Sweet Caroline Replacement

[Dr. von Yinzer]

My point was that Renegade happened organically. No where in my post did I even remotely suggest that Renegade and Sweet Caroline (or any other crowd participation song) resemble the same thing. It's difficult to manufacture crowd energy with vocals. As you pointed out, Sweet Carolina works well for fans to yell "Let's go Pitt" in support of the team. The rest of these songs so far do not give any opportunity for fans to do the same. There also isn't a local-based sing along like they use at Alabama or West Virginia. Florida has a cool new tradition going with Tom Petty.

The student section did good work with Thunderstruck and as long as Sweet Caroline is no longer the "let's leave early song" the stigma of it will slowly fade.

No song is going to manufacture crowd energy. Winning is what manufactures crowd energy. Large crowds are with manufacture crowd energy. We don’t have either of those things going for us, so no songs are going to make a difference in that regard.

I do think you can improve the experience but to do that you have to take a clear step forward. All of the suggestions I’ve seen so far are lateral moves at best.

 

[Burgh15]

No song is going to manufacture crowd energy. Winning is what manufactures crowd energy. Large crowds are with manufacture crowd energy. We don’t have either of those things going for us, so no songs are going to make a difference in that regard.

I do think you can improve the experience but to do that you have to take a clear step forward. All of the suggestions I’ve seen so far are lateral moves at best.

I disagree. Pitt can be laying an egg on the field and you'll get enough of the crowd to participate in Sweet Carolina because that's what you do.

Btw, all of the suggestions provided aren't even lateral. They're bad.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

This is been my point about tarps or building a stadium on or near campus. If you want to manufacture energy inside the stadium — real energy – you have to right-size the stadium relative to the size of the fan base.

And when I say that, I mean the real size of the fan base, not the aspirational size of a fan base.

For Pitt, that means a stadium that seats between 45-50K fans.

We’ve seen this for how many years now? We can’t fill a 68K stadium and no matter what they do it’s going to feel empty — and those bright yellow seats are going to make it feel even emptier.

We can start playing Renegade at the games and I’m sure that will create some temporary energy. We could play any of those songs on that list and they are all just as likely to fail or succeed. Also, none of them are likely to be an improvement over Sweet Caroline.

If the real goal is to materially improve the atmosphere at Pitt home games, the answer is as clear as it is expensive.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

I disagree. Pitt can be laying an egg on the field and you'll get enough of the crowd to participate in Sweet Carolina because that's what you do.

Btw, all of the suggestions provided aren't even lateral. They're bad.

Yeah, it creates moderate energy for like 3 minutes or whatever it is. That’s what all these gimmicks do. They’re not going to really change anything.

If you want sustained energy, you have to win. You have to fill up your stadium. You could play AC/DC or every other song in the Jock Rocks catalog and it’s not going to matter at all relative to the overall energy at Pitt football games.

BTW, I absolutely agree that the energy at Pitt home football games DESPERATELY needs to improve. Pitt football games are not fun events. Honestly, they feel more like holy days of obligation to this lifelong Catholic.

I just don’t think Sweet Caroline is a major part of the problem. I don’t really like it either, but even if you change it, I don’t think it changes anything.

 

[Burgh15]

Yeah, it creates moderate energy for like 3 minutes or whatever it is. That’s what all these gimmicks do. They’re not going to really change anything.

That is literally what this thread and the original article is about. Nothing more.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

OK, let’s change the song then. What do you think we should change it to? That will definitely improve things and make Pitt games fun again.

While we’re on this type of thing, I think they should also change the banners that hang on the rotundas. The ones they have now just remind me of the ones they have at Fenway Park and that knowledge ruins things for me — especially since the Red Sox hung those banners in 1998, three full years before Heinz Field was even opened! They really need to change the shape and color of those banners to improve the energy of that stadium.

Those changes will make a huge difference to the atmosphere of Pitt’s home football games.

 

[Burgh15]

I don't want to change it and I think all of the suggestions so far have been bad. You're making this out to be way more than what it is. A blogger simply wanted to get a new song for between the third and fourth quarters.

 

[Jakey_John]

The Chicken Dance. Imagine having A 350 lb OL and a bunch of drunk Yinzers mimicking a chicken between the 3rd and 4th quarter. Opposing teams wouldn’t know wtf to do.

 

[sarahstreet]

Yeah, it creates moderate energy for like 3 minutes or whatever it is. That’s what all these gimmicks do. They’re not going to really change anything.

If you want sustained energy, you have to win. You have to fill up your stadium. You could play AC/DC or every other song in the Jock Rocks catalog and it’s not going to matter at all relative to the overall energy at Pitt football games.

BTW, I absolutely agree that the energy at Pitt home football games DESPERATELY needs to improve. Pitt football games are not fun events. Honestly, they feel more like holy days of obligation to this lifelong Catholic.

I just don’t think Sweet Caroline is a major part of the problem. I don’t really like it either, but even if you change it, I don’t think it changes anything.

It’s just the signal to start walking out to the parking lot.

 

[Cmart2004]

OK, let’s change the song then. What do you think we should change it to? That will definitely improve things and make Pitt games fun again.

While we’re on this type of thing, I think they should also change the banners that hang on the rotundas. The ones they have now just remind me of the ones they have at Fenway Park and that knowledge ruins things for me — especially since the Red Sox hung those banners in 1998, three full years before Heinz Field was even opened! They really need to change the shape and color of those banners to improve the energy of that stadium.

Those changes will make a huge difference to the atmosphere of Pitt’s home football games.

I have no idea about a better option for a song

OK, let’s change the song then. What do you think we should change it to? That will definitely improve things and make Pitt games fun again.

While we’re on this type of thing, I think they should also change the banners that hang on the rotundas. The ones they have now just remind me of the ones they have at Fenway Park and that knowledge ruins things for me — especially since the Red Sox hung those banners in 1998, three full years before Heinz Field was even opened! They really need to change the shape and color of those banners to improve the energy of that stadium.

Those changes will make a huge difference to the atmosphere of Pitt’s home football games.

If there has to be a song, I dunno. Nothing against Sweet Caroline, but compared to other college football traditions it’s incredibly lame. But if people like it and it gets people into the game day experience then let them keep it, I don’t care.