Why get psyched up?
Like a lot of others, Monday night I turned on the Ohio State-Florida game. As I watched the pre-game, they showed the Buckeye Band do their traditional halftime show, spelling the script Ohio.
When the drum major leads the tuba player out to dot the "i", the Buckeye fans erupt in cheers. Why?
I can't give you a good answer, any more than I can explain why I get excited when it happens.
I remember in my freshman year in college going to a pep rally. The cheerleaders taught us cheers and told us when the band broke into the fight song, we were to go crazy. And I did.
I guess it's learned behavior. We look around and see the people around us do something, and we do it.
Maybe it works that way early on, but why do we keep doing it, or why do we stop? There has to be some kind of reinforcement.
Over thirty years ago, I remember going to a Virginia-Clemson game. This was a time when neither program was particularly good, but Virginia was particularly sorry and seemingly had been for years. At some point during the game, the band played the fight song or the alma mater and the Virginia alumni in attendance at Clemson rose to sing and do whatever they do traditionally. They were faithful, but without a winning team on the field, their song lacked fire.
Obviously the Buckeyes, until Monday night, had a lot to cheer about this year. They've had a lot to cheer about most years.
I think one of the reasons we cheer for the home team, or even get goose bumps when we hear the fight song, is because we believe it makes a difference. We believe as fans our cheering helps our team win.
There are a lot of reasons why a team wins or doesn't, and it may be interesting to hear all of the experts who believed so strongly that Ohio State would win drum up reasons why Florida won so convincingly.
Emotions play a part. If you don't believe that, ask Coach K about the Cameron Crazies.
Speaking of emotions, there was quite an emotional roller coaster in Seattle Saturday night when the Cowboys played.
I have read a couple of so-called experts go on about how Tony Romo's bobble of the hold on a field goal will go down in history as one of the classic bobbles of all time.
As a Cowboy fan, I was hugely disappointed in how the game played out. Still, as I have watched what seem like endless replays, I am amazed at how Romo had the coolness to pick the ball up and sprint for the goal line. I heard one pundit argue if he had not been tackled from behind on the play he would have scored and no doubt won the game for the Cowboys. I'm not sure that he would have, but I think there was a good chance he would have gotten a first down. He was just a matter of inches short of that. If the tackler had been just a little slower. You can argue that the tackler summoned a super-human effort to bring him down like he did, and I would agree.
Not only is it a game of emotions, but it is a game of inches.
I'm not sure that play will go down as an endless replay, but had he been able to save the play, that might have been the stuff of legends like Montana and Elway.
When the drum major leads the tuba player out to dot the "i", the Buckeye fans erupt in cheers. Why?
I can't give you a good answer, any more than I can explain why I get excited when it happens.
I remember in my freshman year in college going to a pep rally. The cheerleaders taught us cheers and told us when the band broke into the fight song, we were to go crazy. And I did.
I guess it's learned behavior. We look around and see the people around us do something, and we do it.
Maybe it works that way early on, but why do we keep doing it, or why do we stop? There has to be some kind of reinforcement.
Over thirty years ago, I remember going to a Virginia-Clemson game. This was a time when neither program was particularly good, but Virginia was particularly sorry and seemingly had been for years. At some point during the game, the band played the fight song or the alma mater and the Virginia alumni in attendance at Clemson rose to sing and do whatever they do traditionally. They were faithful, but without a winning team on the field, their song lacked fire.
Obviously the Buckeyes, until Monday night, had a lot to cheer about this year. They've had a lot to cheer about most years.
I think one of the reasons we cheer for the home team, or even get goose bumps when we hear the fight song, is because we believe it makes a difference. We believe as fans our cheering helps our team win.
There are a lot of reasons why a team wins or doesn't, and it may be interesting to hear all of the experts who believed so strongly that Ohio State would win drum up reasons why Florida won so convincingly.
Emotions play a part. If you don't believe that, ask Coach K about the Cameron Crazies.
Speaking of emotions, there was quite an emotional roller coaster in Seattle Saturday night when the Cowboys played.
I have read a couple of so-called experts go on about how Tony Romo's bobble of the hold on a field goal will go down in history as one of the classic bobbles of all time.
As a Cowboy fan, I was hugely disappointed in how the game played out. Still, as I have watched what seem like endless replays, I am amazed at how Romo had the coolness to pick the ball up and sprint for the goal line. I heard one pundit argue if he had not been tackled from behind on the play he would have scored and no doubt won the game for the Cowboys. I'm not sure that he would have, but I think there was a good chance he would have gotten a first down. He was just a matter of inches short of that. If the tackler had been just a little slower. You can argue that the tackler summoned a super-human effort to bring him down like he did, and I would agree.
Not only is it a game of emotions, but it is a game of inches.
I'm not sure that play will go down as an endless replay, but had he been able to save the play, that might have been the stuff of legends like Montana and Elway.
posted by Barry | 7:43 AM
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