A Bone To Pick with the Lions

[bclions4life]

I am a season ticket holder and absolutely cannot stand the gameday presentation at BC Place. The music is awful; it's filled with 90s/80s hits, Elvis, Ace of Base, and Crazy Frog. Who wants to see a Cam Wake sack and hear "All Shook Up" by Elvis right after? It's oldies night every night. I am calling for the DJ's head. He needs to turn himself in. It's embarrassing. If the Lions want to make games "cool" and attractive to a younger crowd, there needs to be more hip-hop. The only thing remotely close to hip-hop last game was one Usher song, and that's not even really close at all.

Also, can the fans stop doing the wave on offence? The Lions need to utilize the video screens more for "shhh, offence at work" or at least put a video before the game or quarter that explains that fans are supposed to be loud on D, quiet on O.

And "Come on and Roar You Lions Roar" after touchdowns... it'd be great after the convert, but to get the crowd pumped up, shouldn't it be some pump-up music? Maybe keep the classic for after the convert.

Argh.

[CatsEyes]

Also, can the fans stop doing the wave on offence? The Lions need to utilize the video screens more for "shhh, offence at work" or at least put a video before the game or quarter that explains that fans are supposed to be loud on D, quiet on O.

I think I love you. Seriously-ask anyone I know (if you knew anyone I know) how much that gets under my skin. I believe that's a combination of opposing fans starting the wave just to stir things up, and not enough knowledge on the part of the fanbase. We seem to rehash this every year, and I've pretty much given up trying to fight it. I'm convinced you need some badass on the bigscreen telling people to STFU when we have the ball, because they sure don't hear me when I do it! :lol:

And "Come on and Roar You Lions Roar" after touchdowns... it'd be great after the convert, but to get the crowd pumped up, shouldn't it be some pump-up music? Maybe keep the classic for after the convert. Argh.

That won't change, and I don't believe it should. That's what they play. I DO agree that they have to seriously update the playlist. Keep SOME classics, but get some more current upbeat music for sure. Good points!

[bclions4life]

I totally agree. Why not get the players involved? Like, Otis Floyd saying LOUD ON D and Geroy Simon saying QUIET ON O...

[TheLionKing]

Also, can the fans stop doing the wave on offence? The Lions need to utilize the video screens more for "shhh, offence at work" or at least put a video before the game or quarter that explains that fans are supposed to be loud on D, quiet on O.

And "Come on and Roar You Lions Roar" after touchdowns... it'd be great after the convert, but to get the crowd pumped up, shouldn't it be some pump-up music? Maybe keep the classic for after the convert.

There were 3 guys in my section (14) trying to start the wave all night. They finally got it going in the 4th quarter.

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

I think that is a great idea!!!!!!

[RoarLionsRoar]

Yes, I agree that we need to make sure the fans are quiet on offence, but I think most of you posters are missing the point here.

The music at BC Lions games goes beyond the word 'atrocious' and 'embarassing'. It is downright pathetic. I am also a season ticket holder and I am only 24 years old, and when I take my friends to games with me they either laugh or look at me and say 'what is with the music? we are at a sporting event, not stuck in an elevator'. Lions games are supposed to be the 'in' thing and 'cool' thing to do, but when we play 'loveshack' after a big defensive or offensive play, I can't help but wonder what the DJ is smoking or what kind of meds he's taking. How did this person get this job, playing the worst possible music at the worst possible time during a game? I swear a deaf person could do a better job at choosing the music. Where did all the cool, 2000 and newer music go? Why can't we play sports-type music instead of ace of base, elvis, dionne warwick, elton john, etc? It's like we're trying to be Motown hip but are failing miserably.

If this music continues to make my ears bleed, I might have to bring a radio to the game even though I really would hate doing that. Lions, it's the year 2008, not 1988.

