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This was posted in another thread but is worthy of it's own. RBA did an interview with Reinebold about crowd interaction, and got typical answers - players want maximum noise except when lined up on offense. Nothing we don't already know, except Reinebold specifically praised how in years past (and I think you'd have to go back to pre-DP for this) where the band would play as soon as the ball was snapped and continue throughout the play.

Obviously this does not happen now, although it could. (Before someone says it isn't allowed, every time this issue comes up someone pulls the actually rules - you cannot make artificial noise that impedes the ability to hear the snap count. Playing during the play is not forbidden!)

My question: does the coaching staff have an active involvement in gameday atmosphere? When and what music is played over the speakers or band? What the PA guy says to incite cheering? What the cheerleaders are doing? I know June Jones basically recreated the entire atmosphere at Hawaii, but not much has changed at SMU. (other than Jones capturing two free wild animals running the wide open plans, crushing their spirit, castrating them, and forcing them to live in pens with offensive clownlike Texas stereotypes doing rope tricks on their backs.)

Is there much planned for when the BE comes rolling in?

I've emailed the PA guy and he's a June-friend. Nice guy, seems exasperated and over-whelmed by what to do to get the crowd, specifically students involved. He's very open to ideas and he actually implemented a few of my suggestions. That being said, I don't think he gets a lot of guidance from June. I was under the impression that June orchestrated the uniform change, the haka, the seashell horn, the mascot...everything that made Hawaii beyond 1999 less rainbow, more warrior. I really expected him to do the same for SMU...okay, the blue unis make an appearance...then some "singing cowboy" singers open the Texas State game with a countrified "Pony Up" song...then the Geldings...no more blue unis...then we tried piping in artificial crowd/band noise that was never in-sync with the actual band, installed a new PA system, new turf, new lights...just not the same program Renaissance they had at Hawaii. I think that June got a lot of "no, you can't change that" at the beginning, the cutsie efforts he did make failed miserably and so he stopped trying, or got an even firmer hands off.

I really think that the coaching staff needs to work with the band, with the cheerleaders, and with the PA guy to try to make a more organized and orchestrated environment. Communication just isn't there. I like the idea of player Peruna at the snap, hushing it to very low after the play, then blaring it again next snap while we are on Defense.

Dave Delay, the PA that you speak of will not be returning your emails. He passed away last week.

I'm not speaking about Delay...different guy, not the color commentator guy, the game day music guy...sorry, I mis-titled him

BCS STANG wrote:Dave Delay, the PA that you speak of will not be returning your emails. He passed away last week.

WoW- how sad. I met him at one of the Coaches luncheons and he gave me a CD of some things he was doing. Real class act. Sorry to hear the bad news about him.

GO PONIES!!!

June hasn't really gotten a lot of no from anyone. The examples you gave were his ideas-all the cowboy stuff. That was all him.

Then I got nothing...just seems so uninspired compared to Hawaii.

SMUer wrote:I'm not speaking about Delay...different guy, not the color commentator guy, the game day music guy...sorry, I mis-titled him

Robert Lee Kobb, the Game day producer that you speak of, is the same guy you refer to as the "singing cowboy."

I had a suspicion about that, what's his story? Is he the same guy they used in Hawaii? Or just a Texas friend?

SMUer wrote:I had a suspicion about that, what's his story? Is he the same guy they used in Hawaii? Or just a Texas friend?

From what I can tell, just a Texas friend.

The cowboy stuff is so played out and weak. Western rodeo cowboy stuff is just not relevant at an affluent Dallas private school like SMU. Save that for cowtown in Fort Worth. Texas is much to great to be condensed into cheap cowboy flick garbage.

If we are going to go down that road, I'd rather disarm the unappealing "rich snob" stereotype by making a parody of it. In today's culture where TV is full of rich people making fools of themselves (like the Kardashians - SMU connection there) and music and pop culture is full of the love of money, getting rich, "making it rain", etc., we should seize on that to get Dallas interested.

How about cannons that shoot dollar bills when we score? How about dollar signs on our uniform sleeves? How about we park a bunch of those sewell cars on the grassy knoll and have a give away every game? How about we put up billboards, not with sanitized collegiate appearance, but with Dickerson with giant platinum chains around their neck with a flava flav-style giant pony emblem on it and big fan of $100 bills!

How about having a few stars from the old TV series Dallas appear at halftime etc.

GO PONIES!!!

We need pole dancers!

and hot cheerleaders. [deleted], I'll take mildly attractive for now.

Hey brooksie- your age is showing.

GO PONIES!!!

redpony wrote:How about having a few stars from the old TV series Dallas appear at halftime etc.

GO PONIES!!!

No, that show ended in 1991. Anyone who was at least 15 years old when the show ended is now 35+. We need to attract people younger.