Monday Cardinal Couple - Fan Traditions

Fan Traditions

I have long been a Cardinal fan, and I've long been a Volleyball fan.  No news here.  But one thing that has always dismayed me about attending UofL games is the seeming lack, compared to other athletic departments, of fan traditions.  Now, don't get me wrong, there are a lot of UofL traditions, but what I'm speaking of here is, at least in most sports, the lack of coordinated fan responses to events on the field/floor/court.

Most of my roadtrip experience is for volleyball matches, but I have done some travel for Women's Basketball games as well and one of the things that I've noticed, at the powerhouse and long established programs, is the crowd response to various events that happen on the field of play.  In most cases, it seems that most of this crowd response is driven by the student sections in crowds, and sometimes by the pep band.  Our pep band does its part..."You've gotta Hit. The ball. Over. The net!" when an opposing volleyball server hits the ball into or under the net...singing "Hey Jude" anytime Jude Schimmel had a highlight play....and others.  But we do lack a coherent student section at many of the less mainstream sporting events, even Women's Basketball doesn't seem to get a great deal of support from students, and other than athletes from other sports, or at big rivalry matches, there is essentially no student section at volleyball matches.

I think some of why we don't have more of these types of traditions is due to the relative youthfulness of our athletic program in general.  Compared to some of the big-name programs in the country, UofL Athletics is still young, and perhaps hasn't had the time to develop these sorts of responses.

And, I don't want to throw UofL students under the bus, here.  I would love to see the student body
more fully support the less mainstream sports, and perhaps the availability of more sporting events being seen on the new ACC Network Extra starting next month will help spur some more interest in the various sports, but I think we, the non-student fans, can start to establish some of these traditions if we work at it.  I'm proud to be something of a caretaker to the tradition, started by Kevin Welch (father of Caitlin Welch, Libero extraordinaire) of doing the C-A-R-D-S cheer when the opposing volleyball team calls a timeout.  I think this is a tradition that could be spread to other sports as well.  That's a start, but how about some sort of chant or quick response for a big block at the net, or a service ace?  These are events in the competition that could easily trigger a quick crowd response, and that fan involvement is big motivation for the players.  These sorts of events that could be a trigger for a crowd response happen in all sports, it's just a matter of identifying them and settling on some sort of crowd cheer or chant for them.

Can we come up with some ideas for crowd responses to actions on the field of play?  What say you.  Let's hear some ideas.  If I, a shy, reserved, extremely introverted kinda guy, can make the decision to jump up and lead half the crowd in the C-A-R-D-S cheer, you all can do it as well.

-- JMcA