Putting on airs
Usually I am against imposed uniformity because it can stunt ideas and growth. For example, Jeffersonian ideals are outdated and have yet to be remodeled to the current era, but many still feel obliged to follow them. For instance, values such as honor and social norms — like segregation — have changed over time. Honor has become more ambiguous and segregation is no longer accepted. However, there is a time and place where everyone from students and staff to alumni and local residents should come together as one: Saturdays at Scott Stadium.
Sporting events are supposed to be a time when individuality goes out the window in favor of a collective state of mind. For many, sports are a source of great release because it gives them an opportunity to just live in the moment and forget about any duties and responsibilities. There is no thinking involved — just watching, lots of cheering, and the occasional boo. Unfortunately, at the University, football games are a weekly outdoor cocktail party.
I remember hearing a shock jock first-year criticizing the University for being posh when it came to football. He was crude and loud, but he wasn’t incorrect. Flash forward to the current football season; nothing has changed. The atmosphere in Scott Stadium during most games is embarrassing. The culprit: Guys in ties and girls in pearls.
Since Al Groh stepped in as head coach, he tried to override decades of tradition by implementing the Sea of Orange campaign. Instead of coats and ties for men and sundresses for women, Groh figured that having everyone wear the school colors would produce more unity. Common sense dictates that Groh’s conclusion is more than reasonable. Social psychologists would most likely agree as they believe that the social circumstance of being “one of many” would lead to a loss of individuality and would therefore increase crowd mentality.
On the other hand, journalists and armchair coaches sometimes lack common sense and a simple understanding of psychology. A 2005 lead editorial in The Cavalier Daily stated that “the argument that the roiling Sea of Orange makes Scott Stadium more imposing is a bit silly.” Although opponents are accustomed to going into a sea of (insert school color) every road game, the Sea of Orange campaign is not meant to be an intimidation tactic. Its purpose is to give unrelenting support to the players, coaches, and staff on the field that wear navy blue and orange.
One argument for dressing up is that since dressing up has been a long-running tradition, it is more relevant than the more recent orange t-shirt trend. The rebuttal is simply that traditions change. Christmas has expanded to include two new religions — corporatism and consumerism. General Motors has turned away from massive gas guzzlers to eco-friendly cars. Switching from ties and sundresses to t-shirts is barely a change in tradition compared to what has happened with Christmas and GM.
Another argument for not adopting orange shirts is that it would result in a loss of school identity. The first counterargument is that other schools have similar traditions where students dress up, so we are not unique in that sense. These schools include Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt, all of which have more of a right to deviate from the norm than does Virginia. These programs belong to football schools, towns, and states. They live and breathe football and have the winning tradition that we do not. There, dressing up does not distract their hardcore student-fans from cheering, whereas dressing up here means small talk among casual students. Secondly, I would be hard-pressed to find another school that purposefully tries to separate themselves from anyone else as much as we do. What other undergraduate schools use “Grounds” and “first-years” colloquially? What other school worships their founder and central architecture as much as we do? What other school has student self-governance and the infallible honor system? Look around because there are so many other things that only we have.
Disregarding my opinion on the attire at games, one thing I think everyone can agree on is that the football team is not composed of just the coaches, players, and team staff. There is a reason for home-field advantage and that is the fans. Wearing t-shirts does not make the game any less sociable, it just redirects attention from the crowd and toward the field. If everyone contributed to the game-day atmosphere, maybe the team will win more, and games will be even more sociable. I would guess about two-thirds of the stadium is already wearing orange. The people that need to step up stand in the student section and on the hill.
Hung Vu’s column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at h.vu@cavalierdaily.com.
Hoo Cares?
come on. uva football will always suck not matter how anyone dresses
This is an awfully stupid column. We are bad at football because we are bad at football. I have cheered loudly for a winning Cavalier football team in a jacket and tie, just as I’ve witnessed lackluster fans in ratty t-shirts on the sidelines of XYZ State U. The fans’ disengagement from the team and the season started with a disappointing loss to Miami last year ending what looked like might be a turn around winning streak for the Cavaliers, and was confirmed without doubt when we lost to the AA squad from The College of William and Mary. Al Groh’s Sea of Orange campaign and the corresponding push back from students and alumni, unless it the source of Groh’s bad coaching, is independent of our football team’s woes.
