Why doesn't the band do this any more at the start of games?

[JeffCuse]

Have heard thru the SFC that a Cuse BLM video may be played before team runs onto field. Hope that’s not the case for SU, even though being a very woke university, should leave politics and social matters outside the Dome and focus on winning some football games. The band also needs to step it up with more members, especially tuba’s, and the native cheer should be reinstated before each kickoff for it also gets the players psyched on the Orange sideline.

I fully support Cuse getting involved in this cause, but play it during the half. We need the energy pre-game.

#BringBackTheMusic

 

[All4SU]

I’m sure some clever music arranger could come up with a pre-kickoff tune that mimics the rhythmic beat which increases in tempo without it sounding too much like the tomahawk chop tune. I’m thinking Jaws-like with a simple melody line inserted.

 

[DoubleDee]

I’m sure some clever music arranger could come up with a pre-kickoff tune that mimics the rhythmic beat which increases in tempo without it sounding too much like the tomahawk chop tune. I’m thinking Jaws-like with a simple melody line inserted.

First 0:32 -

 

[ForCuseSake]

My recollection was that it became very popular when we had both a kickoff guy who always put it in the end zone, Pat O'Neill, and a kickoff returner, Qadry Ismail, that no one wanted to miss his returns.

The band wasn't tomahawk chopping, they were putting their instruments in the air. But this was also around the time where the FSU tomahawk chop was huge, and the fans basically turned it into that.

Maybe I'm wrong. But it really did get the fans into the game from the outset during those O'Neill/Ismail days. Most were in their seats already by kickoff. I know you youngsters think this is all crazy talk, but it really happened.

Fans in a few of the sections I sat in during those years used to point at the opposing kick returner as that played.

Infrequent local attendees who sat near me sometimes mistook that pointing for the FSU chop.

 

[sutomcat]

I’m sure some clever music arranger could come up with a pre-kickoff tune that mimics the rhythmic beat which increases in tempo without it sounding too much like the tomahawk chop tune. I’m thinking Jaws-like with a simple melody line inserted.

I am 99.9% sure that at some point, the SUMB did use the shark predator music just before Syracuse would kick the ball off.

And it worked well.

 

[chugg21]

Don't think I've ever really watched any of the old games on YouTube but boy did watching the 1st few mins of that game make me sad. The program has been terrible for more than half of my life at this point. Have 2 seasons that I can think fondly of since I've been able to go to games on my own, the Freeney year and the Dungey year. Really hope that we can get back to the Dome being packed and rocking like that at some point in the near future.

 

[TexanMark]

I fully support Cuse getting involved in this cause, but play it during the half. We need the energy pre-game.

#BringBackTheMusic

Nope

 

[Scooch]

The people on this site really are outliers, bless your hearts. As a former member of the SUMB, I can speak with authority that the ONLY crowd who participated in the aforementioned kickoff song... was, at best, about half the student section, and maybe 25 other randos around the Dome. And this was in the 1990s, when we were good and the Dome was typically 90%+ full.

And the crowd participation that accompanied it was absolutely a tomahawk chop. The whole thing was Native American-inspired.

I love Syracuse University, but our fan base is the worst of any major school I know when it comes to crowd participation stuff, hands down. I'll never forget being at the 2013 Final Four in Atlanta, and watching Wichita State fans 5X the chants and cheers that we do.

 

[JeffCuse]

The people on this site really are outliers, bless your hearts. As a former member of the SUMB, I can speak with authority that the ONLY crowd who participated in the aforementioned kickoff song... was, at best, about half the student section, and maybe 25 other randos around the Dome. And this was in the 1990s, when we were good and the Dome was typically 90%+ full.

And the crowd participation that accompanied it was absolutely a tomahawk chop. The whole thing was Native American-inspired.

I love Syracuse University, but our fan base is the worst of any major school I know when it comes to crowd participation stuff, hands down. I'll never forget being at the 2013 Final Four in Atlanta, and watching Wichita State fans 5X the chants and cheers that we do.

In fairness... there was a long stretch of time when "shake your keys" was the best fans were offered lol

I still liked the song regardless. Maybe I was doing it wrong. I did what the band did (or what I thought they were doing) which looked like more of an extended fist pump upward than a chop downward.

Re SU and crowd stuff, I get it. I feel like sometimes SU tries to play it both ways. Huge Dome...we love being the on campus leaders for things like basketball. But then I see we have a smaller presence in other areas. I think our band is pretty small for one. Does SU offer scholarships for marching band?

 

[JeffCuse]

Nope

Point being...if the school decides to go in a direction like this, pre-game is not the place for it. We need unifying energizing stuff pre-game.

 

[zjscuse]

We need a time machine. Go back in time.

1- Un retire the 44
2- Un-schedule all those games in NJ
3- Unhire G-Rob
4- Un-retire this song

Bring back the energy.

