Yeah I just wasn't sure. But I agree the dance team kills the atmosphere. At least give them music that the crowd can get into and kids can dance to also or something and not random mashups of songs from 20 years ago.

No yell leaders = no more time outs ever called by the opposing team. I like it.

aggietony2010 said:

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The issue i have with the yell leaders is that them being there makes it seem that they're responsible for the atmosphere.

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This is really the crux of the problem. Having them there definitely stifles some creativity because people just lean on them too much. But I also don't think we can just get rid of them and hope a basketball atmosphere creates itself organically. Maybe if we were awesome and the student section was filling up regularly.

I think there's a balance there where students can be creative and and stuff can just naturally happen, but also some coordinated stuff. I don't think it has to be just one or the other.

At Cameron Indoor back in the day we didn't need yell leaders, cheerleaders, dance team, the band, etc.

The fans started a cheer, the cheerleaders followed the lead of the students not vice versa. Many of the cheers were spontaneous and became legendary.

- "Airball" chant began during a January 1979 game against UNC, when Rich Yonakor bricked a jump shot over the rim and to the side.

- "Not your Father" for Georgia Tech's Glenn Rice Jr.

- "See ya" upon opponent fouling out

- "Stand up Stokes" for UVa's diminutive Ricky Stokes

- "Left, Right" when opposing player fouled out.

- "In-Hale, Ex-Hale" When UNC player Steve Hale punctured a lung (a little cruel)

- "Not our Rivals" to Maryland


When Lorenzo Charles was arrested for stealing pizzas, the Crazies threw pizza boxes on the flow.

When Tiny Pinder was caught changing price tags on underwear, you guessed it.

Inflatable whiskey bottles when NCState coach Norm Sloan explained in an interview the Camerons fans were drunkards...and on and on.


Aggie fans were loud as hell during BCG days. It's time again, as the Buzz Dynasty begins.

All tickets should be $5. Let's fill the Reed!

I would like to see people support the dance team more ! Those ladies work hard and deserve some applause. I don't always love the music but they do a nice job . Please clap for them !

txtomster said:

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I would like to see people support the dance team more ! Those ladies work hard and deserve some applause. I don't always love the music but they do a nice job . Please clap for them !

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They do work hard. So do a lot of other musical groups on campus, but they aren't given a captive audience to perform routines to every week during basketball season like the Aggie Dance Team.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be at Reed. I just think them, the Rowdies, and the yell leaders need to coordinate how they can all contribute to making the Reed environment as rowdy as possible.

They can still have their routine at the beginning of the game and throughout. But let's give them some signs that spell "Aggies" and let them lead that yell pre-game while the rest of them dance.

Wait, that's your solution? Original complaint invalidated

I can agree to that ! Mix up cheers in addition to their routines.

Tobias Funke said:

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With all due respect, telling Duke stories on this board is annoying af

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Sorry - I'm saying Ags need to try harder. Getting to the game is step #1.

They had signs one season, maybe 4-5 years ago. Maybe it was just for women's basketball. Not sure it even made it the whole season.
I think gigem and Aggies and maroon and white were sign pairs they had to try and get the back and forth yell thing going. Didn't work.

I see you have not gone to very many games the last few years. Show up and support Buzz.

I'm talking about the dance team.

jeremy said:

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I'm not trolling about the dance team. I don't go to basketball games to watch dancing women. Everytime we have some momentum, timeout is called, and the dance team comes out, the atmosphere dies. It's boring. Keep em for half-time. That's it.

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Times outs are either set by TV, or expanded by TV when the coaches call them. To think the crowd will keep its intensity for a three minute timeout is goofy. The dance team does not stop any momentum.

These threads always go off the rails because in part there's too many insane takes ("we shouldn't even have yell leaders at football"), but I do think there are some valid concerns/ideas/etc in here.

Hopefully now that it looks like basketball is on its way back here the yell leaders/rowdies/band/whoever can meet up in the offseason and take a look at how everything works and come up with some ideas. One thing we can all agree on is that the atmosphere at Reed needs some work, and hopefully it's something the AD has noticed as well.

Creating a raucous atmosphere at Reed is difficult to do as you're kind of stuck on what seating approach to take.

