Tag Archives: football

Tradition

Nationality: Indian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 7, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

Tradition – Football

Captains: I smell pussy!

Team: What!?

Captains: I smell pussy!

Team: What!?

Everyone: It’s time to bust these hoes! It’s time to bust these hoes! It’s time to bust these hoes! It’s time to bust these hoes!

Captains: What time is it?

Team: Game time!

Captains: What time is it?

Team: Game time!

Captains: Where my dogs at?

Team then jumps up and down making barking noises and runs onto the field.

The informant, Manoj, reports this chant as the way his varsity football team would get pumped up before games. Manoj says the team would all gather in tight group in the end zone before performing it. The captains of the team would then initiate the chant. The pregame ritual chant was practically screamed by the team, so that they would get psyched up for the coming battle. Manoj learned the chant in his junior year of high school from older members of the team. He says the energy with which the team performed the chant could be carried over into the game. When the team really got into the chant, they always came out with a ferocious intensity. While jumping and barking at the end of the chant, the team members would bump into each other as a way of getting physically ready for the game. At the completion of the chant, manoj says the team would run onto the field through a paper banner held up by his school’s cheerleaders. Manoj is unsure of the exact origin of the chant, but says it has been a pregame ritual for many years at his school.

Pregame rituals are not uncommon and occur in many sports in many places all over the world. A chant like this psychologically readies the players to engage the other team. The chant obviously makes the team feel unified and probably is at least on some level intended to intimidate the opposing squad. The barking at the conclusion of the chant seems to be an attempt to get the players to connect with their ferocious, wild animal side. Professional as well as amateur teams have rituals very similar to this, which suggest to me that rituals like this make a team play better. I think sports in general are mock combat and chants like these help ready the chanters for their mock combat. A pre-game chant similar to this one being performed by a football team can be seen in the movies “Remember the Titans” and “Friday Night Lights”.

Custom – University of Southern California

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: South San Francisco, CA
Performance Date: April 16, 2008
Primary Language: English

It is well known that a school such as ours here at the University of Southern California is chock full of different kinds of legends, customs, and folklore.  My friend Berna shared her favorite piece of USC folklore with me.  With football season being such a major period of time in the school year for us Trojans, one of USC’s very own football customs stands out most in her mind: kicking the flagpoles on Exposition Blvd. on the way back to campus, returning from a glorious or defeated game of football.

As the fanfare of The Spirit of Troy dies down and the Coliseum spills out its throngs of people after every Trojan football game, the crowd on its way back to the University Park campus typically takes one route: across Exposition Blvd.  The flagpoles in front of George Tirebiter, the trusty and loyal dog companion of the early Trojan football team, stand as a sort of gateway back to USC from the Coliseum.  As each person passes through, Trojans or non-Trojans alike, must kick the base of the flagpoles a number of times.  Berna recalls hearing the sound of clanking feet against the metal of the pole every time she approaches that entrance on Expo.  Such a simple custom is said to bring luck and victory to the football team for their next and future football games.  I, being a superstitious person, agree with this folklore and, although I was a Spring admit this year, I came out to each and every football game, with my own Student Season pass, and gladly partook in the custom of kicking the flagpole every single time I passed through that entrance into campus.  I honestly felt as though each time I had not kicked the poles, the team truly could have performed better in their following game.

Saying – Hillsdale, New Jersey

Nationality: Italian-American
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hillsdale, NJ
Performance Date: March 19, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian

Saying—USA

“Just Work.”
Michael first heard this saying in his hometown of Hillsdale, New Jersey.  He played Varsity football all throughout high school, and had a very close relationship with his coach.  His coach had a way with words; his favorite saying was always “just work.”  He would use this all the time; if someone was struggling through a weightlifting session, he would look him in the eyes and tell him to “just work.”  If the team was messing around during practice, his players always got serious when he would tell them that it was time to stop messing around by telling them to “just work.”  Though Mike originally heard this saying exclusively during some sort of sporting event or physical activity, he now applies it to just about everything he does.  As he has explained to me, telling someone to “just work” is like telling them to disregard everything else, all erroneous and potentially detrimental distractions, and just get something done.  He has applied this to a number of situations—from writing a paper to finding a job.  “Just work” is a saying meant to encourage.

Though Michael is unsure where his coach picked up the saying, he understands that other statements that have the same meaning have been around for a while, Nike for example, used to popularize its products with the slogan “just do it.”  To me, “just work” is a terrific saying because it is so versatile yet is simple and to the point, but bears immense significance.

