OT: Home field advantage or poor sportsmanship?

Submitted by MGoFoam on
I went to the Illinois-North Carolina game in Champaign tonight. Prior to big defensive plays, they blare music or pump-up noise right until the snap. I am certainly in favor of fans creating maximum noise for key defensive plays, but I think using a million watt stadium system to do it is cheating. (Jingling keys is stupid because it doesn't actually make much noise.) So, is using the stadium PA system to disrupt the opponent's offense an appropriate tactical home field advantage or just poor sportsmanship?
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Heywood_Jablome

September 11th, 2016 at 1:18 AM ^

I thought there were actually rules against doing this.

I'm kind of surprised those things people blow at soccer games haven't made their way into stadiums yet.  You can't hear shit with those things.

Joined: 10/24/2015

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UNCWolverine

September 11th, 2016 at 11:47 AM ^

you're just wrong man. if he meant air horns he would have said air horns. those are easy words for everyone to remember. vuvuzela is a weird word that not everyone remembers. that is why he wrote it that way. 

really weird stance to take and be a dick about on your end. Before you say the same thing about me I'm simlpy defending someone that is right against someone that is wrong and being a dick about it.

Joined: 10/06/2008

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Slippin Jimmy

September 11th, 2016 at 1:19 AM ^

Poor sportsmanship. Pretty sure it was the Atlanta Falcons who were caught using speakers to increase crowd noise, and they were punished with a fine and losing a draft pick. Don't understand why it's happening at Illinois, but they sure do need every advantage they can get.

Joined: 09/11/2016

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xtramelanin

September 11th, 2016 at 7:54 AM ^

the key shaking has been going on since the '70's.  its a tradition that is at least slightly clever and more nuanced than, say, 'you suck!'

secondly, having played in stadiums with 10's of thousands (but not a hundred + thousand), you'd be surprised how noisy it can be on the field even if you don't think it's that noisy in the stands.  the dynamic you don't figure as a spectator is that when you are on the field all the sound is generally being directed in your specific direction.   think of how quiet it gets when the marching band turns away from you.  not a perfect analogy, but you get the picture that the sound isn't distributed equally in a stadium.

lastly, i watched a little bit of that illinois game.  in between many plays it was so quiet you could hear people say 'excuse me' as they got up from their seats to go to the bathroom (/s).   it was like a morgue.  bottom line though:  letting the music play to the last possible second, while possibly legal, is poor sportsmanship in the same way talking trash is.  

Joined: 12/09/2014

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WestQuad

September 11th, 2016 at 9:06 AM ^

Every third down you would bring out your keys and jingle them.  I don't remember doing this the last few years.  Of course I don't carry any keys except a fob for my car.  

Wisconsin does the music to pump up the crowd before every play (or at least they did 7 or 8 years ago when I was there.)    Michigan did the same thing at the first UTL game.  The seven nation army was strong in that game.     I personally hate the fake pump up the crowd with music, but it worked at UTL I.

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Gulogulo37

September 11th, 2016 at 11:59 AM ^

MGoFoam can't even chew gum and walk at the same time I bet.

This is always the argument against the key shaking, and it's so dumb. Think about clapping at least. Is a clap louder than shaking keys? Seems so. But the actual sound happens for a very short period. Most of that time is just moving your hands back and forth. Keys are constant. Is that quieter than clapping? I honestly don't know. But if shaking keys is quieter, it can't be by much. Anyway, yelling is really what makes noise.

I shook keys in the early 2000's (AND screamed). If it's gone away, whatever. As one poster said above, it worked better in the 70's when everyone had a ton of keys. But the ridicule of shaking keys is dumb.

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2manylincs

September 11th, 2016 at 4:31 AM ^

Youre the guy who inspires me to still do it to this day. Congrats. I look forward to seeing you next week. If you want to sit and watch a game without the annoying habits of us annoying proles, Pony up for a box like a good brandonite, or quit crying. Ps your complaining about my standing for big plays hasnt worked the last few years. And it still wont work this season.

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