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OT: Fabled Cameron Crazies succumbing to Cameron monotony at Duke


TheBand

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http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/17018067/fabled-cameron-crazies-succumbing-to-cameron-monotony-at-duke

I remember my first game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and that's saying something. I don't remember what clothes I wore yesterday -- hell, without looking down, I can't remember what's on right now -- but I remember my first look at Cameron.

And it was almost 15 years ago.

It was December 1997. It was Villanova. And Duke. Duke won, of course. I don't remember how big Duke won, but it was big. That's the only detail from the game I remember.

The details from Cameron? Those, I remember. The students chanting mean chants and making silly sound effects. The band playing Devil With a Blue Dress On and Rock Lobster. The crazy towel guy waving his crazy towel.

That was my first game at Cameron. It was also my second game at Cameron. And third. Over the years I covered close to 100 games at Cameron, and you know what? That was every game at Cameron.

Same chants and silly sound effects. Same songs. Same towel guy. Same. Same. Same.

No wonder Duke can't get students to go to the game anymore.

(MORE AT THE SITE ABOVE)

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Orchestrated? No!!!!!!!!

Let's see, who did Duke play at homethis year OOC? Belmont. Presbyterian. Davidson. Colorado State. UNC Greensboro. Western Michigan. Penn. And St.Johns is enroute for tomorrow.

Washington, Kansas, Michigan, Michigan State and Tennessee? All at neutral locations. Short of the ACC home games,looks like they don't really play anyone in Cameron. No one3on that top list I'd want to camp out for either. Has to be all freshmen.

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When I went from ragtag, little-team-that-could Billiken hockey to tradition-laden Wisconsin hockey, I was really disappointed. Sure, there was a packed student section every game (even back then, when they played way off campus in the public colosseum) and a loud band -- but it was the same thing over and over. Sure, it was loud -- but there was nothing to really get under the opposition's skin by singling someone out, much like the way we used to chant "Howw-wie, Howw-wie" whenever a guy, I think from Brown, touched the puck. By the time I heard "Sieve, sieve" aimed at the opposing goalie for the 24th or so time at a UW game, it was becoming highly annoying.

(Great story: The second time we dropped hockey -- and for you young'uns, in good SLU athletic fashion, we dropped it once, lost all our players, then said "just kidding" and came back for one more year -- during the final game, one particularly audible heckler who sat next to us, for the opening faceoff, yelled "we're going to miss you, Larson" to the ref who had been the most hated and whom we hounded the most. He stood up from his crouch, smiled and waved. Every fan at the game could feel like the "extra man" if he or she wanted to. Oh, and I'm pretty sure Taj was the PA guy at that game.)

We need consistency (and we'll get it if we keep winning), but for our current basketball team, we've got madmen (and I use the term with all affection :) ) like 05 in the front row and a semi-regular rotation of signs and things like "Hey, Baby" -- and, of course, from the alumni contingent, the Shoe Box behind the Billiken basket, managing to match the SLUnatics heckle for heckle.

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The best guy I remember was this black guy behind me when I was in the PA seat between the penalty boxes. He was young, articulate, loved hockey. But his one screaming verse was "Poke check. Poke check!" And it sound more like "polk" or "pork" than "poke." First, it took me and the other official attendants a while to figure oit what he was saying, and then we decided it was all he apparently knew about the game. But he was a seaosn ticket holder and there in the blue seats at the Checkerdome every game.

Biggest crowd I ever saw was 10 or 12K for Bowling Green when they were #1 with Mike Liut and Ken Morrow and we just announced hockey no more again. Crowds there were so small, that when I tripped over "free hors d'oveuvres at Caleco's after the game," every drunken frat brother and newspaper editor in the stands corrected me! And I could hear them clear as a bell. Hated those damn UNews newspaper boys!

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Absolutely! Taj is right--"Pokecheck" was frequently the only black fan in the stands. But we appreciated his support. And the chant of "Howie!" I believe was directed at a player named Skip Howey, probably not from Brown. I could swear it was one of our regualr CCHA opponents. Western Mich. perhaps?

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