I wrote this up last year when giving a few presentations about Aggie Baseball to a bunch of Ol' Ags at their reunions. I figured this will be a good starting point and if I missed any traditions we can update the list as time goes on. We can also add traditions that we may not do anymore, but would be nice to let people know the old traditions.
Let's try to make this the most comprehensive Olsen field traditions list out there, I'll update it as much as possible.
[This message has been edited by Wildmen03 (edited 2/10/2011 10:16p).]
Let's try to make this the most comprehensive Olsen field traditions list out there, I'll update it as much as possible.
quote:
OLSEN FIELD “R”AGGIES
“Thunderstruck” – Hold up right hand with pointer and pinkie fingers extended, thumbs out, rock to the beat of the song – Pregame
“Wolfpack Theme” - Hand motion similar to Thunderstruck, but with middle and ring finger pressed again thumb making a “wolf” hand signal. Follows the beat of the song.
“Shark mouth” - Extend hands forward and clap in an up and down motion. Use whole arms if it’s a big or important hit. Just use fingers for a small hit “single with no one else on base”
“One *****, *****” - Used when a batter is up to the plate, they will take a few practice swings. This is recited in time with the batters swings. The asterisks can be replaced with words pertaining to the batter, i.e. if the batter is of questionably large size the asterisks can be replaced with “tubby” or “twinkie” Example: “One, tubby, tubby” If the batter wiggle his bat before the swing, fan can follow up by saying “wiggle, wiggle, wiggle” in time with the bat motions.
“Ow, ow, ow” – If a batter is beaned in the leg, or happens to foul a ball off into his leg, foot, ankle etc, any time he puts weight on that limb, “ow” is yelled.
“Pitcher’s Name” – It is important to learn the pitcher’s name early. It is yelled continuously during his setup and during his motions, once the ball is thrown, stop yelling in order to distract the batter as little as possible.
"Texas Towns" version of the pitcher name... for example, a pitcher named Dallas will get called every obscure Texas town that the fans can think of for at least one inning.
“Shark fin” – When the Pitcher is in trouble, i.e. runners in scoring position, only recorded zero or one outs, and you have a slugger up to bat, the Jaws theme is played. Fans can put their hands together over their head to signify a shark fin, and prowl the stands to the beat of the music.
“Between inning entertainment” – Several games are played between innings to entertain the crown while the pitcher is warming up. Fajita race: before the game, it involves a beef and chicken fajita racing behind the right field wall. Train shuffle: Three train engines are showed on the screen, a baseball is placed into one of them, they are shuffled and it is up to the fans to guess which one the ball is in. Sausage Race: Slovacek’s sausage puts on a sausage race on the screen between Jalapeno, Summer, and Beefy sausage. You can cheer for your favorite. Baseball’s greatest mustache: A bracket style competition where two pro baseball players are shown on the screen and the fans choose who has the better ‘stache.
“Foul balls” – When a ball is his back towards the net, if it rolls up and down the net, you make noises imitating a slide whistle. A whooping noise that goes from low to high as it goes up the net, and high to low as it goes down the net. If a ball is hit out to the parking lot, it is up to the announcer to play a noise and the fans will point to the press box signaling the announcer to play the noise., examples include; window being broken, car alarm going off, and construction equipment as the parking lot in front of Olsen is under repair. If they play a noise, they will get an applause, if they don’t, they will be met with “EEEEEEE.” after the fans respond with "EEEEEEE" they then point to the press box again, giving the announcer another chance to play an appropriate noise. Failure to do so results in repeated chants of "EEEEEEE" until the announcer complies. If pressed enough, the announcer will sometimes play clips of former presidents apologizing for something, or, if the fans are especially persistent, a sound clip of someone yelling "shut up."
“Opponent research” – It is not uncommon for Raggies to research their opponents and try to find a bit of dirt on them to use during the game. Funny nicknames, goofy trivia, affinity for figure skating can all be used as ammunition.
“Touch his butt” – When a coach or player for the other team goes up to the mound for a visit, a pat on the butt sometimes occurs. Raggies tend to egg on the player to give a “good game” butt slap. If the slap occurs by the coach, then he will be called a “dirty old man” all the way to the dugout, if he does not he will be called a “tease”
“Tea Pots” – Another name for the Diamond Darlings. It originated when years ago all foul balls hit into the stands were collected by the Diamond Darlings . In order for the fan to relinquish the ball, the Diamond Darling had to do a trick, the “I’m a little teapot” dance was a popular request, and the name stuck. All foul balls lately are able to be kept by the fans, but fans can still ask the Tea Pots to do tricks as they pick up bats from the home plate and bring them back to the dugout.
“Get in the Box, Coach!” – Opponent’s first base coach has a white box to stand in near first base. If he Is not in the box he will be taunted and told to get in the box. If he is in the box he will be scolded and told to get out of the box, because it is not his box.
“Aggie Alley” - The area behind the left field wall where fans can park their vehicles and watch the game over the wall. For a price.
