I don't watch much mainstream American sports like American Football, baseball, basketball, etc. I have been to a few American Football college games and in comparison to the many Football games I have been to in Peru, Argentina, and Italy, the American sports fans are the blandest fans I have ever seen. No color, no real passion, no rhythm. The only rhythm I hear from these fans for example are
"D-Fence *dun dun dun* D-fence *dun dun dun*" While having painted letters on their beer bellies as they care a bit more about the jumbo tron and what the half time show will be. (What I see, not generalizing since there are American football fans here who i'm sure are different).
Street Flares, Song chants, noise, confetti, streams, fireworks, balloons, team colors, pre game hype is the type of fan support I find even more devoting than any sport in the world.
Where am I going with this? Well, I put some thought into this even more and I felt I knew of really great crowds in America who can be pretty creative with their chants, show excitement, and free expression upon the events occurring. They choose when to boo or cheer, without it having to a team necessarily.
Who am I talking about? Wrestling fans. In what other fan base of sport can you get such funny, creative, and sometimes pretty catchy chants conducted through the action? The signs are part of the atmosphere, even though the action is scripted but people actually come into these event dressed as their favorite wrestlers or throw garbage at the wrestler they dislike most. What's the interest for the sport? Athleticism, entertainment, the plot, etc. Take The first two ONS PPVs. This type of crowd > Any hardcore American sport fanbase. A crowd not afraid to express themselves, no matter how vulgar or absurd the chants can be. They won't even be afraid to stand up for themselves or being called out by some heel wrestler on the mic, just pointing and insulting random people in the crowd.
Sometimes, the fans can even create the encouraging excitement to these entertainers through chant fads like:
1) Chanting "You suck" at a certain beat to the wrestler's theme song.
2) Chanting "What" when the wrestler pauses during a promo or finishes a sentence.
3) Making up pretty witty four syllable chants and then clapping it up, restarting the process.
4) Chanting the famous punchline as the wrestler says it.
There are not many crowds like this but you can PROBABLY find them in your local GROWING independent wrestling promotion that has a high capacity. And what is better than a crowd pop. :P
To be honest, this is the only exciting fan base I have ever seen in America and there is just no comparison in my opinion.
I don't see this alot in America.
They may not be the loudest crowd in america, but I find them to be much more interesting.
Thoughts?
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Last edited by JacopeX on Sep 18th, 2010 at 09:19 PM
I see where your coming from but wrestling and sports are different on how the react with the crowd.
Wrestlers are their from showmanship. It's much easier to root for and against when their characters ask that from the crowd. Alot of the chants were created by the performers or writers, so it seems really fake to me.
While I never been to a wrestling event, I have been to many hockey games and when a goal is scored, especially during important games, the pop of the crowd is much better than what you have put down. At that moment, the entire crowd feels the same way. It feels real.
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Sep 18th, 2010 09:15 PM