[No Ordinary Joe]

I absolutely agree about generating more awareness about the wave on offence. I got into a yelling match with a couple of clowns at the Winnipeg game when I told them to shut up and they figured I should let them have their fun. It's beyond me how the team can wave their arms asking for quiet and people continue to do it. I've often considered calling the "Be A Fan, Not A Fool" line on people that insist on trying to start the wave when we've got the ball but I doubt that BC Place staff would actually give a you-know-what about it anyway.

I think videos with players could be a huge hit that may have a positive effect.

I also think the team could utilize The Felions in helping to keep the crowd quiet when we have the ball. If people won't pay attention to the team telling them to quiet down, perhaps a group of beautiful women will get their attention. It couldn't hurt right?

Hell, get Leo out there telling people to shut up. I was pretty annoyed when I heard a bunch of synchronized clapping coming from one of the end-zones and looked over and saw that stupid BC Ferries bird/eagle mascot encouraging it! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

But, I won't agree about Roar You Lions Roar. I'm so happy it's back. I don't need a song to pump me up after a TD. Call me old-fashioned, but the simple fact we just got 6 points is all the encouragement that I need to get off my seat and celebrate.

[CatsEyes]

I totally agree. Why not get the players involved? Like, Otis Floyd saying LOUD ON D and Geroy Simon saying QUIET ON O...

Or just have big Ty Williams on the screen staring menacingly, and nothing happening until people shut up. Meh, just a thought!

[sj-roc]

I think videos with players could be a huge hit that may have a positive effect.

That's already been done in the recent past; I believe they played on the video screen a clip of Angus Reid putting a finger to his lips to shush the crowd. I think they also had another one, with one of the players' kids saying, "Shhh, Daddy is at work!"

As for the music, the worst selections in recent memory are Cher (!), from last year — like, WTF? — and Suicide Is Painless (M*A*S*H theme). That one always sucks the life right out of the building; it's like a moment of silence for someone who just died.

[Soundy]

Awesome points, jcalhoun!

Man, when that football cannon failed for the second game in a row week before last, I thought the crowd was gonna swarm the field. And like, maybe start the whole thing a little sooner, so just in case you actually have to have a do-over, you have time for it right away. There doesn't need to be a big discussion to figure out that if your machine screws up, you give the guy another shot - just say, "Oops, that was our bad! Let's try that again!" It would be like doing that Subway shell-game thing and not actually having the sub under ANY of the helmets (now see, with that, it looks like EVERYONE "gets it right" - there are no losers... that's how you do it, especially when you're talking about a whole eight bucks worth of bread and meat).

Now me personally, for the music, I'd love to hear something a little heavier now and then... AC/DC is dandy, but EVERYBODY does it. Check out a Vancouver Giants game sometime - some games are almost nothing but hard-rock/metal. Little "Kickstart My Heart" into the opening faceoff is good for energy anytime!

As far as the Law & Order/Dragnet... hey, it could be worse: I've been to one Seahawks game in my life, at the old Kingdome, and damn if they didn't play Judas Priest, "Breaking The Law", whenver the opposition (Vikings, in this case) got a penalty... EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Yeah, it was clever the first DOZEN or so times...

Speaking of clever, yeah, I'm sure playing the Beach Boys for the wave was clever the first thousand or so times, too...

Oh, and one other beef about the game-day presentation (for now): the Felions routines out in the field, once in each half... NEED TO BE LONGER. 30 seconds, there's barely enough time for them to get in position. Why even bother?

Here's a thought that would make a lot of this easier: rework the TV deal (obviously the whole league would have to be in on this) for longer commercial breaks, and fewer of them. Instead of 6 (or whatever it is, just pulling a number out of the air) two-minute breaks in an hour, take four three-minute breaks. Works out to the same total ad time, but it gives half again the amount of time in each one for the on-field presentations. That's time for the Felions to put in a decent dance routine... or enough time to reload the football cannon for another go when you screwed some poor sap out of his legitimate shot at $5Gs by dropping the ball 15 yards short on him.

