In an unprecedented and unjustified move Saturday, the “Oh-Wee-Oh” was pulled from Tiger Band’s chant from its touchdown routine.
Many students agree with this summation, emphasizing the unfairness of the action — it’s just downright wrong.
The band has played the tuba-chant on and off for years, but it met its end again last Saturday.
When I asked U.S. Army Capt., band alumnus and Baton Rouge native Jeremy Duplechin how long the band has played the chant, he told me “That has been around for as long as I can remember, and I have been going to LSU games since ‘88.”
The chant has been a part of football games and particularly the Tiger Band experience for quite some time, but the student section’s addition to the ensemble in recent years is a deviation.
Christopher Nuebel, another band alumnus, said touchdown dances during “Oh-Wee-Oh” were “the first thing we learned when I started in 2000, but the ‘you suck’ part started about 4 years ago.”
Hearing this makes complaining about the band for removing the song seem pretty pointless.
Last year alone, LSU Athletics contributed nearly $1 million to the band’s budget, so band administrators would be fools to ignore the Athletic Department’s request to remove the song.
Many students feel it’s their right to inform opponents of their suck-iness, and the First Amendment pretty much says they have that right.
Our problem arises from the football team’s top-15 ranking, which brings in a lot of fans and media coverage.
Football is considered a family function, and when 16,000 students scream the same phrase at the same time, microphones tend to broadcast the phrase to thousands of households.
If you need proof, watch the LSU-Florida game from 2007. Tim Tebow gets an earful of the “F-word,” courtesy of the LSU student section.
The problem is the other 74,000 fans in the stadium, as well as the thousands of people watching it on TV, get a blast of expletive — and they have a right not to hear it.
If I had to guess, the Athletic Department is going to side with saving and making money.
Students pay much less than other attendees, and according to Herb Vincent, associate vice chancellor for University Relations and senior associate athletic director, LSU Athletics received negative feedback about the chant from alumni and donors.
An obvious argument is that “you suck” isn’t profane or vulgar, but that’s not exactly the students’ decision.
Students have shown the lack of restraint in vocabulary with cheers in the past, so the Athletic Department shouldn’t see any reason to give leeway — “Kick their…” at the end of the first down cheer, “***holes,” during “Tiger Rag,” “Won’t you be my…” during “Hey Baby,” just to name a few. The Athletic Department has to be proactive about it, or the student section might take on the sailor’s mouth exhibited by Wisconsin’s student section — see YouTube for elaboration on the tasteless vulgarity.
It’s sad students don’t realize the University is accountable for their actions and words.                           Cheering for your team does not mandate bashing opponents, and the game is just as fun without it.
Students, take one for the team and your budget-slashed school and refrain from chanting your refrain along with bashing your exhausted band.
The band works hard enough on game days. It doesn’t need harassment from the students it’s trying to entertain.
Besides, LSU should at least appear to be sophisticated. Loud vulgarity is for the douches from Jersey Shore — not classy.
Matt Lousteau is a 21-year-old mechanical engineering senior from LaPlace. Follow him on Twitter
@TDR_Mlousteau.
—-
Contact Matt Lousteau at [email protected]