Fans need more imaginative cheers
I love my Buffs just as much as anyone else. I love chanting and clapping along with other students dressed head to toe in black and gold. But it was last year that I realized the obscene depravity of our cheers.
In my eagerness to take part in the spirit of the game, I yelled like a drunken pirate, accusing the opponent with so many awful words. I began to think there were more intelligent ways to accuse an opposing team. I thought I had to live alone in shame until I read Rick Reilly’s article in Sports Illustrated about how CU and CSU students “cursed like teamsters in two-sizes-too-small thongs” when they played each other last September.
We are supposedly working toward college degrees, so I don’t think it is too much to ask the student body to come up with more intelligent cheers. I don’t expect students to come up with ancient Greek oratories, but we could arm ourselves with something a little more sophisticated than “F you!”
“No student seemed to be able to pass a rival in the concourse without hurling a ‘Fuck you’ in the other’s ear, accompanied by twin birds and projectile spittle,” Reilly said in his article.
When I go to football games, I am embarrassed by everyone’s intoxicated stammer.
CU students yelled, “Fuck ’em up! Fuck ’em up! Go CU!” Reilly said. “They sang, ‘Bullllshit!’ at a ref’s call. And they chanted, ‘Fuck you, CSU!’ (Clap-clap-clap-clap!) And that was their clever stuff.”
The main question I keep asking myself is: Why can’t CU students come up with some little cheer to sing at games that doesn’t include profanity?
CU and other universities are being mocked for their lack of sportsmanship. I couldn’t believe fans actually threw things onto the field in attempt to hit referees because of a bad call. Do students actually believe that if a referee takes a water bottle to the head, he is more likely to make calls in our favor?
“I believe the student section is a place where college students can let loose and be true fanatics for their team. Worrying about swearing is way too politically correct. Keep it clean everywhere else, where the families are, but the student section is made for that type of thing,” said Andrew Adkins, a sophomore business major. “A crowd needs to be pumped up, because there is nothing worse than apathetic fans. Nothing.”
We all swear – there is no doubt about that. But college students are not creative, and that is the most disheartening thing about this whole dilemma.
Reilly said cursing is just so unimaginative.
Cursing during football games is universal. It starts young at high school games and becomes increasingly bad as we mature into adulthood.
“I think they swear too much, and I’m pretty liberal in my language, but I think it’s inappropriate,” said Bridgette Roberts, a sophomore business major. “Plus, look at our record. Clearly the potty-mouths aren’t getting us any wins.”
If the team is good, the fans will be pumped up about how well their team is doing. This is the way I see it: If we add vulgarities to a struggling season, we just look pathetic. We need to find a way to incorporate clever cheers into our profanity-ridden cheers.
“Personally, I don’t have a preference. It is juvenile, but people get more into it if they can swear,” said Julie Elias, a senior history major.
Students do get pumped if they can swear, but I think the key aspect to a good football atmosphere is to have respect for your team and the other team. Class is what the CU student body is missing. I don’t feel like we lose with dignity, and I don’t feel like we win with pride. If we lose, we swear and drink, and if we win, we swear and drink.
Let’s not look like fools to the rest of America. Let’s be a little more clever, CU, and maybe we will have a little more class.