I hope a new coach will recognize that many students at this school enjoy the jackets and ties tradition and will encourage students to come to games dressed as they choose, but ready to support the Hoos.
The “Sea of Orange” is too Sweet to create home field advantage.
I strongly agree with the previous comment, this is a really poor column. The author displays a complete lack of understanding of truly competitive college sports (and the fact that UVa’s official colors are orange AND navy blue). It is not what the fans do or not wear, but the sense of common community that really create fan energy.
You lambast “guys in ties and girls in pearls.” I have attended games at Florida with my father (a “Triple-Gator”), wearing a tie to sit with the med school at its long-held 50 yard-line seats. I have attended a UT game with my cousin (she and her friends looked really good in sundresses!). My childhood friend and his father are Alabama alums and season-ticket holders who wear shirts and ties to the game. Guess what! These schools are 1 – 2 – 3 in the polls. Some fans dress up. Others wear t-shirts. All are incredibly strong and loud groups of fans.
Note: I have always wondered about a “sea of orange” when the uniforms are BLUE. It makes one wonder.
Yes, there is fan disengagement. The athletic department and coach produce some overpriced, generic game-day experience and an underachieving team and expect students, alums and fans to throw in their full support. Maybe the UVa crowd is so neutered and nice that it can’t make games inhospitable for the opposing teams. You may remember that a particular band is banned from Scott Stadium (and elsewhere) specifically for the reason that it annoyed and got under the skins of opposing teams and schools!
You can also try to explain the lack of results of the marching band (with predominantly blue and white uniforms). That was supposed to bring in more fans, more money and more wins. It has achieved none of those promises. Do you find yourself saying, “Well the football team is losing, but at least I can go and see the band?” Apparently not many people are. Good thing the College is strapped with this wasted expense and not the Athletic Department!
What is wrong about being unique, a bit different (a bit better?) and being proud of it? This can be the return of a common fan identity that will strongly support the football team. The athletic department would be best served by providing UVa fans a product it wants, not by trying to sell them a poor knock-off of something sold elsewhere.
Michael Ellwood
CLAS ‘92
Great article, Hung. (I’m not known for saying that on this website)
It’s about time somebody else noticed how embarrassing it is to be surrounded at a game by stumbling drunk, arrogant kids in pearls and ties texting each other about how much a loser so and so is, arriving in the second quarter, and leaving at half time.
It’s nice to see a UVA student notice what the rest of us have for years now. I was at a corner bar a few weeks ago sitting next to a married couple from Florida here on vacation. The woman (in her 40’s I’m guessing) asked me how on earth UVA students at their age afforded all their accoutrements, was astounded at how drunk they were at 2 pm, and asked me why anyone would ever wear such things to a football game. All I could do was apologize, and suggest they vacate the corner by nightfall if they thought it was bad at 2 pm.
There are some great students at UVA, no doubt. Volunteering, respecting other people and their own team on gameday, and all that. But, I’m afraid, they just aren’t as noticeable as the others you speak of. The vast majority of people PAYING to go to UVA football games are people from the surrounding counties with their families. “Rednecks” you’d probably call them, but I use that as a term of endearment myself. They come and tailgate, are there for Cavman’s entrance, cheer or bitch depending on the play, and stay till the bitter end of need be. We are fans, not spoiled, arrogant brats.
Perhaps you’ve noticed by now that there is a sizable portion of the UVA student body (I’m not going to call it a majority, but it might be) who use game days as yet another excuse to flaunt their unearned, excessive wealth and spit on everyone around them who isn’t carting around all that money in clothes, bar tabs, cameras, iPhones, iPods and so on. This is, essentially, what the whole ties and pearls thing is all about. As if they needed another reason..
Go Hoos!
Sean Cannan
PS, I got to give a shout out to the football Cavman who got bucked from his horse a few weeks ago. That old man got right up on his feet when others might have called an ambulance, took the reigns back, and completed his duties for the day. That guy gets my vote for Cavalier sportsman of the year!
Dear Sean CannAn,
As an avid reader of the Cavalier Daily, I have noticed that you, Sean Cannan, have abruptly ruined my name or that which sounds like yours. I am very pleased that ours are spelled differently, if this was not the case I would be horrified to find myself related to some douchebag who believes his calling in life is to critique each and every column/story/piece of the Cavalier Daily written in the spare time and free will of busy Virginia college students.
