The Wave. Bleacher Beach Ball. Fan Chants. Air horn guy. Overuse of cheering. The South African Vuvuzela. What do all of these things have in common? It would seem that the majority of Americans, sports media included, don’t like any of them. Well, my fellow Americans, welcome to the World Cup — a place where magic happens and fan atmosphere is at its highest. As a Philadelphia Phillies fan, I often take grief about how “Philadelphia has the worst fans in the country… they’ll even boo Santa Claus!” Not surprising in this country that doing anything other than politely applauding or yelling “Go Team!” is looked upon with shock or disdain. Let’s take a look at some of the silly rules and political correctness that are hindering most American sports fans from having the true fan experience at the arena/stadium/etc.
1. The NCAA’s inexplicable ban on artificial noisemakers.
Ironically enough, in a move that probably typifies the American sports fan’s reaction to passionate following of one’s team, the organization that oversees sport played at arguably its most passionate level has the most draconian policies on fan enjoyment. Air horns, drums, tambourines, and artificial noisemakers of any kind are absolutely forbidden at NCAA events. Often times (especially for sports without a large-scale public venue such as Division I football and basketball) there is no alcohol allowed on presence either. Now, I won’t make this an essay about underage drinking and policies to curb such activity (understanding that many football venues are often little more than an open field with some bleachers and a scoreboard), so we’ll look at the first rule primarily. What exactly about drums or air horns is going to take away from the quality or performance of the players? In an indoor sport, I might understand due to building acoustics, especially in smaller venues. Outdoors however, an air horn won’t even cover up a referee’s whistle, and it certainly can help rally the support.
2. Ridiculous Levels of Political Correctness
Just when you thought Americans were the least politically correct bunch on the planet there comes this stunning revelation. Hate to break it to you, but chants like “Nemanja Vidic! Nemanja Vidic! He comes from Serbia, he’ll [expletive]in murder ya!” are commonplace in football stadiums. This is 2010, people swear all the time. If we could just get past this nonsense about political correctness and let people express themselves freely, Americans would understand that swears aren’t necessarily vulgar things to be looked-down upon, but useful terms for amusing stadium chants. A society where parts of your own language are even met with too high a level of disdain is never going to embrace the true football fan experience.
To add an amusing story to this, I was at Red Bull Arena a couple weeks ago for the big match between RBNY and the Columbus Crew. The South Ward chant leaders pulled out some notes pre-match and yelled into his megaphone: “OK, the club/league/someone has informed us we can’t use some common words, so let’s try to respect their wishes. This is the banned list. Sh*t,” (South Ward Response: “SH*T!!!”), A-hole (you see where this is going), and the f-word.” This “FBI Warning” style of approach did nothing to stop the “oooooooooOOOOO YOU SUCK A**H*LE” chants on every Will Hesmer goal kick. Politically correct? Absolutely not, but it’s how football is supposed to be.
3. General Disdain for Crowd Enthusiasm due to Unwarranted Smugness
A Twitter user I follow recently echoed the following blog posts on crowd enthusiasm and individuality that I link for your enjoyment (or rather shaking your head in frustration): Wave Hate and Smug Reaction to Other Fans
That’s right, so-called “true” fans hate the wave, and apparently all non-official color team gear. And what’s this I saw about hating on an adult wearing a personalized team jersey? If I want my kit to say “DiAmore 87,” I don’t think anyone in the footballing community would mock me, and if they did I’d probably give ‘em hell right back. The true fact of the matter is that American sporting venues are pretty much dead zones by the world standard. Enthusiasm is often forced by unnaturally shilling from hype-men on microphones and large “NOISE!!!” graphics. Yet, international hockey arenas often have terracing in the upper deck, and fans chant and bang drums and sing all game. Having seen a game or two of baseball from the Tokyo Dome, it’s much more lively than American baseball stadiums too. Japan is a country that lives and dies with baseball as much as the United States does. Obviously there’s the world football community, and full credit to the 500-1000 or so at MLS arenas that try to capture that atmosphere.
Back to the vuvuzelas. These African buzzing horns symbolize everything that is good about world sport, especially football. The good side of sport is that it is a meeting of world community and togetherness, the entirety of the human population joining to share in one glorious demonstration of ability and achievement for the pride of not just self (as is far too common with athletes) but of country as well. The World Cup, as demonstrated by the opening ceremony, is not just a celebration of sport but also one of cultural pride. Like it or not, the vuvuzela is as much a part of the cultural fabric of an African World Cup as anything else. Something else to consider (admittedly on a much shallower level than the rest of this piece): The vuvuzelas are great because there is NOTHING more annoying than having the crowd-focused sound dishes pick up fan chanting only well enough that you know they’re chanting and not well enough that you can’t understand a word the fans are saying unless it’s a song you already know (such as Manchester City’s “Blue Moon” chant).
I count myself fortunate in a small number of respects, primarily being able to get any seat as an away fan instead of being banished to a crappy section in the upper corner just because the home fans hate every other team for no apparent reason. A big part of me though longs for the international sporting fan style to finally be accepted in America. Passion for sport should be commonplace, not a diamond in the rough or the odd man out, which is often sadly how I feel in American sporting venues. Keep up the faith though football fans, our game is far too global to never make an impact on the United States.
Written By Michael
DiAmore
(23 Posts) |
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