Crowd Participation

[SaintMisbehavin]

In another thread there was discussion about fan interaction during the game, and what, if anything, could be done to improve the ambiance and tone of the crowd to promote a proactive home crowd rather than a reactive one. A recent example of this would be re-instituting the Dead Chant at the beginning of games.

I thought I'd put together a few examples of different schools' traditions/chants to give an idea of the range of creativity/tradition used at other colleges. I'm in no way suggesting Siena rip off these ideas, nor do I think Siena has the student attendance at this time to be the spark-plug to generate this type of atmosphere. This is to merely show what type of an environment is possible in college sports with a proactive crowd (students AND general public alike).

I'm sure there's a ton more, feel free to share in the replies.

Utah State - I'm A Little Teapot & The Scotsman- Leave it to the Mormons to have some good 'ole inspired clean Disney fun. The Utah State fans are fantastic, they have plenty of examples of great crowd participation, including the oft-used "I Believe That We Will Win" chant.




UCLA "Frisbee Cheer" - I love this one for its sheer simplicity. Oft imitated, never duplicated.



Cornell Hockey - "Hey" chant continued - something the Siena pep band attempts to continue on their own already, here's how it could sound with better participation (profanity optional, although Saints fans saying "We're Gonna Beat The Hell Outta You" is pretty hilarious in its own right).


Taylor University's Silent Night - This is a "one-off" annual experience, and if you've never seen or heard of it, it's a great tradition. The entire crowd is completely silent until the home team scores the 10th point, at which time the place goes absolutely bananas. The game is right before final exams, and the students get really into it, treating it as one final celebration, dressing up in costumes and being crazy for the rest of the game. save for singing "Silent Night" at the end of the game.


I hate the Rock Chalk Jayhawk chant so I'm not posting it, but it's an ok example :-)

[Tony]

[DelmartianEd]

Ha. Does Taylor get charged with the technical every time?

These are great, but are mostly student chants. College sports are at their best when they're about the students, which is why these are awesome. The rest of us fans fill out the arenas, and can hopefully participate in certain things too.

[SaintMisbehavin]

Jan 3, 2014 17:41:17 GMT -5 DelmartianEd said:

Ha. Does Taylor get charged with the technical every time?

These are great, but are mostly student chants. College sports are at their best when they're about the students, which is why these are awesome. The rest of us fans fill out the arenas, and can hopefully participate in certain things too.

You can watch the Silent Night "10th point" on Youtube from the last few years (there is an edited video of it from 2012) and it seems like almost EVERY time the opposing team must call a Time-Out immediately, because they realize that the crowd is going to go insane, and it will probably rattle their players.

I agree, most are student-based which is where the livelihood is in college hoops, but it doesn't necessarily mean that a tradition couldn't be introduced by fans/alumni and adopted (with ferocity, hopefully) by the students.

[Deleted]

There was more students in those films than attend Siena.

[CellarRat]

Jan 4, 2014 6:35:03 GMT -5 @racersedge said:

There was more students in those films than attend Siena.

Yep.

[indian82]

Until the configuration of the TUC is changed, not much is likely to happen. Most of the fans that sit close are over 35 and not into creative 'chants'. This is not a knock at all (I am well into that category), just a fact. Think about the ARC - students were much closer and in a cozier atmosphere. These are the cons of playing at the TUC.

[CellarRat]

Jan 4, 2014 7:27:46 GMT -5 indian82 said:

Until the configuration of the TUC is changed, not much is likely to happen. Most of the fans that sit close are over 35 and not into creative 'chants'. This is not a knock at all (I am well into that category), just a fact. Think about the ARC - students were much closer and in a cozier atmosphere. These are the cons of playing at the TUC.

We don't have the numbers. What percentage of students go to the games on average at bcs?

[SaintMisbehavin]

There are dozens upon dozens of high school game crowd videos of them bringing energy and enthusiasm with a small fan base.

I realize that the TUC arena style can make implementing these types of traditions more difficult. When Siena fans travel to Marist, the small contingent in the corner of that 4K gym has managed to make quite a bit of noise. I think this shows that there are fans interested in creating this type of environment.

In my opinion it would be more effective to concentrate on what could work than why it's difficult to make it work.

[CellarRat]

That is certainly a better attitude. But the reality with Siena is that it is a small school with a big arena. No changing that unless we go back to the Arc and get a better proportion of students.

[Big papi]

In today's. Syracuse game Cuse didn't score a basket until the 11:09 mark in the second half. The crowd remained standing the whole time.

[indian82]

Jan 4, 2014 16:27:33 GMT -5 Big papi said:

In today's. Syracuse game Cuse didn't score a basket until the 11:09 mark in the second half. The crowd remained standing the whole time.

Guess you should have been there.

[SaintMisbehavin]

Seattle Sounders - Boom Boom Clap - Here's a simple idea that can have tremendous effect.


Something as simple as Rhythmic clapping doesn't have to be done nearly to this level of bombast, but could still be a unifying activity that students, young alumni, kids, and blue hairs alike could embrace.

[CellarRat]

Jan 7, 2014 12:15:30 GMT -5 SaintMisbehavin said:

Seattle Sounders - Boom Boom Clap - Here's a simple idea that can have tremendous effect.


Something as simple as Rhythmic clapping doesn't have to be done nearly to this level of bombast, but could still be a unifying activity that students, young alumni, kids, and blue hairs alike could embrace.

I agree this seems simple enough and inclusive.

[Deleted]

One thing that might work now. Convince John that sponsor's ads should not run during an opponent's called timeout when we have had a run and the crowd is getting into it. I know those 5 TO's (1-first half and 4-second half) have likely been sold but we have added a new dimension this year and it should be easy to swap them with players fouling out stoppages!!!!