In recent years, a “tradition” of yelling “Hoos!” during the singing of the National Anthem at football and basketball games has become more pronounced. Many otherwise great performances by various University singing groups at basketball games have been interrupted by the yelling, which in my observation comes primarily from the student sections. The yelling is not funny and it is not cute. It is childish, rude and very embarrassing to the University. I can only imagine what visiting teams, spectators and journalists think of the University when they hear this very disrespectful shouting happen. I noticed it was done at the ACC Tournament by some of our fans, and it could be heard on the televised broadcast. We are asked to rise and celebrate our nation and veterans, among other things, and then a bunch of clowns have to show themselves to be very immature.
I continue to be very surprised that the University and athletic administrations have not attempted to discourage this. I would assume that they are embarrassed by the shouting, but I have seen no effort to address it. Maybe President Sullivan, Mr. Littlepage, Coaches Bennett and London could do a piece to be shown on the Jumbotron at Scott Stadium and video board at JPJ that says something like “I am President Sullivan and I’m a Hoo, and I don’t yell during the National Anthem.” We have a great band and a great athletic program and teams. In my opinion, this disrespectful yelling is a real black mark on the University and detracts from all the successes we have seen in this and recent years.
David M. Murphy
USMC ’68, COMM ’72
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