RE: Game Atmosphere
I graduated a few years ago, but when I was a cheerleader all this seemed to be under control.
The Band: Dr. Trevino is very knowledgeable when it comes to football and when to play music vs not play music. The band is also usually very well versed in terms of school pride and basic football/sports knowledge. If this has changed, I wonder what happened. On offense they usually play the first down celebration jingle and a couple of other short between-play jingles. Does Dr. T go around the stadium with the pep band during the second half? Maybe the Drum Majors are the ones leading the band during those times. But even then, those are the band leaders and should know when to play and when not to play. But I'm not there now to see what's going on.
Cheerleaders: When I was on the squad we were told to never stop cheering, unless we were on offense. And even then, we cheered when we had a good play. On defense we were supposed to be loud and stay loud the entire time. I don't know who the new coach is but I've heard the same complaints on here and from other fans that they don't cheer as much. Maybe it's the new culture. We got in trouble if we stopped cheering during my time haha. Also, the national championship is for routines, not sideline cheers. It's much different, but it doesn't excuse the team from not cheering during the game.
Entrance: I used to run one of the flags when the football team ran out onto the field. Every game was different because we never ran out at the same time but it was usually really streamlined and flowed well. We had our pump-up intro video play, we stayed in the tunnel until the football team came out and was standing in the tunnel ready to run out (at that point we walked a little out of the tunnel with our flags ready), and once we heard "ALL ABOARD..." we waited for the signal, and usually we ran out when the main riff started. That played for a bit, and then the band played the fight song.
Once I was done cheering and watched from the stands, I noticed that there was a lack of consistency with the song and when the players ran out. I don't see why we have such a difficult time figuring this out. It should be intro video, "ALL ABOARD", fireworks/smoke during the songs intro bass line, then run out when the guitar kicks in. Every time. I've seen the football team run out while "ALL ABOARD" is playing, while the lyrics start, etc. We all know how epic VT's Enter Sandman is. It wouldn't be as epic if they ran out during the first riff or before the heavy riff started. They time it perfectly which builds up the suspense and makes the fans go crazy. I'm not a fan of Crazy Train but if we're using it we might as well use it right.
Maybe it was because the CAA was small-time, but I remember going to away games as a cheerleader and watching all the in-game production other schools had (or lack thereof for some) and thinking that ODU's in-game production was top-notch. I don't know why the quality has seemed to go down over the years, when we should have perfected it by this time.
Lastly, there is no excuse from the scoreboard operator. Most football fans know not to cheer when we're on offense but if you put a big fat graphic on the jumbotron to make noise during a crucial 4th quarter offensive drive, that is a huge mistake. Didn't Peyton Manning complain about this exact scenario a few years ago with Denver?
I understand ODU's football honeymoon phase is over, and fans' interest waning is understandable. But that shouldn't mean that the in-game production quality should go down as well. Crowd enthusiasm/student and total turnout/on-field production or lack thereof/etc are all things the gameday production team can't control. But the entrance, the cheerleaders, the band, the jumbotron and other things are things they can control. It should be consistent and they should be dedicated to making the in-game experience as enjoyable as possible, even if the team is getting blown out by 30
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