To March, or not to March?

To March, or not to March?

It isn’t much of a question.

Technician ran two opposing views on the Student Wolfpack Club’s recent behavior of “marching in” to their seats in the RBC Center today.

For those of you not familiar with what I am talking about, here is a quick rundown: before the basketball games against Duke and UNC, the Student Wolfpack Club remained in the RBC Center concourse area until about five minutes before tip-off.

They then marched down to their seats, getting the crowd pumped up and being filmed by ESPN cameras the entire way.

It was initially ESPN’s idea. As part of its student spirit week, it wanted to highlight the Student Wolfpack Club because it is one of the largest student organizations of its kind, and this walk-in was an innovative way for the network to do so.

This link takes you to the supportive view on the topic and
This link takes you to the opposing view.

I saw the student’s ‘march’ for the Carolina game and thought it was kind of neat for about 2 or 3 seconds. The ‘neat’ was then replaced with some bewilderment as this act/behavior just didn’t feel right – the act of the FANS marching into a game seems to be a gross misplacement of attention. Doesn’t it?

The attention of everyone in the arena attention should be on the Wolfpack’s TEAM, not our fans. On the opponent. On the game that is about to happen. Since when did the student fans – who are all so original that they wear the same T-shirts – become so important that they merit this kind of self-promotion and attention?

I know that it sounds like I was ‘against’ the march. But, that was just my immediate reaction. I really was pretty agnostic on the idea until I read Technician‘s two editorials on the topic.

I now lean even more in opposition of this misplaced energy. In addition to the fact that it just doesn’t feel right for the cameras and the attention of the crowd to be focused on an 18 year old ag major from Pinetops mosey down stairs while waving his hands in the air, I believe that the idea should be scrapped for two other primary reasons:

(1) The students can’t chant/cheer in unison – To be fair, few NC State crowds throughout history have been able to chant in unison. NC State crowds are raucous. We are rowdy. We are fantastic at shouting insults and attacks. Back in the day, we even had crowds who were able to generate witty insults and not just “you suck”. But, our student’s just don’t/can’t generate in unison cheering.

This isn’t totally a bad thing. I don’t want to be like the Cameron dorks. But, I do wish that the cheerleaders and the crowd were smart enough to figure out some of this on their own. For example, whatever happened to picking an opposing player and yelling whenever he touches the ball? That is in unison. It requires nothing more than yelling. How tough can that be?

Even more frustrating is how we now have decades of fans that don’t seem to be able to realize that simply chanting the three syllables of N-C-State is significantly easier and more powerful than the ridiculous Nnnnnnnnn Cccccccccc Staaaaaate. NC State. For example, as ABC televised the crowd rush the court after the win over Carolina the audible noise was the hum behind a garbled mess that was supposed to be Nnnnnnnnn Cccccccccc Staaaaaate. NC State. Nobody outside of the Wolfpack family had a clue what was being said. It’s absurd that cheerleaders and fans expect 20,000 fans at basketball games and 60,000 fans at football games to be able to hold the cadence, the timing, the rhythm and achieve unison of this ‘cheer’ when a simple, booming “N-C-State” would/could rock…AND be heard by others! (More on this topic in future entries)

First off, it didn’t work. The club’s chants fell flat, and the march down the RBC Center stairs was awkward if anything. Sophomore Daniel Winders watched the walk-in at the UNC game from his end zone seat.

“It looked like they were just filing down into their seats. They stopped chanting after 15 seconds,” Winders said. “The walk-in just wasn’t the big triumphant entrance it was supposed to be.”

(2) Who is creating a tough atmosphere for the opposing team during warm-ups if the students aren’t in their seats? Seriously, it is like we are trying to make the visit by our opponents as enjoyable as possibe. How can our fans be none as rowdy if our fans aren’t even in their seats during the best time to be heard and get into an opposing player’s head.

Another drawback to the walk-in, besides the fact that it turned out so lame, is that it takes some of the most passionate Wolfpack fans away from prime heckling time.

Hell, even Technician’s supportive view doesn’t even support the idea of making the march in a regular occurrence.

Now that those games are over, I say go ahead and advance the next four years, this should be something that sticks around long enough to become tradition.

However, overdoing this march-in would only take away the electricity and aura from the event — so board members must keep it specifically for the big games.

Why don’t we scratch the idea of making our students the center of attention and use that energy to them some lessons in originality and how to cheer? I’ll make a deal with you — when students actually learn the words to the Alma Mater and the Fight Song (not “The Red & White”) then we can re-address the topic.