You comment daily and in almost every section. Seriously, what do you do with your life? You aren’t the editor or ombudsman or anything in between so when are you going to realize your opinion is insignificant and purely to stir some sort of reaction. You told some girl yesterday to bring it. Besides bordering mildly harassing behavior, the level of immaturity you stepped (rather slipped) to causes everything else in your pointless argument to be – if it already wasn’t before – not worth reading. If you want to write for the Cavalier Daily I heard they have an option called letters to the editor. I heard they also have standards and I doubt you’d meet them.
So Mr. Sean Cannan I send my formal request to you to stop making me and most importantly yourself the most hated person on this campus since Eric Flow. You’re probably going to “Bring It” to me in the next ten seconds in some convoluted comment which no one will want to read and I can tell you I won’t either. I also won’t respond so I hope this will foil some attempt by you to goad a reaction out of me. Just stop commenting. You’re embarrassing my name.
Sean CannOn
Great article. The main reason the student body should not wear shirt and ties is that is makes UVa look like a place for wimps, wussies, and cornballs (maybe it is?). Listen to colin cowherd rip UVa a new one and you will understand:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RidU6ILUQNE
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zKxcXfKYgY&feature=related
The townies are better fans than the students and that’s pathetic.
The final argument against shirts and ties is that it hurts recruiting. In general, athletic black people don’t want a bunch WASPs and people at the extreme of white culture cheering them on. Honestly, who in their right mind would want to play for a bunch of stuck up rich kids wearing suits? In fact, recruits would rather have rednecks cheering for them (and so they choose Tech). The exception, of course, is Tiki Barber types. Good luck finding 70 Tiki Barbers to fill the roster. Please realize that the student section at scott stadium is a huge turnoff to recruits (as is the UVa culture in general).
Also, to Mr. Michael Ellwood: you make the following comment “It is not what the fans do or not wear, but the sense of common community that really create fan energy.” All I can say is NO. Fan energy is created by people who legitimately like football, enjoy watching it, and enjoy cheering. It is not created by some girl in a sundress, who doesn’t pay attention to to the game, but goes to the game in a sundress to be part of the “community”, to flirt, and to participate in traditions. Community does not create fan energy. Legitimate interest creates fan energy. This whole idea about “common community” is just reflective of the entire UVa propaganda machine.
Also, you mention Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama. These are all “southern” schools with a relatively recent history of racism (like UVa). Find me a northern school (that doesn’t have a history of racism) that does this sundress/tie crap. That will make your argument more valid.
“This is, essentially, what the whole ties and pearls thing is all about.”
Riiiiiight.
Dear Mr. Vu,
Please don’t let me hit you in the ass on your way out to a different school.
Mr. Vu,
If you have such a huge problem with it, transfer to Ohio State. I’m sure that you’ll find plenty of new friends there who will be more than happy to trade you a few Buckeyes shirts for the large stash of Orange Crush t-shirts that you undoubtedly possess.
-The Poly that can breakdance in seersucker and linen
Have you been to a Vanderbilt game? They certainly do not live and breathe football and I can assure you that they do not “have a winning tradition that we do not”.
Mr. Vu,
Your argument is weak at best, and irrelevant at worst. Students, alumni, faculty, and community members have been debating the de-facto gameday dress code for several years, and this column adds to the laundry list of uninspired, unimpressive arguments on behalf of the Sea of Orange.
I invite you to wander Scott Stadium’s parking lot before a game and take a look at the tailgates. You will see that many, if not the majority, of fans are also the “embarrassing culprits” of traditional dress, decked out in sundresses, linen, and seersucker in early September, and later progressing into wool sweaters and blazers in October and November. I frequently sit with my parents (who are season ticket holders) in the stands, and I have yet to see an orange tee in their section or the neighboring ones. I certainly have never seen any orange tees in the boxes, either. I have seen U.Va. faculty and staff with their friends and families dressed up as well. Your argument that the student section and the Hill are the ones holding onto the tradition is simply false.
Tradition is one of the things that makes U. Va. stand above the rest. The people whose contributions to the school (be they administrative, professional, academic, or financial) have helped make U.Va. a superior institution of higher education realize this. That is why they, too, proudly don ties and pearls for gameday.