I’m going to put this on a bill board soon as you pass the fairgrounds lol

 

[Scooch]

In fairness... there was a long stretch of time when "shake your keys" was the best fans were offered lol

I still liked the song regardless. Maybe I was doing it wrong. I did what the band did (or what I thought they were doing) which looked like more of an extended fist pump upward than a chop downward.

Re SU and crowd stuff, I get it. I feel like sometimes SU tries to play it both ways. Huge Dome...we love being the on campus leaders for things like basketball. But then I see we have a smaller presence in other areas. I think our band is pretty small for one. Does SU offer scholarships for marching band?

Some of the band did an arm pump, others did a chop, at least back in the stone age of the early 1990s.

I don't know what it is about SU fans. I've always felt that we had a fan base that is too-cool-for-school when it comes to participatory stuff. I mean, you see it even on this site, when a non-trivial number of people are dismissive of singing the fight song, doing cheers, etc.

We're also oddly passive... there's threads about how "the administration" or "the athletic department" needs to do things to improve game day atmosphere. But honestly, the in-Dome atmosphere would be improved if people came up with chants and participated. Most college stuff is fan driven, and ours hardly make the effort. You got at this when you said "best fans were offered". How about doing stuff ourselves?

It's all very weird.

 

[JeffCuse]

Some of the band did an arm pump, others did a chop, at least back in the stone age of the early 1990s.

I don't know what it is about SU fans. I've always felt that we had a fan base that is too-cool-for-school when it comes to participatory stuff. I mean, you see it even on this site, when a non-trivial number of people are dismissive of singing the fight song, doing cheers, etc.

We're also oddly passive... there's threads about how "the administration" or "the athletic department" needs to do things to improve game day atmosphere. But honestly, the in-Dome atmosphere would be improved if people came up with chants and participated. Most college stuff is fan driven, and ours hardly make the effort. You got at this when you said "best fans were offered". How about doing stuff ourselves?

It's all very weird.

Fair enough. Counterpoint tho...whether or not that song was a home run, it was something. And rather than just play up what sort of works, they eliminate it and replace it with nothing.

Agree ridiculously passive fan base. But I also think that SU needs to make better choices in light of that. Hoping they do things with darkness and lights and sound to get people pumped up pregame.

And bring back the song.

 

[Scooch]

Fair enough. Counterpoint tho...whether or not that song was a home run, it was something. And rather than just play up what sort of works, they eliminate it and replace it with nothing.

Agree ridiculously passive fan base. But I also think that SU needs to make better choices in light of that. Hoping they do things with darkness and lights and sound to get people pumped up pregame.

And bring back the song.

I don’t know the history, but I do know that the band is always trying things. They introduced some new first down songs when the Babers era started, purposefully played fast with a chant at the end, because the O was supposed to run so quickly. Guess what? The fans didn’t even pretend to participate in the chant. Entirely predictable.

When I was in school we had those huge signs for basketball player introductions. “Who’s he?”, “So what?!”, those things. We literally ran around the Dome with them and pointed them at the crowd as the intros occurred. Most of the time maybe 10-20% of the crowd participated. Apparently this was a cool tradition at Manley, but it was largely faded by the 90s in the Dome.

It’s a real sore spot for me, clearly. It’s sad that the pro sports teams I follow have more in-game fan traditions than my Alma mater.

 

[JeffCuse]

I don’t know the history, but I do know that the band is always trying things. They introduced some new first down songs when the Babers era started, purposefully played fast with a chant at the end, because the O was supposed to run so quickly. Guess what? The fans didn’t even pretend to participate in the chant. Entirely predictable.

When I was in school we had those huge signs for basketball player introductions. “Who’s he?”, “So what?!”, those things. We literally ran around the Dome with them and pointed them at the crowd as the intros occurred. Most of the time maybe 10-20% of the crowd participated. Apparently this was a cool tradition at Manley, but it was largely faded by the 90s in the Dome.

It’s a real sore spot for me, clearly. It’s sad that the pro sports teams I follow have more in-game fan traditions than my Alma mater.

I get you.

Syracuse basketball fans at least have that deal where they stand and clap until SU scores. Its no great shakes, but its a unifer and gets them engaged, and they DO it. Syracuse football doesn't have anything like that. And not to belabor a point, but like it or not, and even if only a fraction did, the closest thing football had in my memory was that kickoff song.

I hope that the university does something cool with lights, music, and introductions at least.

 

[elimunelson]

Someone said it maybe earlier in this thread or elsewhere but most of the students coming to SU are first generation Syracuse fans. They aren't indoctrinated in the traditions of SU so when they arrive on campus it's usually disinterest/confusion in what they are trying to do.

This isn't 4 generations of state university knowledge or even generational catholics rooting for ND and everything going on there.

