A Call to Arms to My Fellow Crazies

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Totally agree with you. Not saying it's okay to have empty bleachers - not even in the corner. But I guarantee that even during that amazing run from 90 to 94 that there were more a than a few ACC games where corners were not close to full. I was there for every game. Just stating a fact.

The corner's have always been difficult to fill. Eddie Cameron authorized sale of tickets for those those areas back in the 60's when we students didn't fill them up.

As a point of interest, the price for a ticket to sit in the student section then was $1 to walk ups. (Students paid an activity fee which allowed one to attend all football and basketball games.) Reserved seats upstairs were $2.50 each per game, but they weren't sold as season tickets.

In case anyone is thinking that the quality of play wasn't much, Duke was nationally ranked at the time and made it to the Final Four. Television coverage was limited. If you wanted to see the game, you had to be there.

[weezie]

Side note, how'd the arms locked, side to side swaying/chanting 'Go Duke' thing look? We were aiming for the "eff yeah. Let's do this" effect.

Looked good! Try to get all sides going at once with rows alternating next time. I know, that sounds picky but you're all Blue Devils, figure it out!

[Greg_Newton]

One thing I noticed today was that the crowd was much louder on offense than defense. I'm not sure the "Let's go, Duke!" chant every time we have the ball is as important as just yelling and screaming on defense and when we make a big play and get some momentum. That's when the team needs energy and to feed off the crowd. Kind of strange to hear the deafening roar from a momentum-changing fade prematurely into "ohhhhh"...

Also would like to see the chants get meaner again. Make fun of the other team, anything they might actually notice. "You let the whole team down" is funny in the right spots (although we kind of stole it from Kansas), how about some 90's style stuff like that?

(BTW, the cop by the band-endzone section was absurd today. Kicked a front-row student out for, apparently, moving slightly into the aisle in front of him while trying to get loud and demonstrative with the rest of the section during an FSU timeout with like 2 minutes left. Ridiculous.)

[Bob Green]

Jim Sumner penned an excellent article for GoDuke.com that fits nicely into the discussion in this thread:

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...DB_OEM_ID=4200

Thanks Jim!

[Devilsfan]

Newton hit it! He says "meaner", I say more creative but we are saying the same thing. I think Coach K has gone a little too far in controlling the crazies and the team is paying for it in a lack of support. We need more Alpha males in the Crazies make up. Quit being so PC and Vanilla. It's a fine line but that's what made Cameron so famous and copied so much around the country. I say bring Cameron back!

[weezie]

(BTW, the cop by the band-endzone section was absurd today.

Yeah, we saw that from our seats. Cop was definitely trying to exert his supreme authority.

BUT, it also reminds me that the band was fantastic yesterday! Best all year and they really brought it when the Crazies seemed to lull a bit towards the end.
Good job BAND!!!!!

[Verga3]

Jim Sumner penned an excellent article for GoDuke.com that fits nicely into the discussion in this thread:

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...DB_OEM_ID=4200

Thanks Jim!

Thanks, Bob. Beat me to the punch. Nice piece by Jim, as usual. When was the last time anyone heard the "white noise" in Cameron? The first similar mention I recall was by Jack Marin, describing a deafening sound like a "jet engine" during a spurt v. the Cazzie Russell led #1 Michigan Wolverines in 1964. There have been others...that's been our legacy.

[BattierD12]

I've been trying to come up with potential ways to improve the creativity and the spontaneity of the cheers. I'm not a big fan of cheer sheets, and one of the reasons is that the cheers listed are usually recited at the very beginning during warm-ups; however, once it's used up, there's really nothing else listed that can be used during games. (Yesterday was a good example of this - the cheers/taunts before the game and during the first few minutes of the game were great - after that, there weren't really any more unique cheers). I remember back when the Miami Heat played their first game last season against the Boston Celtics, Bill Simmons would update his twitter during the game with cheers that fans in the arena could say together. In the same vein, how about having a designated student leader of the student section (Tent 1 peeps, line monitor, etc), who will undoubtedly be creative in cheers and jeers, be responsible for sending a text/email to people signed up for the "Taunt listserv". This would allow for unique cheers to be created that would target a recent occurrence in a game. Most students end up checking their cell phones at time outs anyways, so it would be neat if they would see a new cheer available to them that they could recite as well as info on when it will be used. It would also help bring in the people on the sides to cheer, as I remember not being able to hear what was being cheered a lot of the time when I ended up on the edge of the student section. With technology having increasing control of most of our lives, maybe we should use it to our advantage with cheering.

[uh_no]

I've been trying to come up with potential ways to improve the creativity and the spontaneity of the cheers. I'm not a big fan of cheer sheets, and one of the reasons is that the cheers listed are usually recited at the very beginning during warm-ups; however, once it's used up, there's really nothing else listed that can be used during games. (Yesterday was a good example of this - the cheers/taunts before the game and during the first few minutes of the game were great - after that, there weren't really any more unique cheers). I remember back when the Miami Heat played their first game last season against the Boston Celtics, Bill Simmons would update his twitter during the game with cheers that fans in the arena could say together. In the same vein, how about having a designated student leader of the student section (Tent 1 peeps, line monitor, etc), who will undoubtedly be creative in cheers and jeers, be responsible for sending a text/email to people signed up for the "Taunt listserv". This would allow for unique cheers to be created that would target a recent occurrence in a game. Most students end up checking their cell phones at time outs anyways, so it would be neat if they would see a new cheer available to them that they could recite as well as info on when it will be used. It would also help bring in the people on the sides to cheer, as I remember not being able to hear what was being cheered a lot of the time when I ended up on the edge of the student section. With technology having increasing control of most of our lives, maybe we should use it to our advantage with cheering.