U.Va. has a lot of nice traditions that matter. This is not one of them. I don’t think it makes a huge difference what sort of attire one wears to a game, as long as it’s orange (or blue if we’re playing VT or Clemson).
The main thing is to be loud at the right times. Unfortunately, most of the tie-wearing crowd doesn’t seem to know much about football, and doesn’t yell at the right times (it’s when the opposing QB is behind center guys, especially on 3rd down). It’s always been that way. But if you can learn to do that, I could not care less how fratty and toolish you want to look in your best Saturday ties.
Ben, CLAS 1999
@Michael Ellwood, you said “You may remember that a particular band is banned from Scott Stadium (and elsewhere) specifically for the reason that it annoyed and got under the skins of opposing teams and schools!”
Uh, nice revisionist history from a former Pep Bander. The Pep Band was dismissed by the University because they annoyed and embarrassed alumni of THIS school, not other ones. The big donors (nearly all of which go back a lot further than 1974, when the horrible “scramble band” idea was born) hated the Pep Band. That’s why the money was ponied up near-instantaneously as soon as there was cause to dismiss it.
Don’t associate the Cavalier Marching Band with “Sea of Orange” or Al Groh. The CMB is a huge success and was recently capped at nearly 300 pieces due to its huge popularity. Unlike the old Pep Band days, we now have a band that actually sounds good and stays in tune. As an alum, I couldn’t be more thankful! The Pep Band made my ears bleed… they were a-w-f-u-l.
Ben, CLAS 1999
Ben wants to cite “revisionist history” and that big donors are supporting the CMB. I guess he believes every bit of propoganda that is spoon fed to him.
The CMB is supported through academic funds through the College. The funds covered simply the start-up costs for the marching. The ongoing operating costs are funded through the College. The University changed its academic requirements to accommodate its ability to subsidize the Athletic Department marketing efforts.
I have nothing against the CMB and am looking forward to its progress in developing into the upper echelon of ACC bands. I simply believe in honest business and accounting practices. The CMB exists solely for Athletic Department marketing. It has no academic purpose. Therefore, the Athletic Department should foot the bill!
Ben, I am proud of being a former “Pep-Bander.” But, you seem to imply that means I know little of music. I play piano, trumpet and pipe organ. I played with every UVa instrumental and choral group while at UVa (including the Orchestra, have since played with the Hartt Wind Symphony and Hartt Symphony Orchestra, the Hartford Chorale, the new Dominion Chorale, McLean Symphony, the Fairfax Orchestra, a number of church choruses, and other groups.
Now, to the original article in this thread. Do you see all the pearls and polos at Clemson yesterday as they handily defeated UVa? That did not stop the Clemson crowd from supporting their team with a deafening roar. My cousin Facebooked her team’s success last night.
So, Ben, I am waiting until you learn a little about music, football and business.
Michael Ellwood, CLAS 1992
@Michael Ellwood, you may know about music. Congrats! But that doesn’t change the fact that the Pep Band sounded awful. I don’t have to play music to know that my ears were in pain to hear the out-of-tune Pep Band in its final years. Maybe you graduated before they sucked quite so bad?
As for learning about football, what are you talking about exactly? I said it doesn’t matter what one wears as long as they are loud at the right times, and I pointed out exactly when that is. How was that wrong exactly? Mmmmmhmmmm.
As for learning about business, I graduated with an Economics degree and now have an MBA. I’ve worked on Wall Street for years and advised numerous Fortune 500 companies on how to optimize their finances. What are your business credentials Michael?
As for Cavalier Marching Band funding by the College, it’s part of the Music program is it not? While the CMB does provide an excellent gameday atmosphere for football (for some reason you call this “marketing”?) it is fundamentally a Music endeavor.
Oh and $20+ million was donated to the College to support the Music department at the same time as the $1.5 million donation for the CMB, have you forgotten that?
Ben
CLAS 1999
PS Michael, who pays for the Cavalier Marching Band to travel to football games? I believe it’s the Athletics Department. And what is this “changing its academic requirements” bit? Are you simply implying that athletes are able to be admitted to the University with lower SAT scores and grades? I think everyone knew that already.
Ben
CLAS 1999