Crowd Psychology?

Submitted by TheIcon34 on

I was thinking about crowd psychology, since I am going to the game next week and sit in the visitor's section. Has anyone ever heard of people taking this approach in any sporting event.

If UConn makes a terrible play, we all will erupt in cheers as it is expected. How about if more people did the opposite and acted like a disgruntled visiting fan, so we (Michigan fans) would actually boo UConn's efforts and focus on jeering Uconn for bad plays as opposed to cheering for Michigan's good efforts. People may think "ok, so what's the point?" I figured this would be more domoralizing to the opposing team since they are being booed by what would sound like it is from their own fans, as opposed to hearing the fans cheer for Michigan's efforts. This could also affect the visiting section, since the visiting fans will be annoyed to hear their own fans are booing the team and may even join in on the efforts a lot sooner.

I should add a caveat that I am deaf, but have always wondered what people say at the games, especially when our own fans are ripping into our team, when they should be shouting encouragement, yet the players are not going to hear the individual comments.

So, any thoughts on how to use reverse crowd psychology at games and also if you have seen anything like this at sporting events solely to affect the visiting fans? I don't consider opposing fan kindness/rudeness as a factor, since that is to be expected either way depending on the teams.

Erik_in_Dayton

August 28th, 2010 at 1:20 PM ^

I don't think that it would necessarily seem like the boos were coming from the UConn fans.  There are always (in my observation, anyway) Michigan fans mixed in w/ the visiting fans. 

I say cheer for Michigan and yell loudly when UConn has the ball (pre-snap, anyway). 

MGoRob

August 28th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^

I'm very much against this idea. These are college players, and no matter what team they belong to, booing them just seems wrong.

I for one think its even very unsportsmanlike in the pros. For instance, take the Red Wings. At the Joe, you'll hear chants mostly to the tune of "Let's Go Red Wings". A very positive cheer. However, when they go on the road, I hear more often than not cheer like, "Red Wings Suck".  Again, why purposely boo another team instead of cheer your own seems odd/wrong.

bluebrains98

August 28th, 2010 at 3:24 PM ^

You do realize there are going to be 110,000 people there, right? Do what you need to do to have a good time, but I don't think you will be able to do nearly as much as Denard in the "demoralizing the opponent" department.

TheIcon34

August 28th, 2010 at 4:31 PM ^

Good comments everyone, I guess i should have clarified further! The players and opposing fans would easily catch on if all 114,000 of us were doing the same thing, so I meant the Michigan fans in the visitor's section only. I would think 100-500 fans in a specific section would work, without even having to don UConn gear to go undercover.  If a UConn fan is in the middle of all this, don't you think the UConn fan is going to think "wtf? why are we booing our own team, that play wasn't that bad??"

Over the years, you see players comment about their own fans turning on them because of their poor efforts as a team or as an individual, so that is where I was coming from. Based on my experience in home and away games for Michigan, the visiting crowd seems to be the most "supportive" bunch overall.

jmblue

August 28th, 2010 at 4:38 PM ^

When you are the visiting player, there is nothing you want to hear more than boos.  Boos mean the home crowd is disappointed.  This would not discourage the UConn players.  It might confuse them, but it wouldn't discourage them.  Hearing a crowd cheer your mistakes is a lot worse.

TheIcon34

August 28th, 2010 at 4:48 PM ^

Actually, if the visiting rb runs for a decent 2 yards, home fan goes wild for a good stop, but (if this is possible) the RB hears the boos from where he sees the UConn fans are located.

Maybe a better example would be that the visiting rb fumbles, the crowd goes crazy so all noises are drawn out..then when the cheering stops, start booing and it will be obvious that it is not the home crowd that is disappointed, thus it is from what appears to be an UConn fan. Yes, this whole tactic will be very hard to pull off, but it is all about picking the right moments and right scenario to be explicit it is not the home fans booing.

jmblue

August 28th, 2010 at 4:59 PM ^

You're definitely over-thinking this.  Just cheer for Michigan.   Hearing 110,000 people cheer when something goes wrong for their team is the most intimidating thing they can experience.