Latest from the student section and Crazies lend a hand to Rowdies
Hey Duke Fans!
I hope you are as pumped about our team as I am. The guys are looking great. Jon is playing absolutely lights-out. He is clearly one of the very best players in the country. Kyle and Lance have been showing a lot of determination, and it is very encouraging to have players that fight game-in and game-out as hard as they do. Nolan has learned to use his speed to tear apart the opponent’s defense. Watching his progression reminded me of how last year a light-bulb seemed to go off in Gerald’s head that said, “Wow, I’m faster and more athletic than my opponents.” Nolan has figured out just how fast and talented he is, and he is looking great. The player I’m most excited about right now, though, is Zoubs. He is an enormous defensive presence, and is altering the offensive plan of our opposition, as we could see in the game against Gonzaga. His statistics don’t even remotely show what a positive impact he is on our team.
The games have been awesome in Cameron. The Crazies really did our research for Radford. We had plenty of inside information on their players, and came prepared with some pretty funny statistics about Radford University. I was particularly impressed with the crowd for St. John’s. Coach Krzyzewski gave the Crazies some encouraging fist pumps as he walked onto the floor, and that really got us going. We were intense and loud. Red Storm guard Malik Boothe also now has a full understanding that he is, “not tall enough to ride the rollercoaster.” The Gardner-Webb game was lighter on student attendance, due to winter break, but the fans who were there made up for it. There were an abundance of signs, ranging from “Excuse me, Mr. Defender, you forgot about Dre” to “Hey Deon, don’t miss it” (yeah… we went there).
Here are a few of the nicknames the Crazies have been working on for our players…
Nolan Smith- Showtime, Mr. Buckets, NdotSmitty
Brian Zoubek- Zoubs, Treebeard
Andre Dawkins- An-trey Dawkins, Dr. Dre, Andre 3000, Andre the Giant
Mason Plumlee- Hammer-time
Miles Plumlee- Mad-dogg
Kyle Singler- Wonderboy, The Most Interesting Man in the World
Ryan Kelly- Machine Gun Kelly
Lance Thomas- LT
Jon Scheyer- The Scheyer-man
Last week I got a phone call from the Assistant Principal of Kearney High School, in Nebraska. He explained to me that Kearney has an awesome student section at their basketball games, known for being loud, organized, and inspirational to their team. The fans call themselves the Rowdies and were hoping to get some tips from the Cameron Crazies, the best fans in the country.
The next day I had a conference call with eight of the Rowdy leaders, who were prepping for an upcoming game against their rivals. Here are a few tips I gave to them.
1) ALWAYS be loud. Winning or losing, before the game, or in the last 30 seconds, no one in the arena should ever, ever forget that this is “Our House!”
2) Cheers should be short and sweet. If things get too complicated, the cheer will die out. When a chant only has a few words, it allows every fan to know exactly what to say, and enables them to place emphasis on each individual syllable.
3) Be witty. By using rhymes or play-on-words, cheers will be more catchy and more funny.
4) Be spontaneous. Cheers can’t always be thought up ahead of time. You never know when an opposing player will have really bad hair and you need to start a “Lather! Rinse! Repeat!” chant (just ask the power forward from Gardner-Webb). Giant white boards can be helpful to get the word out for these spur of the moment cheers.
5) Be random. If the opposition is on the free throw line, the goal is to have them wondering “why the heck are they doing that?” Singing Miley Cyrus can be effective, as can chanting one of their teacher’s names. This is the ultimate form of distraction, as they place their attention on what the fans are doing, rather than on making their free throw.
At the end of the phone call the students of Kearney High School said the Crazies were now honorary members of the Rowdies. I think it’s fair to say that the Rowdies certainly are honorary Cameron Crazies too!
Have a Crazie holiday season!
Zach
