The wave at Michigan Stadium 1984

Submitted by WolverineHistorian on

We talked about this last week, how we brought the wave from Seattle to the Big House in 1983. 

This wave footage is from the '83 season, the conclusion of the Ghostbusters halftime show (that's why the marching band is wearing sheets) though I don't know the exact date/game. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79soqk-Oxts

EDIT: XtraMelanin correctly pointed out that Ghostbusters was released in '84.  June 8, 1984 to be exact.  So this had to be from the 84 season, which went to hell after Harbaugh broke his arm. 

 

Go Blue 1984

July 14th, 2015 at 7:43 PM ^

Too bad if you stand up so many people complain, last year at Maryland game my wife and I literally went and stood in the student section in the second half cause I couldn't take the whining from the people behind me. If you want to sit, watch at home, so we can give our players the best possible chance to win.

LGenius

July 14th, 2015 at 5:26 PM ^

Damn... That was awesome. I didn't know they ever announced the wave over the loudspeakers. This is like 50000000x better than yet another blaring of Sweet Caroline or whatever.




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twohooks

July 14th, 2015 at 5:32 PM ^

A perfect antidote for the "down in front." guy. We sat behind two muppet type grouches by the time they could gather a sentence together the wave would wash it away. Thing of beauty.

Brimley

July 14th, 2015 at 5:48 PM ^

I don't remember the sheets to save my life, but was there for this.  I also have a very clear memory of Bo getting pissed off about it during a game and turning directly toward our section. The way I remember it was him shouting, "Brimley! Shut up and sit your ass down!" Yep.  That's what he said.

I WAS THERE

July 14th, 2015 at 5:54 PM ^

#48 would've celebrated #102 today.



"History and experience tell us that moral progress comes not in comfortable and complacent times, but out of trial and confusion."

-Gerald R. Ford

Ray

July 14th, 2015 at 6:00 PM ^

And I remember how completely pissed off Bo was about it. I think he threatened to play inside an empty stadium if we didn't knock it off.

I also remember the first time we did it at Tiger Stadium too. Pretty sure it started there during 1984.

LSAClassOf2000

July 14th, 2015 at 6:15 PM ^

I wonder if the introduction of the Wave to Tiger Stadium was a huge step in making the wave a widely known thing because it was 1984, the Tigers were getting national attention and everyone following sports got a chance to see it. 

Of course, the next year, the so-called Bleacher Creatures did their own rendition of the "Tastes Great, Less Filling" campaign with much more salty chants, so never let it be said that we're not willing to innovate in SE Michigan. 

WolverineHistorian

July 14th, 2015 at 6:38 PM ^

According to wikipedia, yes, that's how it was introduced to the rest of the world...

Entry...

University of Michigan

In the early fall of 1983, the Michigan Wolverines played the Huskies in Seattle and brought the wave back to Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. A letter to the sports editor of The New York Times claimed,[10] "There are three reasons why the wave caught on at Michigan Wolverine games: It gave the fans something to do when the team was leading its opponent by 40 points, it was thrilling and exciting to see 105,000 people in the stands moving and cheering, and Bo Schembechler asked us not to do it." The fans responded to his request by doing more waves, including "Silent Waves" (standing and waving arms without cheering), "Shsh Waves" (replacing the cheering with a "shshing" sound), the "Fast Wave," the "Slow Wave," and two simultaneous waves traveling in opposite directions. The following spring, fans who had enjoyed the wave in Ann Arbor introduced it to the nearby Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers won the World Series that year and appeared on many televised games throughout 1984, so people all over America saw it.

Wave83

July 14th, 2015 at 10:34 PM ^

I was also there, and was in Tiger Stadium much of 1984.  Everything you say is true.  Michigan really spread the Wave to the masses, even if it didn't invent it.

