The Exponent wrote an article today claiming Hail Fire to be one of the greatest traditions at Purdue, which leads us to this... why?
Sure it's fun, and sure it sets a tone for what a lot of Boilermakers are about but one of the greatest traditions at Purdue? Give me a break!
Purdue is so rich in history and tradition this is like saying Pacquiao got his ass kicked against Timothy Bradley -- it's just not true.
With this article being written, there has been some speculation that the chant will be taken away, which could very well happen.
It's already been banned at Volleyball games and whether we will hear it again is still in question.
What really gets me about all of this talk isn't the chant, because I have participated in it my share of times, but the clout that it is being given. It's being put next to things like fountain runs, the Oaken Bucket and Breakfast Club. It just doesn't belong in that category.
With the reactionary athletic department at Purdue, don't be surprised if the cheer is gone, at least at Mackey. It's not something to be upset about, I don't think, because it's just another chant; there will be more. It's still among the loudest arenas in the country in my opinion and nothing can take that away.
Maybe after all we should quit worrying about those people (this word is used liberally) down south and cheer on our team.
20 comments:
The whole reason the IU sucks was added in the first place was a group of students didn't like the song and the dance and so they added IU sucks because they knew it would get banned. So it's kind of ironic that now that it may be banned, people are upset.
Is it fairly new? I don't remember this cheer when I was in college in the 90s? But I have noticed it in recent years when attending basketball and football games. Or maybe I was to drunk in college to notice?
I remember Hail Fire before the IU Sucks addition; indeed those who dislike it tried to get rid of it by adding the IU Sucks part which they thought would result in its immediate banishment. Why those people who hate it so much can't just ignore it is beyond me.
Watching a rerun of the 2008 Michigan game a couple weeks ago, it was amazing hearing a large fraction of the student section playing the game of Bitch....the band plays the first down tag, the train horn blows to drown out Bitch, and then a large fraction of the student section screams Bitch! after that. They just HAD to get that in. Now IU Sucks at the end of Hail Fire is the next thing. And after that there will be something else. The powers that be will never stop it, unless the student body becomes much more mature or something.
It's a fun thing to see and do. But I wouldn't yet call it a tradition. Maybe that's just me. The ironic/rebellious nature of its orgin gives it great appeal. It wasn't born out of some Purdue athletics Promotional committee and shoved down our necks.
I feel it's my duty to post this here as one of the guys who added the IU Sucks part to the song. We don't hate the song in fact we all like the song. It's the goofy looking actions we didn't like. Funny that adding IU sucks made it the most popular song the band played and made everyone do the actions. Funny how that works.
http://www.jumboheroes.com/?p=418
First of all it's the Exponent. I don't think we should take that article too seriously. The person that wrote it probably hasn’t been at Purdue that long. While the” IU Sucks” is amusing and really only because IU fans hate it so much, if the cheer went away I wouldn’t be all that upset about it. I agree the dance is pretty lame and if I was a fan from another school would totally make fun of it. I never liked it that much but the band seemed to enjoy it. There are many things I don’t like or would change as far as Purdue game day is concerned.
Since fans always hate the Athletic Department’s ideas and claim they have better ones I say let’s hear from everyone on what to get rid of and what to add, might make a good topic if it hasn’t been one already. Purdue has always been very conservative and until this culture changes Purdue always will be.
What I have heard (probably reliable, but several months old now so maybe things have changed) is that Hail Fire got chopped anyway. Someone somewhere apparently has decided it has to go, thanks to IU Sucks. So those who disliked it or the dance got their way, and those that liked/enjoyed it lose out. It's always possible that it could return somehow, different from how it was before, but something that the band and many fans looked forward to in the 4th quarter may very well be gone. The same old Purdue crap.
It's not a tradition...a tradition is something you "have" to do as a student. A right of passage per se. Walk under the bell tower, do a fountain run, say "Hello" on the Hello Walk, drink from the Lion, go to breakfast club, etc. If you don't get to be part of Hail Fire, it's not that big of a deal. I like the cheer and think it's fun, but I'm not going to be devastated if they get rid of it. And you guys are right, we do need to stop focusing so much on IU and worry more about The Good Guys.
I think traditions come about mostly by chance. A single person or a group may start something and it ends up catching on. Breakfast club and fountain runs are a perfect example. Things that are created in a public relations office because “we don’t have enough traditions” usually fall by the way side sooner or later. Many of these manufactured traditions are currently in place and most will die at some point. Most of these Purdue time honored traditions we think of were created by the minds of students and end up being the best ones.
In an effort to please the Alumni for the economic survival of Purdue’s athletic department, the true keepers of spirit lose out…the students.
I'm fine with it being gone... I'd rather not give people a reason to think about the Loosiers during our games... In a similar vein, I used the really love the first down chant... But my junior year, people started adding "b*tch" at the end... Not only does it make us seem trashy on TV, but cramming in the extra word in really killed the cadence of the thing. I mean, I hate Michigan's "you suck" chant (entitled trash) but I can't say anything with the first down chant as is.
Sorry guys, final thought: forcing a tradition is like forcing your own nickname... It usually doesn't work and everyone thinks you're a turd-nugget for doing it... Also... It's not like this would be the first thing to disappear... Just ask ole timers about the Purdue P in the endzone.
I haven't been on campus in a while so please correct me if I am wrong. A true tradition for my time on campus was the Nude Olympics. It was my successful second attempt at Purdue when the Administration went hard to prosecute the participants, and it stopped. That is much more of a travesty than losing this chant.
Can't argue with The Truth. IU does suck.
Move on.
Beenken -- We're going to call you T-bone.
No, J Money....we're calling him Coco.
I wish we could waste our time counting our championship banners instead of on things like this... Oh well.
I'm with Beenkeen about "forced traditions." I really hate the 4th qtr "Shout". Things like that should just happen out of habit. Manufactured traditions just feel corny and lame.
Maybe if I add "IU sucks" after "You make me wanna shout..." I can get that to go away.
"Maybe if I add "IU sucks" after "You make me wanna shout..." I can get that to go away."
That gets to the heart of this. What I find most irksome about the addition of IU Sucks to Hail Fire and the resulting probable elimination of Hail Fire is that the IU Sucks part was added as a sabotage. If people don't like it, do they address it to the band? Write a letter to the editor? Ignore it and let those who do like it enjoy it, and see if it might go away on its own if most people don't get into it? No, sabotage it instead. It seems like an awfully immature way to go about dealing with something you don't like.
I too have never cared for Shout that much; I go along with it because many people do seem to like it. Maybe I should start an effort to plant IU Sucks in it, with CaryNW87's help, and the two of us can eventually bring it down no matter how many people might like it.
Yes, Bill, heckler's vetoes do suck, especially for those of us in the band who the song, you know, originally belonged to. But it takes backbone to stand up to heckler's vetoes, and we all know how that goes with Burke & Co.
Even more irksome is that the impetus behind this latest attempt to ban it comes from a (presumably moneyed) complaint about us performing it at the Pizza Bowl...when we do it every single game. Which in turn makes it obvious that the complainer(s) in question can't even be bothered to go to the games but still want to screw with something a lot of people like.
The idiots who tried to eliminate it by adding the IU Sucks got their way at last. Bastards. And Purdue has no spine for just caving to it.
http://www.purdueexponent.org/sports/article_b4ad6b82-2aa1-11e2-b253-0019bb30f31a.html
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