed. the wave distracted everyone from the game (even me) because we were watching to see when it would come around again. the "we are bradley" chant was used too much and simply got annoying after a while. also, the famous "airball" chant is a great one but only when the ball hits nothing but air. there were a couple of times people started chanting it when the ball actually hit the backboard, or another time when the ball was immediately tipped in for a basket. i was embarrassed to be in the student section. if you can't take constructive criticism, you shouldn't bring this stuff up on bradleyfans.

[Stryker]

i respectfully disagree with you. part of making the student section better is "cutting the fat". shooting down ideas that have been tried and failed is also important in making our student section better. yes, this means the wave as well as the "we are bradley" chant failed. the wave distracted everyone from the game (even me) because we were watching to see when it would come around again. the "we are bradley" chant was used too much and simply got annoying after a while. also, the famous "airball" chant is a great one but only when the ball hits nothing but air. there were a couple of times people started chanting it when the ball actually hit the backboard, or another time when the ball was immediately tipped in for a basket. i was embarrassed to be in the student section. if you can't take constructive criticism, you shouldn't bring this stuff up on bradleyfans.

I agree with about everything you have said in this thread man. Especially about the airball chant, I was surprised about the one that hit the back board and they started chanting it. I had to turn around and yell at them that it hit the backboard.

One thing I noticed was that there were alot of students in the front of section that are not normally there. Either they have sit farther back in the past or this is the first year they have started coming, I don't know. Most of the regulars in the front were gone yesterday, either deeming the game insignificant or on break somewhere. Thus students that had never really "led" the student section were doing it yesterday. I love everyone's excitement, but I just ask that us students try to remain smart fans!!!

[amckillip]

One thing I noticed was that there were alot of students in the front of section that are not normally there. Either they have sit farther back in the past or this is the first year they have started coming, I don't know. Most of the regulars in the front were gone yesterday, either deeming the game insignificant or on break somewhere. Thus students that had never really "led" the student section were doing it yesterday. I love everyone's excitement, but I just ask that us students try to remain smart fans!!!

The students in the front row were students who have been coming to games for years many of us only missing games for classes and then a group of freshman who are just getting involved in the excitement. I agree there were several fans there who were not knowledgeable fans. But it's about working with them to make them better. I do think it's a little comical these die-hard fans who 'lead the student section' deemed a game insignificant... Anyway we decided to sit up there because we were disappointed with some of the people who sat in the front row, many are GREAT, I love woody and the suggestions and enthusiasm he has. But several 'leaders' never join in cheers and embarrass other students. The core of the group of us who moved up sat in the 3rd row perpetually last year and are very knowledgeable fans. Many have been following Bradley Fans for quite a while, and all of us have followed college basketball for years. All we're trying to do is make the student section louder and more involved, and we think that encouraging people who normally just stand and don't really cheer is 'trimming the fat.'

[amckillip]

i respectfully disagree with you. part of making the student section better is "cutting the fat". shooting down ideas that have been tried and failed is also important in making our student section better. yes, this means the wave as well as the "we are bradley" chant failed. the wave distracted everyone from the game (even me) because we were watching to see when it would come around again. the "we are bradley" chant was used too much and simply got annoying after a while. also, the famous "airball" chant is a great one but only when the ball hits nothing but air. there were a couple of times people started chanting it when the ball actually hit the backboard, or another time when the ball was immediately tipped in for a basket. i was embarrassed to be in the student section. if you can't take constructive criticism, you shouldn't bring this stuff up on bradleyfans.

Oh I have no problem getting rid of chants that don't work, or correcting people on kind of foolish airball chants. But actually suggest something, and very little of the criticism has been constructive, I agree however yours definitely has been. I am not a huge fan of the 'This is Bradley' chant, but it was worth a shot. And I wouldn't want to just give up on something half the student section was doing. How about doing things like suggesting when it should be used and other chants we can do, and what would unite the student section and get everyone on the same page. And lets try to avoid things like:

"NO!!! that cheer was retarded"

"the dumbest thing I've ever heard"

"absolute dumbest cheer in all of sports"

We're all working together here, I don't know why we seem to be going at each other, but lets actually work together and get something positive going here so we can do all the things we want to get done.

