cheer

[tcannizzo]

This thread got me to thinking about the days when I played Pee-Wee football. We had one cheer:

Hit em high
Hit em low
Hit em where the coconuts grow

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by tcannizzo
This thread got me to thinking about the days when I played Pee-Wee football. We had one cheer:

Hit em high
Hit em low
Hit em where the coconuts grow

You played Pee-Wee football in the jungle

[tcannizzo]

Originally posted by IRISHMAFIA

You played Pee-Wee football in the jungle

Worse - Jersey

[Little Jimmy]

I know I'm jumping in late but what the hey. We all have a different approach to the particulars of the game (MY strike zone, MY interpretation of an illegal pitch, MY limit as to how much crap I'll take from the coach, etc.). I believe I can have MY limit as to how far a cheer can go before it becomes trash talk. And my limit might be different than yours. But each coach/team figures all these limitations out in the first inning or so(if they're smart) and we proceed from there.

I hope we haven't gone so far as a society that we can't make interpretations about what is right or wrong and impose them on youth. I'm not saying I've got the ultimate answer, but when I'm on the field the girls know real quick that the old man won't let them say anything ol thing they want. And that might make me old fashioned but I like it that way.

[U of M Sam]

Originally posted by Blu_IN

I hope your not serious. Since when have we become the cheer police?

We, as umpires, are not the "cheer police" although we need to apply "preventive" umpiring meaning, in my opinion, stopping any negative cheers directed to the opposing team. Simple chat with the coach between innings has worked well for me.

[Dakota]

Cheers are often directed at the other team. I will only step in if things start getting out of hand.

For example, the "poor wormie" cheer abot a low pitch. Well, it was a ground roller, wasn't it?

OTOH, if the cheer starts becoming directed at the person and not the performance, then I would step in. Or, if one team is thoroughly dominating the other team and the cheering starts to become taunting, then I will step in. Or, if the timing of the cheering is intended to disrupt the pitcher's or batter's timing, then I'll stop it.

Let's not be OO on this.

[BuggBob]

I really hate the "Nacho Pitch" cheer. It is directed at the umpire when ever they call a strike the girls think should have been a ball. Funny thing once I brought my strike zone up to the knees I have not heard that cheer.

Bob

[BuggBob]

I really hate the "Nacho Pitch" cheer. It is directed at the umpire when ever they call a strike the girls think should have been a ball. Funny thing, once I brought my strike zone up to the knees I have not heard that cheer.

Bob

[Dakota]

Originally posted by BuggBob
I really hate the "Nacho Pitch" cheer. It is directed at the umpire ...

I think you are over personalizing this.

[AtlUmpSteve]

Originally posted by BuggBob
I really hate the "Nacho Pitch" cheer. It is directed at the umpire when ever they call a strike the girls think should have been a ball. Funny thing, once I brought my strike zone up to the knees I have not heard that cheer.

Bob

I consider that one of the really classy things about fastpitch softball; that the players will simply chant a disagreement when we miss a pitch, rather than the rants, screams, and mindless ravings in other games.

[jstone999]

There is one team in our league who manages to sing and cheer (all innocent stuff, mindo you)at such a volume that virtually no one can concentrate. (I don't really see how this could possibly help their batters, but it does seem to fire them up as a team quite a bit.)

Assume they never get into unsportsmanlike cheers, can it ever reach a volume for you to tell them to quiet it down?

On another note, at a tournament in Holland last spring there was one team which formed a circle before every game and gave the following cheer:

Are we gonna fight?
Yes!
Are we gonna win?
Yes!
Are we gonna lose?
No f*****g way!

Since then I've heard one or two other teams using the f-word during a cheer. Since I'm usually the only American on the field, I'm probably the only one who finds it unacceptable. Perhaps the women in America should start chanting obscenities in Italian or something.

jeffstone
goettingen

[tcannizzo]

Originally posted by Dakota

I think you are over personalizing this.

I agree with Tom. If you let Nacho Pitch get to you then there will be a cheer like

Rabbit ears, Rabbit ears
Behind the plate too many years...

[AtlUmpSteve]

The one I recall from my college days (yeah, that long ago) that would follow is:

Munch, munch, munch,
The ump brought his lunch.
EAT IT, UMP!!