Cheer sheets have place in Cameron

Much ado has been made recently, both inside Duke and around the Internet, of the Cameron Crazies. Apparently our restraint from throwing objects on to the court means that we’ve lost a step, and our emphasis on classiness at games takes away from our prowess as the best fans in college basketball.

We don’t know about you, but that sounds to us like people have the wrong idea of what makes a great student fan section. Specifically targeted for much of this negativity has been the practice of passing out cheer sheets before games. We’d like to address some of these criticisms. First of all, cheer sheets are not, and have never been, a script for the Crazies. Their purpose is to provide potentially useful information in creating cheers; the more information you have on the other team, the more likely you are to be able to get inside their heads. To this end, cheer sheets provide information on family background, criminal records, basketball career exploits, behavioral tendencies, and relationships, which the Crazies can use as desired. Sometimes some ripe information (Jackie Manuel’s marriage proposal story, for instance) doesn’t get used.

On one occasion, some faulty information made it on to a cheer sheet. That event has certainly been the catalyst for the firestorm over cheer sheets recently, but it has been blown way out of proportion. First, the prank didn’t work: we never chanted anything except “Piggy,” and let’s be honest: calling Maryland’s star basketball player “piggy” is pretty funny. Second, although the scheme was carried out by a Maryland student, little attention has been given to the fact that he was helped by one of our fellow Duke students. (“Et tu, Brute?”)

The complaints following that one occasion have overshadowed some of the real classics that came courtesy of cheer sheets this year. No one seems to remember the NCCU coach’s “championship poem” that was distributed, which had the NCCU players alternately blushing with embarrassment and rolling with laughter. No one seems to remember the Michigan State game, where the (frighteningly accurate) information on Paul Davis’ ex-girlfriend got under his skin and made a huge difference in that key win. For those who have forgotten, Davis—MSU’s go-to player—went a solid 1-for-5 from the charity stripe in the waning minutes of a very tight game while the Crazies chanted “Caroline!”, “Call Her Back”, and “She Still Loves You” while waving copies of Caroline’s picture in the stands. Incidentally, our source at MSU told us that Davis flipped out about the whole thing when he got home.

The most telling test of student opinion on cheer sheets was the response when they were not prepared for Georgia Tech. Countless people asked, “Where are the cheer sheets?” and requested that they return for the UNC game. So they did, and so will there be a great cheer sheet for the Wake game, though students should be advised not to give them to press people. Cheer sheets are for Duke and Duke only.

Our advice to the Crazies: Ignore the media, ignore other fans (they are all just pretenders wanting to tear us down), and just have fun at the games. We aren’t the Crazies for national attention or to be worshipped by other fans. We are the Crazies to carry our team when they need it most. The Crazies do that better than any fans in the country; we believe the cheer sheets help. And we dare anyone who was at the UNC game last Wednesday to tell us the Crazies have lost something.

Steve Rawson