[Stryker]

The students in the front row were students who have been coming to games for years many of us only missing games for classes and then a group of freshman who are just getting involved in the excitement. I agree there were several fans there who were not knowledgeable fans. But it's about working with them to make them better. I do think it's a little comical these die-hard fans who 'lead the student section' deemed a game insignificant... Anyway we decided to sit up there because we were disappointed with some of the people who sat in the front row, many are GREAT, I love woody and the suggestions and enthusiasm he has. But several 'leaders' never join in cheers and embarrass other students. The core of the group of us who moved up sat in the 3rd row perpetually last year and are very knowledgeable fans. Many have been following Bradley Fans for quite a while, and all of us have followed college basketball for years. All we're trying to do is make the student section louder and more involved, and we think that encouraging people who normally just stand and don't really cheer is 'trimming the fat.'

Hey I agree with you, and you are very knowledgeable, I think we need to meet at a game sometime. I agree that being loud is the goal at the games, and I try to be as loud as I can myself. I just want to have a respectable student section, one that is paying attention to the game, for example not yelling airball when the ball clearly hit the backboard, and not overly using a chant that only a few people really like or makes sense. I guess that was the point I was trying to make.

I do commend your efforts to get new ideas etc., and I think we can improve alot.

[dogsrus]

Again...great job students. Keep it up, be creative and be loud. Just a thought on the Wave. What I have noticed over the years is its all abouit timing. A sparse, Sunday crowd with a blowout in progress is usually NOT going to generate much interest (in a wave).

OTOH give us a furious 10 point rally against Michigan State, propelling BU into the lead by 5, a soldout crowd at a feverish pitch and.....presto you have the perfect time to start a wave.

Again...keep up the good work. Bottom line its all about having fun.

[audacious_aficionado]

i can agree with that. those quotes you used are not from me and i agree that they are not constructive beside the fact that they indicate dissatisfaction.

my suggestion.... CONNER, if you are reading.... don't use the "this is bradley" chant on every free throw. maybe only on the second of two free throws or when it is a really big attempt. since you are the one that counts it off, control it a little bit. everyone knows what to yell when you count it off so don't worry about doing it every time. i like the chant because it is short and powerful. props to you for getting it started.

[Rusty 54]

And lets try to avoid things like:

"NO!!! that cheer was retarded"

"the dumbest thing I've ever heard"

"absolute dumbest cheer in all of sports"

We're all working together here, I don't know why we seem to be going at each other, but lets actually work together and get something positive going here so we can do all the things we want to get done.

"now grow a pair"

add that to the list as well

[amckillip]

my suggestion.... CONNER, if you are reading.... don't use the "this is bradley" chant on every free throw. maybe only on the second of two free throws or when it is a really big attempt.

Honestly I'm not sure only on second free throws is a good Idea, I'd rather move away from it for free throws other than maybe really big free throws. What about coming back from timeouts the other team has called (when the band isn't playing something we can keep going)? Or maybe when the other team is inbounding after a big BU basket?

[bugregshu]

I remember last year I snuck into a few Illinois games and sat with the Orange Krush. What they do is before every game, they research the other team and find things out about the players. Like if one player for example has a weird haircut or something, they chant "nice hair" or something when that player has the ball (just an example, and a bad one). Then before every game, they pass out a piece of paper to everyone in the student section that says what chants they are going to yell, and when they are going to yell them. For example, it would say "THIS IS BRADLEY chant after every missed FT in the second half." They thought of some pretty clever things to yell, and I'm sure since Bradley students are smarter than Illinois students, we can think of some pretty clever things too.

[BU ICEMAN]

Guys, realize that not everybody is going to enthusiastic and a yeller/screamer/etc. Speaking as somebody who was lucky to have 100 people show up, be happy with the attendance, there's still something intimidating about a large # of folks. Don't make those people feel unwelcome because getting loud isn't their thing. As much as the vocal folks would like everybodyto yell and scream and be loud, the ones that don't are still making a contribution by their presence. Don't push them away.

It's funny to see this argument filter down to the student section, usually it seems to be a "regular" crowd issue.

[BUBraves06]

Guys, realize that not everybody is going to enthusiastic and a yeller/screamer/etc. Speaking as somebody who was lucky to have 100 people show up, be happy with the attendance, there's still something intimidating about a large # of folks. Don't make those people feel unwelcome because getting loud isn't their thing. As much as the vocal folks would like everybodyto yell and scream and be loud, the ones that don't are still making a contribution by their presence. Don't push them away.

It's funny to see this argument filter down to the student section, usually it seems to be a "regular" crowd issue.

That's the biggest issue, and a great point. Most of us here are the most vocal, intense, rowdy students. But on the other hand most students feel that just by showing up they've done enough. I'd love for the student section to become more vocal outside the first few rows, but we have to be careful not to alienate the other students.