Calling MGoStudents: Stop messing up The Wave
Yesterday, the student section tried to start the wave during the third quarter when we were up 14 points with plenty of time left in the third quarter.
Notre Dame had the ball. While some students half heartedly attempted the wave, ND scored to cut the lead to 7. At the time I thought "ok, some freshmen or sophomores got down low and didn't know better." Embarassing, but at least the rest of the students knew to focus on the game and get loud for the defense.
Then the unthinkable happened. Immediately after the score, the student section kept trying to start a wave. We were up just 7 against a rival in the third quarter. This time, the entire section was participating in the act of sacriledge. Of course, the recent alums and non-students were having none of it.
Now, I'm not a crotchedy old alum, rather I'm a mid-20's, always yelling, "up in back" recent alum. I love the Michigan Stadium version of the Wave. There's none better. However, even though it is great and amazing, it's true beauty is a result of doing it properly and at the correct time. Doing it incorrectly and at improper times will lead to a substandard wave. This is serious business. During the RichRod years, blowouts were few and far in between and the Wave's standards dipped. Now that we are basking in the glory that is the Hoke era, let's bring the Wave's standard's back to where they belong.
Here's your MGoPSA. Wave Guidelines:
- The wave is only to start late in the third quarter or in the fourth quarter.
- The game must be "in hand." This means that even with a miracle, the outcome is not in doubt and we are the team that will be coming out on top. A safe number for this is a 21-point lead. However, depending on the amount of time left, this could be as low as a 17-point lead.
- ONLY when requirements (1) and (2) are met is it acceptable to start the Wave.
- The Wave's order is as follows:
- Regular speed
- Regular speed (second round of regular speed recommended if first cycle was weak)
- Slow wave
- Fast wave
- Reverse wave
- Split wave
- Split wave until it dies
Thus concludes your MGoPSA. Let the debate commence (though, I think I have everything correct).
September 8th, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^
tl;dr
You are preaching to the wrong crowd. Students patrolling the blog at 11pm on a school night probably know how to do the wave. Myself and my MGoRoomate were having none of it and trying to dissuade others from trying to wave, but 2 guys in section 26 can't really do much to stop it.
But its not our fault. Blame Dave Brandon for putting in a system that makes it easy for the freshmen who have no idea what is going on sit in the front. Once someone tries to start it a lot of other students just say screw it and join in since they may or may not even know what is really going on down on the field.
Yes, its a problem, but I don't know how to solve it short of having a PSA during the game about the wave, which would be lame and amateur.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
Eh, change/improvement starts with a desire to change or improve. If 100 current students decide to try to spread the gospel and maybe get the 10 other people around them at the game to do it properly, then that's 1,000 people. Go from there.
Like I said, the Daily used to print something about it that they gave to freshmen. We certainly don't want an actual in-stadium PSA. However, word-of-mouth can spread quickly if some students decide to make it so. You have more power than you give yourself credit for.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:13 PM ^
Telling the Daily sports peoples is probably the best way to fix it, to be honest.
September 8th, 2013 at 10:57 PM ^
Im just gonna say it....
Its general admissions fault
Instead of the upperclassmen who have learned the nuances of the wave during their time at school we now have freshmen sitting up front at games.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:01 PM ^
From what I can remember, it's been pretty bad the last two years as well. I remember either last year or the year before it was totally fucked up. Probably a result of seniors running it who were freshmen during RR's first year.
September 9th, 2013 at 12:47 AM ^
I was a senior in 2011-12, and we definitely learned on our first night from our head RA exactly how to cheer, do the wave, and everything else in between.
I was one of the people futilely telling everyone to start it later or not at all. I actually figured out that the wave was being started by underclassmen (god I hope they were underclassmen) in the middle rows of the end zone, not students in the front. So not only were they doing the wave wrong, they were disrespecting the hierarchy of the student section. I think that year the AD gave freshmen tickets in the endzone that were closer than mine, and our group was pretty pissed.
