Thu 25 Mar 2004
As long as we are on a clothing theme, I should point out that the quote of the month certainly comes from an unnamed Williams official:
There is no love lost between these schools, although one Williams official likened the back-and-forth razzing at games to “L.L. Bean yelling at J. Crew.”
Question: Are we L.L. Bean or J. Crew? I think the former, but am no expert on current [Or past -- ed] fashion trends.
The three senior captains of the Williams team, however, posted a note on the school’s website this week, urging fans to desist from obscene chants or wearing objectionable T-shirts.
“Williams College, as an institution, is about excellence,” said the note from Chuck Abba, NESCAC Player of the Year Ben Coffin, and Mike Crotty. “Our behavior, on the court and off, should reflect this. In no way do we want to diminish your school spirit and support. But we do want to represent the lasting qualities of class and excellence that have become a hallmark of Williams. Let’s be creative and clean in our support.”
Another reason why everyone should learn The Mountains. Of course, another creative solution would have been to shout “Amherst Sucks” in latin. [Which would be? -- ed. All I remember is "amo, amas, amat." Not what we're looking for here -- ed]
March 25th, 2004 at 9:18 am
what’s wrong with “amHERST sucks?” It is short, pithy, to the point, and easily yelled at the top of one’s lungs. In short, it is the perfect cheer.
Frankly, the whole “don’t cheer for us” email was embarassing sophistry. If the pantywaists at amHerst can’t deal with a little heckling, they shouldn’t be playing hoops. You’ll never catch UNC complaining about how loud or vociferous the Cameroon Crazies are, would you?
All part of home court advantage, all part of a great rivalry. Though, I think my favorite amHerst related taunt was at a hockey game: “the goalie has tourettes!” Sure, the goalie probably didn’t really have tourettes, but he was flopping about on the ice like he did. I hope he got his feelings hurt.
I bet he’s over it.
March 25th, 2004 at 9:28 am
As of my graduation year, nobody had made “Amherst Sucks” t-shirts - I was going to make large quantities and sell them at the various sporting events and then donate the money to the track team.
I got distracted by other and larger money generating things like say “work” and didn’t get around to it. From what I see in that e-mail, someone has had the same obvious idea I had. Good to see.
As for the chants, I think that is absolutely ridiculous. It isn’t like they were watching a debate, a chess tournament, or sitting in on the GMATs - it was a BASKETBALL GAME!! The whole point of sports is the expression of battle over resources and land in a simulated atmosphere - war is hell… as is basketball.
I would understand if the e-mail was sent out in regards to some big golf game. “Dear Williams, please stop yelling ‘You’re mother’s a whore!’ while we are trying to putt. Thanks.” But basketball players should be able to deal with the crowd, regardless of what they are yelling.
They are just words - like David says - change the language and they might not even notice. (our nerds are nerdier than YOUR nerds!)
As for the latin, I only remember “agricola”, and even then it looks like I have spelled it wrong. I’m pretty sure that farm, or farmer, or whatever it is that I’m poorly recalling, has nothing to do with Amherst or their sucking.
I think all of this would be a moot point if we didn’t beat them at sports. It is somehow more appropriate for the losing team to yell rude things at the winning team (Boston vs. Yankees), but if you are the superior team it looks a bit rude to then still taunt the losers.
The losers of course being Amherst… since they suck.
March 25th, 2004 at 9:31 am
I would also like to point out that the current “Amherst Sucks” t-shirts should also have a variation of “Amherst is teh suk” just to show that Williams has a lot of computer geeks. But that is just my opinion.
March 25th, 2004 at 9:54 am
I still have an “Amherst Sucks” button. It’s now a magnet on my fridge. (I suppose that’s also a sign I don’t have children.)
March 25th, 2004 at 9:54 am
We’re LL Bean. Definitely LL Bean. J Crew is merely a knock-off, like Amherst.
March 26th, 2004 at 7:03 am
Wish I could find a photo but there’s a great T-shirt circulating here at CMU. The front says “SEX KILLS”. The back: Come to CMU and live forever.
Dave, that’s a contribution to the CMU vs William thread, which I would link to if I could find it in the archive.
March 26th, 2004 at 9:20 am
I am eventually going to add the search capability to the site for everyone to use - I am just hesitant to do so since it can be hard on the server.
I will probably add it this weekend and then if I see that it is an issue I can remove it. We don’t get too huge a load of users as of now.
And yes, if you want to become a contributing author here, then just send me an e-mail and I can set you up.
March 26th, 2004 at 3:24 pm
As someone who actually was in attendance in our final four game against Amherst I’d like to say that, surprisingly, nobody chanted “Amherst sucks.” I personally have absolutely no problem with the chant…but for those who do, I’d like to vouch for our fans at the tournament in Salem. It was really cool seeing so many people participate so rabidly in such a wide variety of chants (yes, there were multiple chants).
I’d say my favorite chant of the tournament was a “go Ephs” chant that we did throughout most of the second half timeouts of the championship game…the alumns chanted “go” and the students chanted “ephs” … it was to the point and significantly louder than anything anybody else was chanting. It really shut the other team up.
Our fans were so much louder than either Amherst or UW’s fans.