http://espn.go.com/page2/s/murphy/010917.html "There are sports traditions in this country. There is visiting the grotto before Notre Dame football. There is the haunting chant of "Rock, chalk, Jay-hawk" in Lawrence, Kan. There are Lambeau Leaps, octopi at Red Wings games and Kate Smith at a Flyers tilt. But right here, right now, it says that there is nothing better than the rhythmic outpouring of love and support the right field bleachers at Yankee Stadium give their home nine. Close your eyes, picture the unforgettable blue background, glimpse the No. 4 train flying through the outfield, and listen ... "De-rek Je-ter, clap, clap, clapclapclap!, De-rek Je-ter ... Paul-ie! Clap, clap, Paul-ie! ... Ber-nie Wil-liams, clap, clap, clapclapclap, Ber-nie Wil-liams ..." It's the closest we come to approximating the passion of a European soccer game, without the tear gas. "
I think I remember reading in Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch how the Arsenal fans cheer each of the starters individually at the start of the game, just as Yankee fans do. I think in Fever Pitch it is mentioned as happening in the early '90s, whereas I don't remember Yankee fans doing it until the late '90s. Is this just an amazing coincidence of two sets of fans of two different teams playing two different sports on two different continents spontaneously coming up with the exact same "tradition", or perhaps did a Yankee fan attend a game at Highbury and bring the idea of cheering each starter back to the Bronx?
Re: Re: The right-field Bleacher Creatures at The Stadium I've never heard English crowds do the "Ber-nie Wil-liams, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap" style chanting that you SOMETIMES hear in American stadiums. When the players are introduced it's more of either shouting the player's name after he is introduced, or just cheering loudly. What I saw of the bleacher creatures on YES was that they just chant the players names to get their attention. I don't think they do the whole lineup. Besides, the "Ber-nie Will-iams" style chanting has been around forever. It's nothing new.
Re: Re: Re: The right-field Bleacher Creatures at The Stadium I'm not talking about cheering the players during pre-game introductions, and I don't think that's what the article linked above is referring to. What happens at Yankee games is that, in the top of the first inning, while the game is going on, the fans in the right field bleachers will begin chanting a player's name, and won't stop until that player acknowledges them (usually with a quick wave). The fans then begin with another player, and continue until they've gone through all nine (maybe eight, I don't know if they chant for the pitcher). I'll have to skim through Fever Pitch again, because I seem to recall a description of the fans at Highbury chanting each player's name, while the game is going on, until the player acknowledges them. I could be wrong, but I remember thinking when I first read it how the Yankee fans do the exact same thing. The similarity is not the particular rhythm used to chant a name, or the hand clapping, but the chanting of a player's name while the game is on until the player acknowledges the fans.
Re: Re: Re: The right-field Bleacher Creatures at The Stadium I'm not talking about cheering the players during pre-game introductions, and I don't think that's what the article linked above is referring to. What happens at Yankee games is that, in the top of the first inning, while the game is going on, the fans in the right field bleachers will begin chanting a player's name, and won't stop until that player acknowledges them (usually with a quick wave). The fans then begin with another player, and continue until they've gone through all nine (maybe eight, I don't know if they chant for the pitcher). I'll have to skim through Fever Pitch again, because I seem to recall a description of the fans at Highbury chanting each player's name, while the game is going on, until the player acknowledges them. I could be wrong, but I remember thinking when I first read it how the Yankee fans do the exact same thing. The similarity is not the particular rhythm used to chant a name, or the hand clapping, but the chanting of a player's name while the game is on until the player acknowledges the fans.