Point is, they start the wave higher up sometimes. Just takes some idiots who don't understand that it's a tradition and think it's like a baseball game.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^
But even before this year, the students were often screwing up the order. They've been doing the fast one before the slow one a lot of times. And they've definitely tried to do it at inappropriate times.
There needs to be someone in charge of this stuff to educate everybody.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:04 PM ^
I remember during freshmen orientation we were given a special issue of the Michigan Daily and somewhere in there was a breakdown of several traditions including the Wave. I went into my first freshmen game knowing the "proper wave technique" without having ever experienced it myself.
Perhaps something like that isn't happening anymore? Can any freshmen or Daily people enlighten us?
September 9th, 2013 at 1:29 AM ^
September 9th, 2013 at 7:30 AM ^
As a freshman & sophomore (06 & 07), I think the rules above were pretty well known in the student section but when Richrod started we never blew anyone out and people still wanted to do the wave, it sort of descended into chaos. I definitely remember multiple times where they triedto start the wave with us only up by a few points. I actually remember one game where the student section was so focused on trying to do the wave that the other team (Illinois maybe?) marched right down the field and scored in the fairly-silent Big House
September 8th, 2013 at 10:56 PM ^
Don't do the gotdamn wave against Notre Dame, Michigan State, or Ohio State.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^
We very appropriately did the wave during the Houston's Better Game, thank you very much.
There should be nothing more insulting than having the opposing crowd do the wave while you're in the stadium.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:36 PM ^
I don't specifically remember it, but I believe that's true; that was certainly an exceptional game.
I also believe, and have mgocommented about it at some point, that the "You Suck" chant was born (and should have been laid immediately to rest - perhaps with occasional revivals) at that game. Rare is the confluence of [game that is so well in hand that we can chant You Suck] + [team we hate enough that we would chant You Suck in such a situation instead of feeling sorry for them or thinking, "hey, thanks for letting us keep this Jug" or something like that]. It's just mean to chant You Suck at Baby Seal U, and it's just dumb to chant it when a team's about to go for it on 4th and/or could still beat us.
So, er, what I mean to say is, there are exceptional games even in rivalries, and the appropriate reactions to them should be exceptions. Not that I thought you disagreed with that in the first place. (Did the students still chant "You Suck" on Saturday? Sounded like they might be, but it was pretty faint from Section 13.)
September 8th, 2013 at 11:48 PM ^
Sounded like yes. And while I don't remember exactly when that chant started, it was definitely while I was in school. I was a freshman in '03, so I feel like it was later than that, but it could have been that season.
September 9th, 2013 at 2:07 AM ^
is moronic. I guess I don't know what else you would sing to it, because you can't exactly sing the words to Temptation and have it make any sense. But the "you suck" stuff is pretty pathetic.
September 9th, 2013 at 2:50 AM ^
Yeah, it's so dumb. I'd much rather we all learn Temptation. Or just cheer.
September 8th, 2013 at 10:57 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 10:58 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^
Don't start the wave when Michigan has the ball.
That's still a rule, isn't it? I assumed that was going to be the first thing you mentioned when I clicked on this thread.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:10 PM ^
It was my understanding that it was supposed to start during an offensive series.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:13 PM ^
That's what I remember during the Carr era.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:13 PM ^
That doesn't make any sense to me. People get a little louder during the wave, so it should be done primarily when Michigan is on defense.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:15 PM ^
But it's not consistent noise. People are loud while the Wave is passing through and then just sit/stand and watch while it's circulating around.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:17 PM ^
Yeah, I don't know how you can call the wave loud. It's definitely not. It's slightly louder than people just sitting there. Wave on offense, noise on defense. Even in blow-outs.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:17 PM ^
Which is why I hate the damn thing.
If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but if we're going to do it, why not do it when the noise that people make has some effect?
September 8th, 2013 at 11:55 PM ^
Because nobody makes noise when the wave is going on, except to applaud the double wave when it intersects.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^
Yeah, it was definitely when we had the ball.