Oh yeah, the Superman theme for Geroy would be killer (as long as it's not overdone, at least). At Giants games, at least once a game, they pull out the Justin Timberlake "Sexyback", when Tyson Sexsmith (whose nickname, naturally, is "Sexy") makes a particularly stellar save. It works nicely, and it's not done to death.

I dunno, maybe they need to upgrade their systems - I wonder sometimes if the DJ (to use the term loosely) is sitting in there with a dual-bay cassette deck just swapping tapes - "Oh hey, they're doing the wave... now where's that Beach Boys 8-track? I know it's around here somewhere... oh, here it is, now that they've already gone around the stadium four times". There are some amazing software systems available these days for synchronizing audio and video playback, that let you call up random clips in an instant, and trigger them off hotkeys - press G for Geroy to run the Superman theme, press R for "Roar, You Lions, Roar", etc.

Anyway, that's my thoughts for 2am... *yawn*

[joesports]

I agree with pretty much everything said. I think we really have many problems that are difficult to resolve.

The music is terrible period. I've been a season ticket holder here and in Calgary and the difference in music is crazy. I think they need to have a good mix, some older tunes mixed with more newer more current tunes. I was surprised to hear Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Kanye last game as they are somewhat current. It would be nice to hear more music from this year not just this decade.

We also have a lot of fans that need to be "educated" on game day protocol. I'm behind the Lions bench and I could not believe the stupid BC Ferry mascot leading the fans in whatever they were doing at the most inappropriate times. I agree that people come for the experience and they want to have fun but they need to know how to do it properly. I know the Felions are a "dance team" but why could they not lead some cheering or help to reduce crowd noise? Then there is Leo. Honestly, I don't know what he does. I see him occasionally on the field or on the trainers bench pretending to need stretching but I don't see him doing anything that most mascots do. When I was in Calgary, Ralph the Dog led the crowd in chants like D-Fence. I would think that would be more of his job than Crazy Pete.

Lastly, I have a beef with the new scoreboards/game clocks. I understand the need for advertising but people would like to be able to see how much time is left in the quarter/game and the stupid thing is running ads. This seems to be getting worse as the season goes on, at least for me. There were many times last game that I wanted to look at the time and it ws running beer ads or Sportsaction or whatever else. I think that they should only run ads during the commercials on TV and thats it. Or at the very least make them shorter.

Thats my 2 cents.

[Soundy]

The music is terrible period. I've been a season ticket holder here and in Calgary and the difference in music is crazy. I think they need to have a good mix, some older tunes mixed with more newer more current tunes. I was surprised to hear Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Kanye last game as they are somewhat current. It would be nice to hear more music from this year not just this decade.

Another related thing - and this has been brought up many times over the years - is that the sound system is in bad need of an upgrade. Doesn't matter what you play if it sounds like it's coming out of a tin can.

I would think that would be more of his job than Crazy Pete.

Crazy P needs to just go away.

Lastly, I have a beef with the new scoreboards/game clocks. I understand the need for advertising but people would like to be able to see how much time is left in the quarter/game and the stupid thing is running ads. This seems to be getting worse as the season goes on, at least for me. There were many times last game that I wanted to look at the time and it ws running beer ads or Sportsaction or whatever else. I think that they should only run ads during the commercials on TV and thats it. Or at the very least make them shorter.

This has been an issue since they were first put in. If you're intent on the game action, you won't be looking up at the scoreboard until the action stops... and by that time they're usually already gone to commercial. As 20-30s gap between the stop in play and the start of the ads would be brilliant. Playing them only during the TV commercial breaks would be better.

