Noise makers for the Big House..Ideas?
For the past few years I have been thinking of ideas for noise makers for the big house. I went to the game a couple years ago when we played AT Oregon. It was EXTREMELY loud. All of the fans had duck calls or actual whistles decorated as ducks. It created an annoying, but effective sound that truly affected our players. I remember when USC played at Oregon a few years ago, the commentators were saying how USC had practiced hand signals all week to prepare for the deafening sound in the stadium. Why don't we do something like this? Can't someone modify a duck call to make a more "growling" sound? I think we should all work together and come up with some ideas to implement for the new era of Michigan football. New stadium. New level of loudness. Lets make it so we aren't the "quietest group of 109K people".
GO BLUE!!
I don't give a shit what I have to do, I just want to win for christ sakes.
Who's with me?
Even teams like Alabama and Florida can't win without their crowds.
Umm, crowd noise is important, but I wouldn't go that far...
I hate when you stand and yell and someone next to you gives you a dirty look. I just want to say, "Why are you here?". On every third down I stand up and scream. That's why I came to the game, to help my team win. That's how I see it anyhow.
vuvuzela
I suppose it isn't that surprising--nor is it necessarily a good thing (I vote with a hanging chad bridging "maybe" and "no")--that my most memorable Michigan noise-maker memory effectively involved a surely overpriced student section exodus from Bivuac before gameday.
Moving on with details: In fall 2005, I well remember self-deprecatingly noisy "gotta make noiz this time plz!" whispers bouncing around campus before the OSU game. Eventually, it seemed--maybe by way of the idea's endorsement by The Daily, I'm now uncertain--the campus came to agree on a referedum to fill Nalgenes (or anything that could be snuck in a back pocket draped under a #1 jersey) with coins for noise-making purposes. Paraphrasing The Daily's (or some group's) instructions: "not too few, not too many; experiment with the coin-in-bottle numbers at home to find an integer that maximizes your noise potential." It was generally understood, without much talk about it in class or on the Diag, instead within side-by-side-to-the-stadium-stepping groups of friends, that each student would stow a bottle with water (or maybe "water"), drink the water (or "water"), drop in the coins, and shake the unit with masterbatory vigor during defensive downs.
I didn't hate that idea. Sure, it was annoying as hell. But it had grassroots roots, it was effective (if i ever thought my ears might bleed, I thought it that day in the students' section--and I was in school for Brabbs' winning kick, the 100th game, Braylonpalooza, and Henne-to-Manningham), and it wasn't mindless.
Regarding that "mindless" word: I have no idea whether I'm alone in my feelings on this one, but I have no hate for vuvuzelas (a noun/object). However, I do loathe the mindless use of vuvuzelas (a predicate/behavior) that we heard from the World Cup. I took a vuvuzela to Yost Ice Arena a few times during my undergrad years (I'm pretty sure I called it "the blue, plastic horn", though), and I'm not ashamed of that. I sent out single blasts during exciting game moments and tried my best to incorporate it into the cheers, which was tough and explains why it usually sat under my jacket. So, yeah, I welcome any noise maker accompanied by a--if not a clever one, then at least not a mindless--mind. Collective ingenuity and wit is encouraged.
Something I've done in the past which makes a decent amount of noise, is easy to make/bring, and allows you to yell at the same is to bring in a bottle of water (which they allow you to do if it's still sealed). After you drink the water, put about 10-15 coins in it. Shaking that makes a decent amount of noise and it's very easy to do. If we could get more people invovled in something like this (any increase in the noise), playing at home would be a much greater advantage (but alas, the blue-hairs probably would have a fit).
Edit: didn't see the post above, too many comments to read them all.
I didn't read them all, either. Here's guessing five other guys said the same thing as you and I.