“Train numbers” – When a train is heard coming on the tracks behind Olsen, fans guess how many engines it has, and hold up the number of fingers they think the train engine has.
“Judging catches” - When an Aggie player makes a diving catch he is judged by the fans Olympic style on how he did. When the catch is good enough to need a rating, it’s usually a 10.
“Rocky” – When the Aggies are behind in the 8th inning, the Rocky theme is played. A Lone fan can run up the steps of the stands Rocky style, and can add punching the air at the top.
“Rally Caps” – this is a universal baseball tradition, when your team is losing, you can put your ball cap on in a weird way so signify the rally. Backwards, inside out, and with the bill facing up are all commonly seen. Raggies tend to only put their rally caps on when the Aggies are at bat.
“Drama Queens” - If a person make an unnecessary dive to make a catch, slides when not needed, or whines about a call (especially whether or not they got hit by a pitch), They will be typically made aware that they are being a drama queen.
“Walk is cheaper” – When the bases are loaded and a slugger comes up to the plate, more often than not a walk will give up less runs then allowing the batter to hit, “Walk is cheaper” (followed by clapping) is done before the pitch. If the batter gets a hit and 2 or more runs are scored. Then “Walk was cheaper” is chanted.
“Ball 5, 6, 7” – If a pitcher throws 4 balls in a row, the fans will chant “Ball 5, ball 5” while holding out 5 fingers predicting the 5th ball being thrown. The numbers increase as ball are thrown, strikes cancel out the count.
"Thundering the bleachers" when an Aggie safely crosses the plate the fans tap their rings Aggie Rings on the benches in applause. ...the students tend to pound their rings against the bench in front of them in attempt to leave their mark at Olsen.
"Tearing up your ticket"... during the days of the Ketchup, Mustard, and Relish races, fans were given a red, yellow, or green coupon for sausage at Kroger. Those holding colors that did not correspond to the winning condiment would tear them up like a losing racing slip at the track... this ended due to the amount of green confetti left in the stands... Relish never won.
Stretched doubles and triples: On of the possible songs played after a batter/runner turns a single to a double, or a double to a triple is the theme from the Lone Ranger, to which students will ride their galloping horse.
6...4...3:
in any particularly difficult inning for the Aggie defense (runs scored or runners in scoring position while losing)... with 1 out and a runner on first, those with rings will tap out a pattern asking for a grounder to the shortstop for an easy 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. The taps are approximately at the speed the ball will hit the different gloves...
One that has seen some controversy lately is the bottom of the 9th inning at Olsen Field... a particularly sad time, as games at Olsen only last eight and one half innings. The goal is basically to just blow the batter's eye down with the noise you make... pounding on the benches in rhythm seems to be the method of choice... but the speed has been questioned. I vote we just don't have to ever discuss this one again.
“Pitcher stalling” – if a Pitcher is up again a slugger, or is in trouble, he will try to catch runners stealing, or try to pick off a runner. If he does this enough times he is considered stalling. The fans will call out his name followed by stalling to make him aware of it.
“Home Run Bow” – When an Aggie gets a homerun the fans stand up and bow towards him. Then many high-fives ensue.
“Bat boys” - Our current bat boys are Jayce Hutchins, and Max Childress, both sons of current coaches, When a ball is fouled up the net, the bat boys will run and try to catch it as it comes down. If they catch it they will be met with cheers, if the drop it the fans will call out “EEEEEEE”
“Heckling the Fans” – This may be a bit unpopular with some, but it is alive and well with the Raggies. Raggies hate discourteous fans. If a fan is on their cell phone, the crowd will yell out “HELLO” as long and as long as they can until that person hangs up or leaves to take the phone call. If fans show up to the game late and the main stands are full, they will often stand up staring at the crowd looking for a seat. The crowd then informs them of the right field bleacher section where latecomers should be sitting, “RIGHT FIELD BLEACHERS!” followed by clapping is chanted until the fans leave and take their seats in the bleachers. “Unescorted Children” are also a common problem for weekend day games. If they are allowed to roam free someone may yell out “Unescorted children will be made into Slovacek Dogs” “Unescorted children will sold and forced to work in the concession stands” or “Get that kid on a leash!” not only is it rude to the other fans, it is also unsafe to let your kids roam around with the possibility of foul balls coming into the stands. “Food Tax” if someone wants to head down your aisle in front of you and they are carrying food, you may request a food tax for safe passage. It is voluntary and encouraged to give up the food.
“Girls Names” If an attractive girl happens to walk through your section, you can shout out names try to guess what her name is, if you get it right, you may ask her to sit with you. This rarely works, but is very nice when it does.
“Good luck to the other team” - As we are all Aggies we hold ourselves to be good fans in the end, and we make sure to let the other team know to have a safe trip and good luck with the rest of the season, especially if they play t.u.
[This message has been edited by Wildmen03 (edited 2/10/2011 10:16p).]