Oh, and as for the scoreboards - and this one goes back to way before these fancy ones, and to the TV broadcasts as well, and in fact applies to a lot of sports: they need some sort of indicator as to whose possession it is. For the savvy fan, it's easy to tell at a glance which group - offense, defense, special teams - your team has on the field, or know from the formation. For the newbies, it would be helpful even just to have a mark beside the possessing team's logo on the board or something. Imagine a hockey game where they never showed you the penalty clock, or a baseball game without the inning top/bottom display. Maybe with the old scoreboards it would have required a physical modification, but with the new ones, it's just a snipped of programming to highlight one logo or the other, put a dot or arrow beside it, whatever.

[bclions16]

I agree with many points, and the music can certainly be improved, but just switching to hip-hop isn't the answer. Sure mix some of it in, update the music in general, but don't assume that hip-hop equates to cool young people. In a city like Vancouver I'd bet there are more young people that hate anything to do with hip-hop than love it - you just won't see them at the clubs. Music should be updated, but also have a broad appeal.

Basically the music can't be one persons opinion. You need something for all generations, but yes, skew it towards the younger ones. bclions4life is right, Cam Wake doesn't relate to Elvis (and I'm an Elvis fan!) and "Love Shack" is only for tacky wedding receptions. How about more widely respected tunes from every generation? I'm not a big fan of U2, but wouldn't any 80s U2 song be better than Love Shack, just an as example? Basically appeal to different generations, but scrap the wedding playlist!

Most MLB parks I've been to do a good job balancing the classic ballpark experience with current tunes, and relating to players. When a player comes to bat, they play a tune of his choice, generally to get him and the crowd pumped up. How about asking what the defensive line wants to hear after a big stop, or what Lockdown U wants to hear after a pick?

[Soundy]

I agree with many points, and the music can certainly be improved, but just switching to hip-hop isn't the answer. Sure mix some of it in, update the music in general, but don't assume that hip-hop equates to cool young people. In a city like Vancouver I'd bet there are more young people that hate anything to do with hip-hop than love it - you just won't see them at the clubs. Music should be updated, but also have a broad appeal.

Fully agreed. As far as what "young people" are into, my (now 17 year old) niece got turned on to the Beatles when she was about 13 or 14 - her next Christmas wish list included a turntable for all her parents' (and aunt and uncle's) old stock of LPs. Her first concert was RAIN (the Beatles tribute). And second and third. She came over the day after she got her record player and went through the several milk crates of vinyl we had in storage, and ended up taking a good 1/3 of our combined collections, including Alice Cooper, Genesis, Cat Stevens, and just a wide, wide range of stuff from the 60s and 70s.

So yeah, make no assumptions about what people of any age want for music. I'll get into almost anything, in any style or genre... the problem with the Lions' music tracks is that they never change, they're playing the same thing now as they did four years ago, when I started going to games on a regular basis. It's like they have one or two compilation tapes and that's it.

Basically the music can't be one persons opinion. You need something for all generations, but yes, skew it towards the younger ones. bclions4life is right, Cam Wake doesn't relate to Elvis (and I'm an Elvis fan!) and "Love Shack" is only for tacky wedding receptions. How about more widely respected tunes from every generation? I'm not a big fan of U2, but wouldn't any 80s U2 song be better than Love Shack, just an as example? Basically appeal to different generations, but scrap the wedding playlist!

A few years ago, the forum on canucks.com had one section dedicated to DJ Dave, attended by the in-house DJ himself, and accepting requests from the participants. His playlist wasn't ENTIRELY controlled by the board users, but he did take a fair bit of input from them. Unfortunately, at some point the whole site was re-done, all moderation of the forum was abandoned, and the place went completely to hell and DJ Dave never participated again.

Most MLB parks I've been to do a good job balancing the classic ballpark experience with current tunes, and relating to players. When a player comes to bat, they play a tune of his choice, generally to get him and the crowd pumped up. How about asking what the defensive line wants to hear after a big stop, or what Lockdown U wants to hear after a pick?

DJ Dave used to say, he also took requests from the players. There were apparently only a few that even cared enough about the music to ask for anything in particular. But it's a great idea!