Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Forum on hockey cheers

10. January 2005 • Murph
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From MSA:

Dr. Mike Stevenson, Executive Associate Director of Athletics, will be holding a forum at 6pm this Tuesday to discuss NCAA and University concerns with Michigan’s hockey cheers. The Michigan Student Assembly is hosting this session in the hopes that Students and the University can agree on a solution that will be favorable to each party. FREE FOOD WILL BE SERVED.

Meeting Michigan Cheer Concerns & Potential Solutions
Tuesday, January 11th
6:00pm – 3rd Floor, Michigan Union

I suggest the following solution: don’t want your kids hearing the word “douchebag”? Don’t take them to hockey games. The vulgarity is part of the atmosphere, and every Daily interview of a hockey player ever run mentions the volume of the crowd as a key factor in the home ice advantage.

The student portion of the hockey crowd won’t tolerate any solution that involves eliminating the cheers, and I have to imagine there are enough people interested in purchasing season tickets who don’t mind the cheers (or like the atmosphere they help create) that Yost will still be full. Therefore, “Don’t like it? Don’t go.” can very well be considered a solution favorable to all.



  1. Hmmm…It’s been a while since I attended a game; I see from http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~wesorics/hymnal.html that the post-penalty chant has this year been made an ejectable offense?! Ridiculous.
       —Murph    Jan. 10 '05 - 11:27AM    #
  2. I remember T.J. was an avid fan of the dirty talk at hockey games. Is he around here someplace? What do you think of the efforts at censorship?

    Rob
       —Rob    Jan. 10 '05 - 12:29PM    #
  3. Rob, please don’t go raising evil spirits from the underworld!
       —Just a Voice    Jan. 10 '05 - 01:33PM    #
  4. jav,
    those ‘evil spirits’ raise au readership…

    -a business savvy ari p.
       —Ari P.    Jan. 10 '05 - 05:23PM    #
  5. Rob,

    You were half right. I am a rabid hockey fan, but not a fan of the cheers.

    Actually, the cheers are what drove me away. I had season seats one year, and only went to one game. Interestingly enough, that game was the night of the infamous pro-war resolution that Blue railroaded through. To this day, my biggest regret was that I was not in the room for that debate.

    Anyway, as I said, the chants drove me away. I couldn’t just go and watch hockey, I had to put up with all kinds of weird chants and hand motions to go with everything that happened on the ice.

    I am not at all a fan of the chants. And I will never go to another game at Yost because of them.

    That said, I agree with Murph. If you don’t like it, don’t go. I chose not to go. But that kind of fan involvement is incredibly hard to cultivate, and the University would be making a HUGE mistake if they decide to get rid of the chants.

    -T.J.
       —T.J.    Jan. 10 '05 - 07:44PM    #
  6. By the way, Rob did apparently conjure me. I don’t read this site very often anymore, but I was just killing time.

    Or so I thought… Apparently, I was conjured.
       —T.J.    Jan. 10 '05 - 07:46PM    #
  7. Ari,

    I don’t see any ads, so why does getting more web action make you ‘business savvy’? Don’t you mean egomaniac? And since you have no ads, can I ask if you get your hosting free (at the UoM or somthin)?

    Rob,

    I take it back, you didn’t raise an evil spirit, you conjoured the nice and informative T.J., amazing, I totally disagree with his opinion (as usual) but for once i really appreciate the civility he used in expressing it
       —Just a Voice    Jan. 11 '05 - 12:26AM    #
  8. JAV,

    I am curious as to what you disagree with. Do you disagree with me not liking the chants? Or do you disagree with my supporting them? Or do you disagreee that the University would be making a huge mistake by getting rid of them?

    Not trying to pick a fight, I am just curious about what you disagree with.

    -T.J.
       —T.J.    Jan. 11 '05 - 12:42AM    #
  9. jav,
    please direct all questions concerning hosting to scott…i don’t know anything about that sort of thing…

    there are more things in blogging than money, my friend…when more people are reading the site, then more people are seeing what we do and getting informed about what’s going on in ann arbor…

    go blue,
    ari p.
       —Ari P.    Jan. 11 '05 - 12:51AM    #
  10. Hosting is provided for free, by me, because I’m entirely too generous. Or is that lazy?