Even IF the students start showing up and being loud, being behind the baskets makes it difficult for that loudness to really impact the entire arena... but you can't move them to the sidelines without pushing out your cash cow of season ticket holders (or as I suspect, a lot of blue hairs that have lifetime/grandfathered deals that are going to make a fuss if you attempt to move them).

But said blue hairs are never going to be all that loud on the sidelines.

bobinator said:

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These threads always go off the rails because in part there's too many insane takes ("we shouldn't even have yell leaders at football"), but I do think there are some valid concerns/ideas/etc in here.

Hopefully now that it looks like basketball is on its way back here the yell leaders/rowdies/band/whoever can meet up in the offseason and take a look at how everything works and come up with some ideas. One thing we can all agree on is that the atmosphere at Reed needs some work, and hopefully it's something the AD has noticed as well.

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Agree with all of that

However, we've had good basketball in the last 20 years, but despite problems with Reed atmosphere being known, nothing was done

Hopefully Buzz can be a catalyst

We'll see

I am however in the camp that yell leaders are a bad fit for for basketball

I think saying nothing was done is unfair. I think some things were tried, with varying degrees of success, and then the innovation stopped and things got stale.

The Hullabaloo band is a good example. That was created to help the environment because the Aggie Band didn't show up every game and it was a bad fit in the arena. But, I don't think the song list has changed much since they were first created.

They closed in the other end of the arena, which helped bring more people closer to the visitor's bench. That was a good change. Fans knew to wear white for a while, that made the arena at least look more full.

I remember the yell leaders trying some different yells, chants, etc. Some worked, some didn't.

But things started to get stale even under Turgeon and then we had our years in the wilderness before we were good again and by the time we were good again a whole generation of students had turned over.

Actually the old Hullabaloo director did try something that I just remembered. He actually wrote a song trying to cue up the crowd to yell "gig-em-Aggies" at a certain time but it never caught on. I didn't care for it, but it was at least an idea.

Yeah I've no doubt you CAN have a good atmosphere with students on just the ends, but for environments that are going to struggle just based on interest (read: anywhere in Texas), it handicaps you significantly.

Not to say this in an insulting way, but it's just a very old crowd on the sidelines (for reasons I've theorized above) and that impacts how lively the atmosphere is going to get.

I may be selectively seeing things, but other venues I watch on television -- even those without students on the sidelines -- skew to a significantly younger demographic in the prime sideline seats (late 30's -> 50's). If you have any of our games DVRed, go back and look at the commentators talking right before tip and the seating behind them. It looks like an assisted living facility.

bobinator said:

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I think saying nothing was done is unfair. I think some things were tried, with varying degrees of success, and then the innovation stopped and things got stale.

The Hullabaloo band is a good example. That was created to help the environment because the Aggie Band didn't show up every game and it was a bad fit in the arena. But, I don't think the song list has changed much since they were first created.

They closed in the other end of the arena, which helped bring more people closer to the visitor's bench. That was a good change. Fans knew to wear white for a while, that made the arena at least look more full.

I remember the yell leaders trying some different yells, chants, etc. Some worked, some didn't.

But things started to get stale even under Turgeon and then we had our years in the wilderness before we were good again and by the time we were good again a whole generation of students had turned over.

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I was just about to say Hullabaloo Band

Wasn't sure when they started

Yeah spent man dreary Saturday afternoons at G Rollie with the Aggie Band playing Souza marches at basketball games

Absolutely dreadful

I suggest attending a game live. You will see that the yell leaders are part of a very balanced experience. The dance team is actually the most prominent followed by a smattering of band, Rowdies and yell leaders.

I think some of that is just our local demographics and the fact that we haven't been very good. There is a growing number of young professionals in College Station but it's definitely not a huge part of the population. When we're good we get more people coming in from Houston and Austin, so hopefully as we improve, that will improve.

Tech did give the students a few sections on the sideline.

Maybe if they make some kind of big renovation to Reed, which has been talked about lately, they can use that as an opportunity to rethink the student seating. It would be nice if they could have the seats below the rails even if it's just in a couple of sections like 106-107.