First, saying someone is "in charge" is the wrong way to go about this. Part of the appeal of crazies is that everyone is equal. We don't have a "lottery" for tickets, we don't have people who are "in charge" of coming up with cheers. We have people and anyone can come up with a cheer.

Second, the last thing we want is students spending the entire game looking at their cellphones and thus becoming even LESS engaged in the games.

I applaud you for trying to come up with some ideas, and don't mean to reject them so vehemently, but I just don't think they're for us.

To avoid sounding like a spoil sport without providing any suggestions: I haven't been an undergrad in section 17 or kville for 2 years. I know around that time the team was spending a good deal of effort trying to get fraternaties to come out to games, creating the option for larger groups to have beer and bbq out in kville. I know it mas marginally successful the first year, but have not heard since. Is that going strong? From what i have heard/read it seems like the frats ceasing attending games was one of the things that has decreased the craziness over the years. I do think that having some coherent groups of people who can come up with their own stuff and then have it spread is something that is missing (and yes, slightly inebriated frat guys are certainly more raucous than your average freshman). I don't know why going to games fell out of favor...but its a shame

[Devilsfan]

Hire the guys who founded South Park as Crazie Consultants to get us back on track.

[DukieInKansas]

I thought the Crazies were more involved yesterday. Thanks for all that worked to bring that about. I do have a question for the student holding the "Wins Limit 45" sign? Why would she want to limit the home win streak to 45? I would have preferred it get to 46 and beyond.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

Looked good! Try to get all sides going at once with rows alternating next time. I know, that sounds picky but you're all Blue Devils, figure it out!

Yes! It DID look good. I can't figure out, though, how you could at least get EVERYbody going the SAME direction. The people in the middle kept getting squashed from both ends at once!

You guys will get there. You're on to something now!
Love, Ima

[Truth]

In fairness, that was a little kid. He was just above the rail. But I agree. It should be quiet during free throws.

NO. It was NOT a little kid. The female-impersonating catcalls came from a Duke student literally two rows in front of me. Some of his friends were laughing at his antics, but several were seemingly upset but unable to summon the courage to admonish this foolish behavior. I finally stepped in (with a few choice words that I won't repeat here) and the kid stopped. I only wish I had done it sooner...

[Native]

NO. It was NOT a little kid. The female-impersonating catcalls came from a Duke student literally two rows in front of me. Some of his friends were laughing at his antics, but several were seemingly upset but unable to summon the courage to admonish this foolish behavior. I finally stepped in (with a few choice words that I won't repeat here) and the kid stopped. I only wish I had done it sooner...

Wow, my bad then. Again, I didn't see it myself but a few of my friends claimed to have been witness.

Sheesh.

[Verga3]

How do we pump up the volume? This may be a Duke Basketball cultural question at the core. Do we emotionally care as much as we have in the past? Are we invested enough to scream and chant our heads off...as students, alums and fans? Don't get me wrong, there is energy still there...and it remains much superior to most schools. But, we are NOT "most schools." We need to continue to be recognized as the very best! That takes both an emotional AND choreographed commitment. And, it starts by flat being LOUD!!!

If we can speak without a gravely voice in class or at work the next day, we have not done our duty.

[jimsumner]

FWIW, K did opine in the post-game yesterday that the Duke fan base takes for granted winning at home. He didn't specify the Crazies, either.

The man has been to a fair number of games at Cameron.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

FWIW, K did opine in the post-game yesterday that the Duke fan base takes for granted winning at home. He didn't specify the Crazies, either.

The man has been to a fair number of games at Cameron.

He "opines" you say?

FWIW The Crazies and fans are not completely to blame. All the "showbiz" glitz and constant booming of canned music has taken Cameron away from us. The students have been systematically and purposefully shoved into oblivion. Somebody should tell K he can't have it both ways.

By the way, this old gal has been to FAR more games in Cameron than Krzyzewski has.
Love, Ima

[ScreechTDX1847]

Someone needs to get that blog in the school paper. Cameron is truly not the homecourt advantage it used to be. It looks like 75% of the "crazies" just stand there without doing anything.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

He "opines" you say?

FWIW The Crazies and fans are not completely to blame. All the "showbiz" glitz and constant booming of canned music has taken Cameron away from us. The students have been systematically and purposefully shoved into oblivion. Somebody should tell K he can't have it both ways.

By the way, this old gal has been to FAR more games in Cameron than Krzyzewski has.
Love, Ima

I think you're making one of the most important points in this discussion, Ima.

Look at the changes in Cameron over the past 40 years or so and consider how they've influenced fan participation.... significant reduction in number of seats for undergrads, game breaks scripted by TV timeouts and commercials, booming piped in music and lots of big video presentations (people including the players are distracted by those).

Speaking as one who began my time in Cameron as a young child, this process of evolution feels as if the more we upgrade to new technology and keeping up with trends in other basketball facilities, the more we lose from the quality of fan participation that developed with the program. Splashy technology is no substitute for the real live fan.

[Devilsfan]

Well put. This isn't the NBA or Team USA. We don't need the phony pumped in drama. Next they'll want to tear down Cameron and put up a 15,000 seat arena. Students do seem to be just standing in the Crazie section where they ALL used to actively participate. Just an opinion. Let's bring back Cameron!