    Our motivation clearly isn’t the money (hence no ads). Is it ego? Is it altruism? shrugs I know it’s not for lack of things to do…
       —Scott T.    Jan. 11 '05 - 04:01PM    #
  11. TJ, I like the chants / hand motions because it’s a little bit of ritual. And a little bit of ritual is fun.

    Plus, I went to games periodically in high school (I have a UM alum cousin four years older) and had season tix for four years off undergrad. From a long enough perspective, the chants are not in the least bit frozen, and it’s anthropologically interesting to watch new cheers and chants develop and win (or fail to win) widespread participation.

    That said, I can see how the chants could be really terribly obnoxious to a non-participant in the student section. If you’re in the townie sections, you just have to listen to it; if you’re in the student section, you get whacked in the face every once in a while.
       —Murph    Jan. 11 '05 - 05:41PM    #
  12. The reason I was brought to UM was because I had been working as a hockey scout while I was in community college. I was brought in to help add the “communications” to the Sport Management and Communications program (last year, they gave up the “communications” part).

    When you are scouting, you aren’t there to chant or do hand motions, you are there to watch the game and concentrate on the action. I planned to do some freelance scouting for a service I had been working for once I got to UM, just kind of on the side, but the chants and everything just got in the way.

    The scouts sit up top at UM, but as a student rather than a scout, I got student tickets and sat in the student section. I couldn’t concentrate on the game because of all the crap going on off the ice.

    That’s why the chants bugged me. I was there to do something other than just have a drunken good time. Had it been volleyball or something like that, I would probably have a completely different opinion. But given that it was the sport that I had the most passion for, it bothered me more than anything.

    However, if the University were to eliminate the chants, it would eliminate most of the student interest in the sport. A winning team is not enough, the majority of the people who go to the games couldn’t tell you what UM’s record is, nor could they tell you who the best recruits are. They don’t care, they just want to chant and help UM win. There aren’t enough people at UM who care enough about the sport to go without the chants. UM needs to keep them, or else hockey becomes a liability financially.
       —T.J.    Jan. 11 '05 - 06:07PM    #
  13. May donate $100 to UM if can see brutal hockey face-off on the ice between T.J. and Ari

    What the heck, a lot of other folx would probably donate $$$ too

    “Eye of the Tiger” would be good to play on loudspeakers as Mother of All Faceoffs occurs
       —David Boyle    Jan. 11 '05 - 07:12PM    #
  14. A hockey faceoff? It would last less than a second, not counting the buildup.

    Now, do you mean an actual faceoff, a game of hockey, or a fight on skates?

    I would win any of the three handily. I am good in the circle anyway, and I am assuming that Ari doesn’t know what he is doing. Ditto for the whole game.

    Now, as for a fight on skates…well, Ari isn’t a big guy and I doubt he has been in many scuffles. He’s more of a “piss ‘em off with his mouth and beat ‘em with his brain” kind of guy. I am more of a “trying to leave fistfighting in the past, solve problems with my brain, but every once in awhile I just need to beat the fuck out of someone” kind of guy.

    Now, what might actually be fun would be a game of NHL2005 or something like that. Potheads know their video game hockey (I know I didn’t do anything else when I spent those years on the couch with a two-footer, a pack of reds, a bowl of cheetos and NHL ‘95).
       —T.J.    Jan. 11 '05 - 07:58PM    #
  15. actually, i played hockey when i was a kid…yes, people do play hockey in atlanta if you can believe that!!! in 8th and 9th grade, my team (the red wings) were state champs…but then again, competition in georgia isn’t that big…

    i’d take on t.j., but seeing as he grew up playing in michigan, i would have to admit that he would have an advantage…

    however, i did play for hillel at u-m in the rec league alongside such rec league greats as peter romer-friedman…ahhh memories…

    as for a fight, i’m not a violent guy…in fact, during my tenure as a hockey player i spent less time in the penalty box than most of my peers…however, seeing as t.j. is the guy that got pounced by a borders striker, i could probably hold my own against him…remember, when your fighting in hockey, the padding helps your pain threshold…

    oh, and if anyone is still wondering what position i played in hockey…i played left wing…appropriate huh?????

    go blue!,
    ari p.
       —Ari P.    Jan. 11 '05 - 08:05PM    #
  16. ari, I was just joking with you because you said ”-a business savvy ari p.” and since there this venture is non-for-profit, it’s not really business savvy.

