Signs the crazies of old might be returning

[Devilsfan]

Lots of electricity and what's that, signs of renewed creativity! The "Don't Shoot" chant to the wake player that had the bb gun incident and the chalk board sign for the so called refs to learn the game during half time were great. And what's with that ref Valentine or Balentine or whatever his name is, he looked rediculous with his antics on the court. Someone needs to temper him or better yet send him back to the playground where he belongs. The games not about him but rather the players on both sides. Just my thoughts on a great win and a great crowd.

[DU82]

Lots of electricity and what's that, signs of renewed creativity! The "Don't Shoot" chant to the wake player that had the bb gun incident and the chalk board sign for the so called refs to learn the game during half time were great. And what's with that ref Valentine or Balentine or whatever his name is, he looked rediculous with his antics on the court. Someone needs to temper him or better yet send him back to the playground where he belongs. The games not about him but rather the players on both sides. Just my thoughts on a great win and a great crowd.

Teddy Valentine? Somebody unfortunately had to fill the void left by Dick Paparo leaving.

He's been like that for years. However one person I talked to who has reffed in the past mentioned that at least he was making decent calls, unlike the other two, who were a bunch of stooges. There's a reason why, when she didn't know the names of the refs for a game, the namesake of this forum put in her scorebook "Howard, Fine, Howard" as the refs. (She would have put down "Valentine, Fine Howard" Sunday.)

Regarding the students, yes things are reverting, sometimes not in a good way. Louder "you suck" during intros and a more noticable "Bull-merde" (see if French gets by the auto-censor.)

And we won't talk about the anthem singer. :-)

[BlueintheFace]

So long as Karl Hess isn't reffing...

Although, I agree. Valentine's demeanor is a real problem.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

There's a reason why, when she didn't know the names of the refs for a game, the namesake of this forum put in her scorebook "Howard, Fine, Howard" as the refs. (She would have put down "Valentine, Fine Howard" Sunday.)

Regarding the students, yes things are reverting, sometimes not in a good way. Louder "you suck" during intros and a more noticable "Bull-merde" (see if French gets by the auto-censor.)

And we won't talk about the anthem singer. :-)

Oh! That's classic! Leave it to EK to come up with something like that Of course, many of the readers of this board are so young they don't know who Howard, Fine and Howard were.

Personally, I would love the "you suck" addendum to disappear. I blame the freshman who think its cool. Much classier to just say "Hi, Bill" and leave it at that.

Merde made it through the filters. I'll have to remember that! I'll bet caca does too.

I'll blame sound system problems for the "unusual" sounding National Anthem. It kept cutting out on her, although a total failure might have been more merciful, at least for us listeners.

[scottdude8]

As a current Crazie I agree with this wholeheartedly. The last two games that the students have been back (BC and Wake) have both been packed to the point that I believe the line monitors had to turn people away. At the BC game, my friends and I almost unanimously agreed that the stadium was almost, if not as, packed as it was for UNC last year. Plus, there have been more of the "I can't hear myself think" moments in the past few games than there were in the first 4 or 5 games of the 2nd semester last year. In short, the fans have been louder, and there have been more of them, so far this year.

[le_modeliste]

For the BC game, the Chronicle printed big two-page spreads reading "PLUCK THE EAGLES" and instructed people to hold them up in the stands. Some guy folded the top half of it so that the L and the curvy part of the P was gone... I believe an official came in and made him take it down before the game started.

Towards the end of that game there were a few "Drive home safely" cheers that barely got started before they were quieted, for which I was glad.

[uh_no]

I'll blame sound system problems for the "unusual" sounding National Anthem. It kept cutting out on her, although a total failure might have been more merciful, at least for us listeners.

It wasn't just the sound system...she was, in fact, terrible...Perhaps she was sick or something? but she wasn't good...perhaps the sound guy tried to blurt out some of the more atrocious parts in the second half?

anyway...the childrens choir last night and the lady at the BC game were phenomenal

[Dukeface88]

For the BC game, the Chronicle printed big two-page spreads reading "PLUCK THE EAGLES" and instructed people to hold them up in the stands. Some guy folded the top half of it so that the L and the curvy part of the P was gone... I believe an official came in and made him take it down before the game started.

Towards the end of that game there were a few "Drive home safely" cheers that barely got started before they were quieted, for which I was glad.

I don't think the more casual fans know about Andre's family; I helped with the quieting at the BC game and got some confused looks (although someone started a "fly home safely chant" that I hope catches on). The "you suck" didn't seem as loud at the BC game as some of the others, but that may have been because crowd noise was drowning it out. Not sure what happened at the Wake game with either the intros or the "drive home" chant. To my great personal regret I can confirm that students got turned away (and were also not let in at half time as people left, which was pretty annoying).

[Rudy]

Can anyone report a growing excitement on campus that this team might really be something special? They're playing pretty well and they're not anywhere near their potential as yet.

[DU82]

It wasn't just the sound system...she was, in fact, terrible...Perhaps she was sick or something? but she wasn't good...perhaps the sound guy tried to blurt out some of the more atrocious parts in the second half?

anyway...the childrens choir last night and the lady at the BC game were phenomenal

It wasn't the sound system. It was her. She was "style-izing" (or however you spell it) and she was holding the mike as far away as she could to look good. When she moved her head, the mike couldn't pick her up properly.