Campus News General NCS Basketball

41 Responses to To March, or not to March?

  1. Red_Terrors 02/13/2007 at 11:43 AM #

    Dang TNCSU, you’re the second person in a week that has referred to an HOA as the gestapo! My realtor used that same reference on Sunday. Oh, and I totally agree with the metaphor.

    I did notice after 9/11 the adaptation of the National Anthem was less prevalent. I remember going to a Durham Bulls game my sophomore year (prior to 9/11) and hearing “red” being shouted as well as “home of the Wolfpack” during the singing of the Anthem there.

  2. GAWolf 02/13/2007 at 11:57 AM #

    Mr. O comes with the Jimmy Superfly Snooka flying bodyblock off the top rope. Touche!

  3. Texpack 02/13/2007 at 1:21 PM #

    As the originator of picking on a player at Reynolds in the early 80’s, I can assure you that the HOZE Squad didn’t need ESPN to help us out, only a few beers.

  4. gumbydammit 02/13/2007 at 1:26 PM #

    Marching? Why not goose-step? Give a straight arm salute why dontcha? if we’re going to roll in the Red Army, shouldn’t we have a big honkin’ missle on a truck?

    This idea is about as bad as that Superbowl Snickers ad.

    As for the national anthem, if other people don’t like the way we sing it, they can take the First Amendment and (to quote the Rock) “stick it up their candy @**!”

    Boy, am I in a crappy mood today or what….

  5. nsj 02/13/2007 at 1:53 PM #

    Ditto to the non-standard ending to the National Anthem. It’s hokey — never mind disrespectful — and should be dropped ASAP. There are other ways to emphasize whose house this is without trampling on the anthem.

    Perhaps one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard happened last week at the Texas/Texas A&M game. They had some chap play the national anthem solo on a violin, and while he was good, he wasn’t what sent chills up my spine. By the time the soloist was about a third of the way into the anthem, the crowd was — softly, respectfully, and ethereally — singing the words. It still sends chills up my spine thinking about it.

  6. nsj 02/13/2007 at 2:08 PM #

    I agree with BJD on the non-standard ending to the National Anthem. It’s hokey — never mind disrespectful — and should be dropped ASAP. There are other ways to emphasize whose house this is without trampling on the anthem, especially given that (a) we have a heritage of a military school and (b) we have serious numbers of troops in harm’s way.

    Perhaps one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard happened last week at the Texas/Texas A&M game. They had some chap play the national anthem solo on a violin, and while he was good, he wasn’t what sent chills up my spine. By the time the soloist was about a third of the way into the anthem, the crowd was — softly, respectfully, and ethereally — singing the words. It still sends chills up my spine thinking about it.

    I love the RAWFS cheer, and it’s sad that not everyone sings it. So what, that line is “unofficial”… who cares? It’s our rival, and we should remind them and anyone who’ll listen what their rightful place is.

    Call me a sap, but it’d be great if everyone knew the words to the “real” fight song. That’s probably asking a lot, but it’d be sweet it…

    One more story… about being courtside. I was one of a group of folks courtside for a non-conference tilt vs. SC State. The opposing coach didn’t care for some of the calls and at one point called one of the refs by his first name to get his attention so he could complain. The ref T’d him up and scolded him, saying not to call him by his name again. A couple of plays later, the ref called a foul on one of the SCSU players. One in our group calls out to the ref — by his first name — who immediately whipped around, T’s up the coach, and sends him to the locker room. The coach still doesn’t know why he got T’d up the second time…

    You can really get into the heads of players, coaches, even the refs from time to time, by being on top of the play as the students were at Reynolds and are to an extent at the RBC Center. We’ve got to make the best use of that advantage… or the administration will find a way to sell those seats…

  7. packof81 02/13/2007 at 2:38 PM #

    Why don’t the students resurrect the old Hose Squad. Now that was some heckling. They’d typically pick out one player from the opposite team and let him have it. Some of them got so rattled, they were benched. Matt Dougherty got that treatment when he played in Reynolds.

    The marching thing was kind of odd. I don’t see this becoming an issue because I doubt people will continue doing that.

    I don’t like hearing a bunch of cussing at games either. Instead, we should be more creative with our heckling and chants. For example, a few years back we were beating FSU at the RBC and the crowd mockingly chanted the FSU WOA chant. That was funny and effective.

    As other posters have mentioned, the rythmic N-C-State, N-C-State chat rocks! Lets use it.

  8. treznor 02/13/2007 at 3:24 PM #

    @BJD95:

    You mean the words are:
    Go to hell Carolina, Go to hell Carolina, Go to hell Carolina, Carolina Sucks?