    T.J. – I think that the cheers are great. Take away the cheers and Yost will no longer be considered one of the best places in the country to see college hockey.

    But forget that, let me just say how nice it is to have you back and civil. You asked me so politiely about what I disagreed with you about, it was just so wierd!

    Anyhow, I don’t care to debate this topic much. if anything happens they’ll just change some of the cheers, but they won’t go away (not if the hockey team has any say, among others). So people can cry all they want, but nothings going to change, and if it changes, it won’t change much.
       —Just a Voice    Jan. 11 '05 - 08:06PM    #
  17. Ari,

    I was a right winger. Heh. Played defense and goal too, but I played a lot of wing and always right.

    As for holding your own and me being pounced on at Borders, well, I think I told the story before, but I will tell it again…

    The guy was about 5 inches shorter than I am, and while he was a little stocky, I am a big man. I went to walk around him and he stepped into my path and yelled his chant in my face. I kept walking forward and he shoved me with his placard and stood in my way.

    I went off on him. I fisted up my hand and I was just about to beat him down when the store security broke it up and escorted me inside and said she was calling the Police. It was only when I got inside and had them offer me gift certificates and free coffee that I realized that the Police were being called on him and not me.

    Suffice it to say, if the rent-a-cop hadn’t been there, things would have turned out differently. I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth, things were rough for me. I embraced it. It took me six years to get to Michigan, and I didn’t spend them huddled away in the library. I worked, I went to school, and I partied.

    “Partying” with my friends entailed going to the bar and picking fights. Or, before we were old enough to barhop, we would drive around and pick fights.

    I have been in more fights than I can remember, and there is nobody at the University of Michigan who doesn’t wrestle, play football or play hockey that I am afraid of. As a matter of fact, I haven’t been in a fight in a couple years, and I was just HOPING that some liberal would have the nuts to back up his mouth with his fists this election season. I have some steam I need to blow off.

    Not that I would fight Ari. I know Ari, I know his type, I know how he is. He’s not the type where beating his ass would be any accomplishment (no offense). He’s not a fighter (physically).

    Beating the crap out of Stephen Hawking is no accomplishment, just like beating Mike Tyson in a chess match is no accomplishment.
       —T.J.    Jan. 11 '05 - 09:57PM    #
  18. “Not that I would fight Ari. I know Ari, I know his type, I know how he is.” -t.j.

    for the record, t.j. and i have never met in person…

    “He’s not the type where beating his ass would be any accomplishment (no offense).” -t.j.

    i think some psychologists would say that t.j. might trying to, um, ‘overcompensiate for something’:o)

    while t.j. correctly asserts that he likes to fight where as i don’t go around picking fights with people, i take this more as compliment than an offense…the last time i engaged in fisticuffs at a party was last year actually, and it was actully trying to break one up involving a guy on coke..rough shit, and i don’t like it…

    i’d love to see a chess match between t.j. and mike tyson…

    flex,
    ari p.
       —Ari P.    Jan. 11 '05 - 10:07PM    #
  19. Ari,

    We have met, you just didn’t know it was me. You practically lived in the Fishbowl, it would seem. I remember reading about the thing between you and Dorfman, then seeing Dorfman outside Angell and then you in the Fishbowl seconds later. We have common acquaintences, so we have met a few times (if you can meet someone more than once).

    Overcompensate for what? My friends were overcompensating for their stupidity (3 of them graduated high school, I am the only one with a single college credit, much less a degree). I just enjoyed the thrill.

    A chess match between Tyson and I might actually be good. I have only played a couple times, and rumor has it that chess is popular in prison.
       —T.J.    Jan. 12 '05 - 01:26PM    #
  20. yes, i did spend much time in the fishbowl because i didn’t have access to a computer…perhaps some remeber the old rebel group of two years ago, fishbowl rising???

    viva la fishbowl,
    ari p.
       —Ari P.    Jan. 12 '05 - 05:05PM    #
  21. And I spent a lot of time at the fishbowl because I cannot get work done in my room.

    I know lots of people like that.
       —T.J.    Jan. 13 '05 - 02:30PM    #