WH, didn't you mention recently that you had the video from the original Michigan Stadium wave, which was a very organic creation by the cheerleaders and surprisingly spread to the entire stadium?  I would love to see that video.

blueday

July 14th, 2015 at 6:11 PM ^

My only consolation is we are on our way back to this level of football elevated to NFL standards.  Also, I don't think I ever saw players play this physical for RR and Hoke.

Esterhaus

July 14th, 2015 at 7:07 PM ^

 
That back in the day we passed a young woman around the stands until she was "spiked" by some drunkards over the edge and she fell and died horribly. We were a very rough crowd.*
 
UG '87 inter alia
 
 
*All of this is total bullshit and untrue but why let facts get in the way of a riveting tale.

Team 101

July 14th, 2015 at 11:04 PM ^

There was a game in 1983 where we did all the cheers in silence.  Back in those days if the crowd made too much noise the team would lose all its time outs and then get penalties when there were no time outs left.  In response we did the cheers (I remember the wave and Let's Go Blue! in particular).  I think it was the Purdue game.

Honk if Ufer M…

July 14th, 2015 at 11:25 PM ^

It was surreal! I had been going to games since I was 6 in '67 and had gone to every game since probably '70 or '71 outside of the '78 season when I was away at boarding school and this was just so different than anything that had ever happened at Michigan Stadium it felt like a revolution of some sort (not the kind we really need), it was magical and it was hilarious, it felt like a fantastic new toy and a drug, it was addicting!

I went to watch a football game and a weird happening broke out! The blue bloods and the blue hairs who never did anything more boisterous than tennis applause, kids, families and students were all doing this crazy shit that nobody had ever heard of in thier lives a moment ago! It was a moving sculpture and mass performance art with the viewers also being the performers. It felt like something had really happened, like something had changed, it felt like things were possible somehow even though it was ostensibly meaningless. It sure was fun anyway!

Does anyone remember if the variations happened that day or was it just the standard speed & direction that day? Whether it was that day or not I remember the first slow-mo wave being mesmerizing! haha. The first hyperspeed wave had people rolling in the aisles.

Speaking of fan antics, how about the tradition of passing women up the stands in the student section body surfing style, which was replaced with passing up blow up dolls when body surfing was squashed. Beach balls being tossed around. Footballs being tossed around when kicks went into the stands. TP being thrown en mass into the end zone on touchdowns, then marshmallows, and of course streaking!

M-Dog

July 15th, 2015 at 12:06 AM ^

Here is what happened:
 
The Wave started at Michigan in 1983.  The cheerleaders brought it back from a road game at Washington.  They announced the intent to do it for the first time at Michigan stadium during a pep rally the night before the Big 10 opener.  
 
Fun Fact:  They called it "Maize in Motion".
 
Despite the best efforts of the cheerleaders, it took forever to get the first successful wave going.  It kept fizzling out in the blue-hair section below the press box.  They eventually got smart and re-directed it the other way. 
 
When it finally took off, the crowd went bezerk.  It was so loud that our own team could not hear the playcall and had to take a time out.  Bo was furious.  He slammed down his headset and stormed out to the middle of the field waving his hands for the crowd to be quiet.
 
Smartasses that we were, we responded with a quiet wave, with everyone whispering shhhhhhhhhh! as the wave went around the stadium.  It didn't take too long for everyone to get the hang of it that day, and it morphed into fast waves, slow waves, backwards waves, and simultaneous waves in two different directions.  Very impressive.
 
After the game, Bo announced to the press that if the crowd could not behave itself, he would have the stadium cleared out and the game played in front of empty bleachers.
 
Typical Bo.
 

uminks

July 15th, 2015 at 3:33 AM ^

The only game I could not make was the first due to work! But got every other game of my Junior year. I think we were all happy shutting out NU at halftime. I think IA whipped us on the road the following week, then things went down hill.

Mark G

July 18th, 2015 at 7:14 AM ^

Was there too. Freshman year. The Shh Wave was surreal that's for sure. And the Slow Wave and Fast Wave. I had forgotten about those. It was (and is now) a great time to be Michigan fan.