September 9th, 2013 at 12:49 AM ^
September 9th, 2013 at 8:22 AM ^
September 9th, 2013 at 4:26 PM ^
The wave creates noise, and worse, a moving background for the offense to see. It's distracting. You never do it on offense. (Unless the team you're playing is so bad no one gives a shit).
Players don't like it
http://www.ninersnation.com/2011/12/5/2613439/49ers-vs-rams-joe-staley-the-wave-tweet
And the guy who helped popularize the wave disagrees with you
http://blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/2011/12/07/wave-etiquette-with-krazy-george/
September 9th, 2013 at 4:52 PM ^
Sorry man, I believe you're wrong on this one.
Relative to college sports, the wave is not loud. Sure it's loud in the pro arenas where there are rarely loud moments, but the wave is much quieter than the noise on a standard defensive play.
As for the wave being distracting? Come on. If a player in the game is distracted by the wave, then they shouldn't be in the game. That's laughable.
All of this is moot anyway because the wave should be reserved for blowout situations.
September 9th, 2013 at 7:59 AM ^
Should be on defense; but that's less important if the lead is huge.
I don't think of the wave in the same category as an "overrated" or "warm up the bus" chants. Those are last five-minute-with-insurmountable-lead kind of cheers. (Anyone who remembers '88 Miami knows what I mean.) I think of the wave as a frivolous distraction when things are going very well. The problem with starting it on offense is that it is *really* hard to keep going when there's a big play.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^
It's not GA's fault. I've seen the game-still-competitive-wave in my last year as a student (2010) and at the 2012 Northwestern game, which were back in the seniors-in-front days.
(Side note: that said, if y'all really have to wait in three hour lines now, please use anything you can to get rid of GA)
September 8th, 2013 at 11:13 PM ^
If they get rid of GA, they've got to replace it with something else, because the students actually have showed up on time these first two games. They can't just go back to the old honor system.
One thing they could do is have a points system that rewards people who show up on time by giving them the chance to buy better tickets the next year. I think the technology is there to do it.
In the meantime though, if students really have to wait 3 hours, someone should take the lead and have them practice the Wave and other stuff to pass the time.
September 9th, 2013 at 12:48 AM ^
Kind of hard to practice the wave in an empty stadium...
September 9th, 2013 at 6:01 AM ^
You don't need the rest of the stadium full to practice it. If you have a few thousand students there, they can practice it themselves. They're the ones who start the Wave, so they need to get the order right.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:01 PM ^
This.
This. this. this.
I was in row 6 or the student section (but not in the same side of the band that was starting the wave), and me and several people around me were trying to do whatever we can to get people not to participate/stop calling the wave. Sadly it didn't work.
Unforetunately, I think the people who read the MGoBoard are not going to the be the ones participating in the wave during games during these kinds of situations.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:12 PM ^
I thought it was inappropriate to do it at that time. I literally stood there and thought, "what the hell are they doing?" I clearly wasn't the right time for it. I blame general admission and freshman...
I'm with BiSB on this one. The wave shouldn't be done against rivals. There is too much anxiety, IMO.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:09 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 11:16 PM ^
The wave sucks.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:23 PM ^
I don't love the Wave, but you've got to admit that visually, it looks pretty cool in our stadium.
In asymmetrical stadiums like Comerica Park (where they don't even have stands in part of the outfield) it looks like crap.
September 9th, 2013 at 1:41 AM ^
September 9th, 2013 at 4:13 AM ^
the wave has been boring for some time now. I half-heartedly participate most of the time but wouldn't miss it much if it disappeared.
But not this coming week! I'm bringing my granddaughter (soon to be 5 years old) to her first game this Saturday vs. Akron, and she's been fired up about it for weeks. No, she has no idea yet what a "wave" is, but I can't wait to see her reaction.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:10 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 11:18 PM ^
You're not the only one. Not by a longshot.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:45 PM ^
September 9th, 2013 at 8:21 AM ^
and long ago stopped participating.
Intertesting history of the wave here, including a prominent section on UM's role in its rising popularity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_%28audience%29
September 8th, 2013 at 11:12 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 11:18 PM ^