Ritual – University of Southern California

Nationality: English, German
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Berkley, CA
Performance Date: April 25, 2008
Primary Language: English

Kick the Flagpoles

Before home football games at the University of Southern California, many people either park, party, or eat somewhere on campus.  As the game nears kickoff, the thousands of dedicated fans stream south toward the Coliseum.  On the way they pass a series of towering flag poles shows on the left which over look an entrance to the south side of campus from Exposition Boulevard.  Every fan makes it a point to kick one of the bases of the flagpoles as he passes for good luck.  Since it is supposed to bring good luck on the Trojans, fans of opposing teams will almost never kick the flagpoles.  With literally thousands of fans kicking the noisy bases, it creates a racket which can be heard for blocks.

This tradition is specific to USC; as far as I know, no other university has such a tradition.  My friend Grant reminded me of this tradition when were we discussing the many traditions of USC.  A freshman here, originally from Berkeley, California, he had no idea as the why this kicking started.  Although I have lived about half an hour from USC all my life, I had no idea either.  We both learned this ritual when we went to our first home football game here.  I remember walking past the imposing poles when a large man, probably a graduate student or upperclassman, said “Hey, you gotta kick the flag pole, man.” “Why?” I asked.  “I don’t know dude, its good luck.”  We kicked the loose base of the flag pole, everybody smiled, and then continued on our trek to the Coliseum.  We probably discussed the tradition for a while, but like the big fan who had told us about it, we could not conclude much else about the ritual other than that it was for good luck, presumably for the Trojans.

After we thought about the tradition a second time for this collection, we hypothesized that the tradition may have started unintentionally.  The bases of the flagpoles are extremely noisy when kicked.  As they are placed on the edge of campus, they can be viewed as the last markers of “Trojan territory.”  As such, perhaps a person accidentally kicked one of the bases on his way out.  Seeing the drunken nature of many tailgate parties, this sort of stumbling is not at all unlikely.  So, perhaps one from the other legions of fans marching over to the Coliseum heard the noise initiated by the drunken stumbler.  Interpreting it as a type of rallying cry, one last bang before leaving the comfort of Troy and entering into the battlefield of the Coliseum, these fans picked up on it and began kicking the bases of the other flagpoles too.  Delighted by the loud, resounding clamor they were making, they soon decided to do it the next game, as well.  It is possible that in this way the tradition started.  A quick internet search revealed that nobody really knew how the tradition started; several sites speculated something along the lines of the idea outlined by the above paragraph.

Anyhow, the tradition allows dedicated Trojan fans to participate in a group activity.  As freshmen learning the tradition, we felt that we were in a way being initiated into the Trojan family.  Like all those proud Trojans before us, we too now knew that we were supposed to kick the flagpoles on the way to the Coliseum before a home game.  Although we do not know the true origins, it does not matter, as it has developed into a true Trojan tradition – and so we proudly kick away as we walk to the Coliseum, contributing to the joyous clamor which embodies the spirit of Troy.

Ritual – University of Southern California

Nationality: Half-Chinese and Half-Estonian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Loch Arbour, NJ
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English

Arvo Lee, as one of the many thousands of USC students and fans, kicks the flagpole on the walk on the way to the Coliseum. One is supposed to kick the flagpole every single time one is walking to the Coliseum to watch a football game. Thus, it is a ritual that has been going on for many years. Kicking the flagpole is supposed to bring us luck; it is supposed to ensure a Trojan victory. Arvo does it because he says it is all in the name of good spirit. He learned it by watching other people- other USC students and fans who have gone to football games at the Coliseum before, and walk by the flagpole every time- do it. He realized that people did it for luck, so he mimicked them to keep the ritual/tradition going.

As a USC student, I also kick the flagpole on the way to the game. I agree with Arvo that the point of kicking the flagpole is for good luck. It is supposed to help us win the football game of the day. Everyone does it in the name of good fun; I do not think anyone thinks kicking the flagpole is a true factor in whether or not we win the game. People just do it unconsciously. They only do it because other students and fans do it. If they had not seen other people do it, it would have never occurred to them to kick the flagpole for luck.

This ritual says that we, as a society, learn by mimicking. We begin kicking the flagpole, and someone says it is for good luck, and soon thereafter we have a whole mass of students and fans that follow suit. At first, I did not even know why I was kicking the flagpole, but since everyone else was doing it, I did it too. This ritual also says that we, as a society, are creatures of habit. Now I do not even have to try to remember to kick the flagpole, I have done it so much now I just do it automatically. Some people might think after many times kicking the flagpole that it is pointless, but they will probably keep doing it out of habit and tradition.