Apologies for the day delay, and for rambling on Larry King style, but here is the info on the meeting that Sam and I had with Curt Johnson. Once again the meeting was the result of the front office's desire to work with the Mystics. They called the meeting. We discussed ideas for making the atmosphere of the Cauldron and the Yard better without stepping on each other's toes. One thing I found very encouraging is that the Zardmeister wants to do away with his headset mike, and move into the stands, Krazy George/Mad Mike style, and lead the Yard, possibly with a bullhorn or somesuch. That way he wouldn't dea with the stadium PA, and the inherit delay therein. One of the main ideas will be communication with the 'spotters'. By spotters I mean the guys who tell us that the boom microphone is about to open up for us. The idea is that if we're about to start up a chant, we let them know which one, and they will relay the chant (or number of the chant if we get that organized) to the Zardmeister's spotter and he gets the Yard to join us. Another thing they brought up, was the idea of call and response chants. The zardmeister would get his section to yell 1) "K...", 2 "Go...", or 3 "Wiz...", and the Cauldron would respond with 1 "...C", 2 "...Wizards", or 3 "...ards!" respectively. I thought this was a good idea. I don't think it's too corny, and hope it's not a problem for us to join in on. The Zardmeister does want to work with us. He apologized for anytime we may have felt that he was stepping on our chants. he said that he had people in his section starting chants, and he could not hear us sometimes. Apparently the blue wig suggestion has been coming at him from a number of areas, the Mystics included, so this might happen. Likewise, the Zardmeister asked me for a cassette tape of someone doing our chants in the correct cadence, so that he could learn them better. I'll be working on that this weekend. We were asked as a group, to consider joining in on the goal kick chant of "aaaaaaaaaaa, KC!". Sam and I both said that we have 7 years of tradition on our own goal kick chant, and we could not gurantee the Mystics would go for it. But since the flow of information* goes both ways, I present their suggestion to you now. *I bring up what you guys have expressed to me at these meetings, and feel that I should do the same for what the front office expressess as well. I did suggest to the Zardmeister that his timing on that one was off. We traditionally stop the "aaaaaaa" part as soon as the goalie strikes the ball. He was taking notes so I hope he wrote that down. The issue about helping out with passing out the chant sheets was brought up. We expressed the prevailing sentiment of the other thread that we would be willing to help hand these out, but it was suggested that the best night for us to do this would be the May 3rd game, due to the fact that we wouldn't be doing the tailgate because of 'buck-a-braut' night. Plus with an expected bigger crowd, it will give us a chance to entice more people to the Cauldron! Other things that were brought up / discussed: The Wizards are going to buy us new mallets for the big-ass drum. We floated the idea of making the "North / sunny/ shown on TV side" of Arrowhead a general admission section, if even for only one game as a trial. Curt has said that it is something he has looked into, and will continue to consider. The main problem would be convincing season ticket holders to move. He did say that he hoped that when we did have our own facility (no date mentioned so don't read anything into this) that he would like have such a section designated from the beginning. He is a fan of college basketball and likes it when the student section is a visible part of the game. We discussed the idea of having the lyrics to the chants and songs we do put up on the Scoreboard. They said they'd look into it, but the problem was one of having sold a lot of that space, and time to sponsors. We also let Curt know about the watch party at Coach's, so who knows if he'll show up and have a drink with us. Ok, if I remember anything else from the meeting I'll post. Or if Sam sees anything I've forgotten, I hope he'll add to the thread.
This is something that has not quite bothered me, but concerned me for a while. The goal kick chant. Does anybody know what the hell we say? I don't. It used to be your ************ something. Now it is you suck something and I hate it when "that guy" does the little yell thing afterwards. The zardmeister kinda had it right in my opinion in being something like ohhhhhhh- Go K-C.
http://www.kcwizards.com/news/interiornewspage.asp?story_id=C3ZSZW5T4SI7RB6IAC2PARX84W I guess it is official now.
Because I just love to point these things out. Why is it that people on these boards (mostly Cauldronites or Mystics) come up with ideas, then the organization takes them over, and makes them their own? Don't get me wrong at all, I like that the team does this stuff. But can't they think of something on their own? Oh wait, they did..the Zardmeister....
I guess this is how the work with the Mystics and Cauldron. They value our thought and inititive. It is now up to us to put in the good word for tailgates, and the cauldron.
"That guy" and the Tarzan yell Well, speaking as "that guy", the Tarzan yell (which started out as an aimless scream and has morphed a bit over the years) has become a traditional & humorous part of the goal kick cheer. I'll continue to do it because I think that overall, people have come to expect it. If I am mistaken, then I will gladly cease and desist.
Easy enough. Well, what about "We Are KC Wiz?" I know we normally do the whole thing, but that's easily enough adapted to Call/Response. Ummm... No. Ours, while not necessarily PC, doesn't sound inane. ZM's leaves a bit to be desired. The non-PC part of it is amendable easy enough, because there's enough variation among the chanters that it becomes indistinguishable from outside the Cauldron. But there is no way we should change that. Was there any positive decision on handing out the chant sheets, whether on April 26th or May 3rd? I'd be very happy to help on the 3rd, but the 26th is a bit dicey.
After watching the game on FoxSports, I just have a small observation: Maybe the "zardmeister" should do away with the headset / bullhorn idea and stick to just leading the cheers manually. He doesn't look right with an aerobic instructor's headset on... and a bullhorn just doesn't cut it. Communication between different support groups is good, but I say let the zardmeister lead the cheers with his own voice. There's nothing better for getting the crowd pumped than seeing one man standing up and putting all of his energy into a cheer. Much better than the removed speaker/ microphone setup. But just a thought. Good game KC!