I do think the Sour Citrus was the best pep band in the country and always felt like when the game was good the crowd was receptive to their musical cues and getting excited for the traditional songs they did.

 

[JRHEETER]

Some of the band did an arm pump, others did a chop, at least back in the stone age of the early 1990s.

I don't know what it is about SU fans. I've always felt that we had a fan base that is too-cool-for-school when it comes to participatory stuff. I mean, you see it even on this site, when a non-trivial number of people are dismissive of singing the fight song, doing cheers, etc.

We're also oddly passive... there's threads about how "the administration" or "the athletic department" needs to do things to improve game day atmosphere. But honestly, the in-Dome atmosphere would be improved if people came up with chants and participated. Most college stuff is fan driven, and ours hardly make the effort. You got at this when you said "best fans were offered". How about doing stuff ourselves?

It's all very weird.

Absolutely hate how some fans at the game look at you with weird looks when you try to chant or cheer.

This isn’t golf, this is football.

Don’t be afraid to be passionate!

 

[JeffCuse]

Absolutely hate how some fans at the game look at you with weird looks when you try to chant or cheer.

This isn’t golf, this is football.

Don’t be afraid to be passionate!

Its a rock and a hard place situation. On one hand, as Scooch said, it shouldnt need to be on the band (or the school broadly) to give people reasons to chant, cheer, get loud. But on the other, as a fan base they are so far removed from it, that when the small 5-10-20% of fans do try to get something going they are immediately shouted down and or ignored.

 

[chugg21]

Someone said it maybe earlier in this thread or elsewhere but most of the students coming to SU are first generation Syracuse fans. They aren't indoctrinated in the traditions of SU so when they arrive on campus it's usually disinterest/confusion in what they are trying to do.

This isn't 4 generations of state university knowledge or even generational catholics rooting for ND and everything going on there.

I do think the Sour Citrus was the best pep band in the country and always felt like when the game was good the crowd was receptive to their musical cues and getting excited for the traditional songs they did.

My wife recently did a year program at Texas A&M and they are basically indoctrinated to all of the football cheers and traditions during orientation. Football's obviously a whole different deal there but the fan experience and participation there compared to in the Dome is kind of funny. Counterpoint is the experience for basketball there is laughable.

 

[All4SU]

Not really relevant to football, but for basketball I’ve always felt that the biggest impediment to fan participation was the lighting. Compared to other stadia, the Dome is bright in the stands, and fans are self-conscious. Maybe the new lighting will address some of that.

 

[Eric15]

Was watching this...the Tom Brady game...and so miss the way the band used to fire up the crowd at the opening kickoff. Why don't they do this any more? I'm talking about the very very start of the clip.

I always loved that song (or whatever you want to call it) prior to kickoffs. It fired me up. I'm all about not insulting Native Americans with cartoonish mascots, but that music before the kickoff seemed harmless to me.

 

[Bayside44]

Someone said it maybe earlier in this thread or elsewhere but most of the students coming to SU are first generation Syracuse fans. They aren't indoctrinated in the traditions of SU so when they arrive on campus it's usually disinterest/confusion in what they are trying to do.

This isn't 4 generations of state university knowledge or even generational catholics rooting for ND and everything going on there.

I do think the Sour Citrus was the best pep band in the country and always felt like when the game was good the crowd was receptive to their musical cues and getting excited for the traditional songs they did.

The SSS used to play Amen at the end of wins in hoops. Was so looking forward to it when I got there, but something I guess.

 

[OttoMets]

I get you.

Syracuse basketball fans at least have that deal where they stand and clap until SU scores. Its no great shakes, but its a unifer and gets them engaged, and they DO it. Syracuse football doesn't have anything like that. And not to belabor a point, but like it or not, and even if only a fraction did, the closest thing football had in my memory was that kickoff song.

I hope that the university does something cool with lights, music, and introductions at least.

Not for years. I'd be surprised if 5% of people in the building clap, and if it's anything other than a 30,000 crowd, a third of the people don't even stand.

I miss the kickoff song too, but these things have to happen organically. And people who attend SU games are too cool for the participatory stuff. Plus, at SU's active encouragement now, they're constantly distracted by their phones.

 

[OttoMets]

My wife recently did a year program at Texas A&M and they are basically indoctrinated to all of the football cheers and traditions during orientation. Football's obviously a whole different deal there but the fan experience and participation there compared to in the Dome is kind of funny. Counterpoint is the experience for basketball there is laughable.

The one time I attended Midnight Yell at Kyle Field it was more energetic and arguably better attended than half of SU's football games each season.

 

[OttoMets]

The SSS used to play Amen at the end of wins in hoops. Was so looking forward to it when I got there, but something I guess.

And after that they played Jesus Christ Superstar. It was great (like everything SSS plays).

But, again, something I guess...