By The Well Hungarian on 15:42:40 11/15/06
I wish there was a seminar for Buckeye fans to teach them the appropriate way to be loud. Often times the crowd gets into it, but too late. For example:
The opposing offense takes the field. Random dude from A deck yells "Let's go Bucks." Other guy from south stands cheers "Three and out!" There's some clapping. Some cheering. The offense gets to the line. A bit louder. The ball is snapped. A bit quieter. The running back is tackled after a 4 yard gain. Some more cheers.
Rinse, repeat for second down.
Then it's third down. The opposing offense is in the huddle. A bit more noise. Then it happens. THE THIRD DOWN BELL!! Okay, the crowd thinks, now is when we're supposed to get REALLY noisy. The fans take to their feet, and as the opposing offense takes their position at the line of scrimmage, the crowd noise crescendos into an overpowering roar. A silent count. The QB lifts his leg, the center snaps the ball.
Granted, on that third down the crowd was pretty loud, but that won't do the job.
In 2004, Henne said it was so loud that he couldn't think, at times. When does he need to be thinking? Not just at the L.O.S., but in the huddle, during the play, after the play. ALL THE TIME.
WHEN YOU'RE IN THE STANDS THIS SATURDAY, THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT:
Step 1 - When the opposing offense takes the field, make sure you're on your feet. Encourage the others in your section to do the same.
Step 2 - Start making some intelligible noise by screaming things like "Let's go Defense!" or "Come on, let's pick one off!" or "Push 'em back, shove 'em back . . ." (for the throw backs out there). Whatever you're feeling. This will encourage others in the area to start yelling too.
This should be happening before UM's offense is even in the huddle. Once they're in the huddle, there should be lots of sustained intelligible shouting. At that point, move to...
Step 3 - The "Ahhhhh!!!" Not too high. Not too low. Pick a good middle-range when you can really belt it. To increase the effect, put your hands around your mouth to direct the sound toward the field. And make sure to take a deep breath before you get going.
Make your girlfriend, or dad, or buddy do the same thing.
Once you get lightheaded, take a breath, and then get going again. "Ahhhhhh!!!" At this point, you'll notice that people around you are doing the same thing. It's coming from south stands, from C-Deck. From every direction.
And this should be happening while they're still in the huddle. On first down.
When they get to the line, the noise will be deafening.
Step 4 - the quarterback takes the snap, drops back. Guess what? You're not done yet. You're surely lightheaded by this point, so take a quick breath, and just keep belting it out.
"Ahhhh"
Bodies are flying around. Henne's looking left, looking right. It's chaos. The noise is deafening. He can't think. The crowd doesn't let up, and the defensive line will feed off the energy.
That's when Henne loses his fundamentals, forgets his footwork, starts running around and is dropped for a loss.
Step 5 - you can now stop with the "Ahhhhh"s momentarily. Now you scream, jump around, high-five Random Dude standing behind you, take a cursory glance at Dejected Michigan Fan 3 rows down, hug your girlfriend, kiss your wife, pat Other Guy's butt - whatever gets you going - and then take a few breaths to re-energize and enjoy the moment.
Then it's second down - time to do it all over again.