12/22/24
January 22, 2003
Arena music sucks. : You know it, I know it, even my very un-hip father knows it? I guess the question to be asked is if there is anything that can be done about it. New music? No music? Crowds making their own music?
As long as the 12 year-old who feels it necessary to dance (and makes it on the jumbo-tron) every time "who let the dogs out" is played is beaten I will be happy.
posted by Bag Man at 12:38 PM on January 22, 2003
This is a very humorous, true, and well-written column. It gets even worse when you have a hockey and basketball team playing in the same arena, and they both have the exact same crap playing the whole time. The same songs, same commercials, etc. I'm not sure which irks me more, the songs or the advertisements, but they both make the hair on my neck stand up and make me want to brave the long lines for the bathroom or concession stand. Ugh. I really enjoy the soccer songs that the fans sing. Even if you can't understand them, the solidarity and emotion behind them will give me goosebumps every time, whether I'm actually there or just watching on TV. Good stuff, they are. I'm not sure how to go about leading a movement to start doing something similar at a Stars or Mavs game. I guess step one would be season tickets (out of my league). Two would be to write them and hand out sheet music or something. It'd be a good experiment though. I'm sure 20,000 people could drown out another Def Leppard song on the PA, right?
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:43 PM on January 22, 2003
Japanese baseball fans play their own music, too, and it is actually kinda stirring. One of the funniest parts is that they play when their player comes up to bat, rather than as a way of distracting the hitter. For the most part, anything other than the sound of the game, and audience sound, I guess, takes away from the event, and I don't like it. Some years ago NBC, I think, broadcast an NFL game with no announcers. It got panned (as I recall, it was a Jets game, so no wonder), but liked it. Music is the same as dot races, or advertisments. I'm there to watch the game, and to drink some beers. Anything that isn't watching the game (or drinking said beers) is a waste as far as I'm concerned
posted by outside counsel at 02:00 PM on January 22, 2003
Arena music is bad. I hate it as much as anyone else. What is worse are the exhortations to cheer. "Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap!" "Make some noise!" "Charge!" "Go [insert team here] Go!" They are a real annoyance at baseball games. If the crowd isn't cheering, it's because there is nothing to cheer for. When there IS something to cheer for, we will do it on our own. Trying to make us cheer just kills the atmosphere. I'm there to watch the baseball game, not respond to Pavlovian cues. And I don't think there has been a single time in any of the games I've been to where the Jumbotron announces it's time to "make noise" and then the crowd decided "Yah. Let's make some noise in a continuous fashion until told otherwise." It lasts until the request disappears from the screen or the next pitch, whichever comes first. I think it has to do with the marketing concept that if a person is left to think for themselves, they aren't thinking about the right thing, so you better tell them what to think.
posted by grum@work at 02:25 PM on January 22, 2003
How about NO music? Instead, mike the players and put their trash-talking on the speakers. If I were at a Broncos game, I'd love to be able to hear whatever Shannon Sharpe was saying just then...
posted by Jaquandor at 06:00 PM on January 23, 2003
Probably the most irritating thing I've seen at an arena is the "crowd meter" on the Jumbotron. Basically, the spectators are asked to "make some noise" while a "crowd meter" indicates that the arena is slowly getting louder and louder! Right. I was at a game where attendance was at about a third capacity because of a severe snowstorm, and it was hilarious to hear the fake crowd noise being pumped through the speakers while the 4000 or so bored fans quietly chomped away at their hot dogs.
posted by Samsonov14 at 10:42 AM on January 24, 2003
I know! I know! They can stop playing the same crap over and over again at every game. I remember when I attended a Bills game two seasons ago, during every timeout or lull in the action, the big screen would play a Dodge Ram commercial. That commercial must have been played atleast 10 times. That's annoying! (or good marketing)