I mentioned last night that groups are usually "safe", in that it's hard to embellish and have everybody do it right. (Not counting higher-level groups which have specific arrangements.)

[uh_no]

It wasn't the sound system. It was her. She was "style-izing" (or however you spell it) and she was holding the mike as far away as she could to look good. When she moved her head, the mike couldn't pick her up properly.

I mentioned last night that groups are usually "safe", in that it's hard to embellish and have everybody do it right. (Not counting higher-level groups which have specific arrangements.)

She was moving the mike in and out to change the volume (which should be the least of her worries at the moment) but there were times when the mike was up close and the sound cut out, leading to the conclusion that there were issues...given the microphone might have been going on strike

[Stray Gator]

I'll admit that I'm old-fashioned and a traditionalist, but I think it's utterly disgraceful and embarrassing when someone tries to "sing" the National Anthem in that stylized "warbling exaggerated/fake tremolo" fashion, as if they are auditioning for an appearance on American Idol. Either let one of the a cappella groups sing it, or simply play a recording of the Anthem sung as it was intended--with appropriate respect. Of course, I'm not particularly fond of the 1980s-era, boxing match-style of player introductions, either. It's college basketball, for crying out loud.

[moonpie23]

So long as Karl Hess isn't reffing...

ten-FREAKIING-four on that good buddy...

[DevilAlumna]

Teddy Valentine? Somebody unfortunately had to fill the void left by Dick Paparo leaving.

Man, having a ref named Dick was always fraught with Crazie peril... "You suck, Richard," being the cheer that we changed to after being chastized by Coach K for our first attempt...

[DBFAN]

For the life of me, I could not figure out why the Crazies were chanting don't shoot, I had totally forgotten about the BB gun incident, was it Aminu that had that happen? Either way, that was freaking genius on the Crazies part

[uh_no]

For the life of me, I could not figure out why the Crazies were chanting don't shoot, I had totally forgotten about the BB gun incident, was it Aminu that had that happen? Either way, that was freaking genius on the Crazies part

Most of the crazies didn't even know...hence the need for the return of dirt sheets

[gep]

I'll admit that I'm old-fashioned and a traditionalist, but I think it's utterly disgraceful and embarrassing when someone tries to "sing" the National Anthem in that stylized "warbling exaggerated/fake tremolo" fashion, as if they are auditioning for an appearance on American Idol. Either let one of the a cappella groups sing it, or simply play a recording of the Anthem sung as it was intended--with appropriate respect. Of course, I'm not particularly fond of the 1980s-era, boxing match-style of player introductions, either. It's college basketball, for crying out loud.

I remember, from years ago, that a "leader" would lead the audience in singing the National Anthem. It was all about the song, not the performer...

p.s. maybe it was also because it was closer to the end of WWII... (showing my age, of course)

[Reddevil]

I remember, from years ago, that a "leader" would lead the audience in singing the National Anthem. It was all about the song, not the performer...

p.s. maybe it was also because it was closer to the end of WWII... (showing my age, of course)

I'm not quite the senior you are (just 46), but I remember attending events as a child where this was done (minor league baseball games come to mind). That would be really powerful. I wonder if that would work now? You may be on to something that could be unique in a retro way. I almost forgot how good that felt to hear. Bringing that back could start a nice trend.

[Olympic Fan]

I'll admit that I'm old-fashioned and a traditionalist, but I think it's utterly disgraceful and embarrassing when someone tries to "sing" the National Anthem in that stylized "warbling exaggerated/fake tremolo" fashion, as if they are auditioning for an appearance on American Idol. Either let one of the a cappella groups sing it, or simply play a recording of the Anthem sung as it was intended--with appropriate respect. Of course, I'm not particularly fond of the 1980s-era, boxing match-style of player introductions, either. It's college basketball, for crying out loud.

I'm also old-fashioned and a traditionalist, which is why my least favorite moment at every Duke game is when the students do their stylized O during the anthem.

I realize that this is a lost cause, but not only is it disrespectful, it's not funny and it's not original -- the practice was brought to Cameron almost 20 years ago by students who learned it at Baltimore Oriole games. What galls me even more than the O is the self-satisfied chuckle that always runs through the crowd after they do it -- like they did something clever or original. Believe me, it's neither.

I always wonder what Coach K, a West Point grad and an Army veteran feels about it -- I know my own dad, a Duke grad who served in combat in Germany in the 1944 and 1945, would go into bouts of fury when he heard it.

Overall, I agree that the Crazies have been better the last two games. The "Please don't shoot me" wasn't bad. I wish somebody would have come up with something clever when K put Jordan Davidson in the game late in the first half -- something to remind the Deacs of his brother Patrick, a walk-on who holds an inflated place in the hearts of Wake's Duke haters -- in Deac minds, Patrick's "mugging" of Chris Paul is on the same level as what Kentuckians feel about Christian Laettner's "stomp" on Aminu Timberlake. It would have been great to hear something about that -- although I confess I can't think of anything clever ...

As for Teddy Valentine, get off his case. Yeah, he goes over the top in his histrionics, but if you were paying attention Sunday night, he was the only ref giving Duke a fair break early -- Ray Natilli and Joe Lindsay were screwing us.

[GoDuke99]

Most of the crazies didn't even know...hence the need for the return of dirt sheets

the cheer sheets are gone?