    That’s the way I always sang it 🙂 Being in the band I only got to sing it one chorus out of three, but I tried to make it count 🙂

  9. BLUE SUCKS 02/13/2007 at 11:03 PM #

    Gumby (dangit)

    “As for the national anthem, if other people don’t like the way we sing it, they can take the First Amendment and (to quote the Rock) “stick it up their candy @**!”

    Ditto … I like the way we sing the National Anthem at STATE games … it fires me up — and I’m an old dude

    No offense to anyone else (seriously) but for crying out loud, we’re singing the National Anthem before a basketball game. Whether I yell “WOLF-PACK” or not has no bearing on my respect for my country and its flag.

    Are we so freakin’ petty these days that we have to major on every single solitary minor?

    Really!?!

    Q: Ever pray with your eyes open and your head up? Horrors!!!

    If we want to police WOLFPACK fans, then let’s make it mandatory to …

    1 – Wear ONLY Red and White to games … any PACK fan donning any other color gets booted

    (Special Note: This includes the typical stupid tarhole loving girlfriend or friend of a friend of a girlfriend wearing a pink tar hole hat OR a clueless employee of one of the Triangle Area companies OR grandma who says she doesn’t own any red OR that philistine, powder blue member of your “house divided”, etc., etc.)

    Visiting? Like the other team? Want to wear a pink tarhole shirt? Wonderful. We have a special place for you. So come in, sit down and do not move out of your assigned nose bleed section seat … and no one gets hurt)

    2 – Tailgate at least 2 hours before the game so you can be in your seat BEFORE kick-off … it matters!

    4 – Stand when our boys come out of the locker room on the field or court

    5 – Stand and sing our fight song … every time

    6 – Have tickets and can’t come to the game WOLFPACK CLUBBER? If you can’t sell them, give them to an appropriate STATE fan … NEVER leave your seats empty for even one game, much less 5 in a row

    7 – Leaving the game early? Uhhh, no. Only if you can prove you have a broken bone … and it better be a blood, guts and feathers situation

    8 – Even if you are in the seminary, it’s GO TO HELL CAROLINE

    9 – NEVER boo our players, coach, AD, etc.

    10 – Have nitro glycerine, ID and proof of life insurance on your person at all games

  10. packwolf90 02/14/2007 at 1:16 AM #

    I thought the march sucked. I didn’t get to see much of it though because me and the old man got thrown out because we had tickets that were supposedly counterfeit(looked pretty damn real to me). RBC people were dicks about it and threw us out (and let tarholes stay in our seats). Luckily some guy was walking by and sold us some for $20 each ( he charged the kurlina fans that sat next to us $50 a piece lol). But that’s off topic. I think the student section should be there extremely early for shootaround and warmups. The whole key to home court advantage is getting into the opposing players’ heads. Start early and don’t stop.

  11. nsj 02/14/2007 at 4:51 AM #

    No offense to anyone else (seriously) but for crying out loud, we’re singing the National Anthem before a basketball game. Whether I yell “WOLF-PACK” or not has no bearing on my respect for my country and its flag.

    Perhaps, and I suppose at the very least, there’s room for difference of opinion on this.

    That said, unless it’s changed and become more popular since I lived within walking distance of our home courts (I’m out of state now), it was hardly a majority of the fans who did it. Fewer folks did this than sang any part of the fight song or RAWFS. It always sounded weak to me, in addition to being, IMNSHO, disrespectful.

    I’m not for zapping any little thing that might offend anyone, but if it’s not essential and potentially offends large groups of folks, perhaps it’s time to consider setting it aside for something better.

    Just my $0.02.

  12. BLUE SUCKS 02/14/2007 at 7:53 AM #

    nsj,

    I didn’t mean to come across so harsh or offensive. I’m ranting in general, really, not in direct response to what you said

  13. Lock 02/14/2007 at 12:54 PM #

    Y…you’re not really trying to say the ‘n~ c~ state’ chant is somehow bad, are you? The one they’ve been doing for as long as I’ve been going to games?

    Wow.

  14. nsj 02/14/2007 at 6:07 PM #

    Blue Sucks,

    No offense taken. We’re both passionate, just like we are about our team and distaste for varying shades of blue. 🙂

  15. stateguy08 02/14/2007 at 10:01 PM #

    Don’t like the wolfpack at the end of the national anthem. I know many vets who curse when it is sung even slightly wrong and they fought for our country, so I don’t like it.

    If every student got to do “the walk-in” say…10 minutes before the game it would be awesome. How about all students get fed before the game for 5 dollars a piece outside the rbc center, hang out, get the craziness started out there and bring it all in at one time with the walk in.

  16. Packaholic1 02/18/2007 at 4:50 PM #

    “9 – NEVER boo our players, coach, AD, etc.”

    But this is the internets!

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