Advertisement

Friday, October 24, 2008

New kickoff chant chosen to replace obscene one

By Chardae Davis, Andy Hyland

KU juniors Mark Outlaw, from left, of Olathe, Josh Petty, of Olathe, and Jordan Haught, of Tulsa, Okla., cheer before the Jayhawks enter Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 during KU's season-opener against Florida International.

Photo by John Henry

KU juniors Mark Outlaw, from left, of Olathe, Josh Petty, of Olathe, and Jordan Haught, of Tulsa, Okla., cheer before the Jayhawks enter Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 during KU's season-opener against Florida International.

Advertisement

Adobe Flash player 9 is required to view this video
Get Adobe Flash player

New kickoff chant chosen to replace obscene one

Votes have been tallied and we have a winner. KU football fans have cast their vote through an online poll for a new football chant.

Videos

Student opinion on the KU chant

video thumbnail

Officials at KU are trying to disuade the student body from using an obscene chant at football games.

Students and anyone else attending this Saturday's Kansas University football game looking for a different kickoff chant now have a new option.

After nearly a full week of polling students, KU's student newspaper unveiled its winning slogan:

"Kayyyyyyy (kick) Youuuuuuu!"

That was the overwhelming selection among online voters at The University Daily Kansan's Web site Thursday. The new chant is meant to replace the pesky "Rip his (expletive) head off" chant that persists in the student section during every KU kickoff.

It beat its competitor, "Goooooo : Jayhawks!" by a final tally of 271 votes to just 61.

Kansan editor Matt Erickson said the newspaper would promote the winner of the chant in the paper and on its Web site.

Jim Marchiony, an athletics department spokesman, said his department had plans to place the winning chant on scoreboard ribbons on the north end of Memorial Stadium on Saturday if the message could be arranged in time.

"It's been a student-led initiative," Marchiony said. "We're just watching."

The entire process left students on campus feeling a little underwhelmed Thursday.

Junior Adam Wood didn't mince words when it came to the new options presented by the paper, citing a video sent out by head football coach Mark Mangino to students asking them to stop the chant.

"The one thing I noticed," Wood said, "when I went on the Kansan Web site to look at the options is that they all kind of seemed a little generic, and I thought that was funny seeing that Mangino was saying that we can be more creative than that. Apparently not."

Beatrice Bonanno, a senior, chided the existing chant.

"I think eventually as classes move on and graduate and new people come in, maybe the more suggested chants will become adopted as the old one gets pushed out."

More like this

Comments

KEITHMILES05 (anonymous) says...

This will only antagonize the fans. They'll do what they damn well want and KaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwon't be able to a thing about it.LMAO

October 24, 2008 at 4:43 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

rgreene (Ryan Greene) says...

I agree. A week of polling, and there were only 332 votes? That ought to tell you something by itself. The old chant will persist, and the crotchety folks who keep raising a stink over it need to just grow thicker skin, because coming up with lame, boring chants will, as keithmiles05 said, only get the students to yell it louder. They should have known that.I hope the student body keeps its pride and dignity here by continuing the old chant, just like they did by continuing to rock the 'Muck Fizzou' shirts after the powers that be suckered the Kansan into trying to promote some new, lamer shirt.As a Kansan alum, I wish they'd stop helping the athletic dept. in these ridiculous endeavors.

October 24, 2008 at 5:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

njjayhawk (anonymous) says...

The KU administration looks like a bunch of morons, again bumbling their way thru a matter of little importance and of which they have no real control. This is elementary school level stuff. The LJW needs to report on stories and headlines that have relevance in the sports world, not on some silly sideshow centered on student body chants.

October 24, 2008 at 5:39 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

woodhawk (anonymous) says...

The 332 votes were just the votes cast between the 2 finalists. The Kansan had about 4 or 5 other options to vote on during the past week. I'm guessing there were about 3 or 4000 votes total in the prelim vote.

October 24, 2008 at 6:21 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kylecisnum1 (anonymous) says...

if there were 4 or 5 other options and 3-4 thousand total votes, even split up, one of the other options would have blown kaaaaaaaaaay uuuuuuuuuuuuuu out of the water.

October 24, 2008 at 6:26 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

lance1jhawk (anonymous) says...

How about yelling muck fizzou!i heard its Lew's favorite.

October 24, 2008 at 6:50 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

chuckberry32 (anonymous) says...

This reminds of my pre-KU days when I was a freshman at Virginia Tech and the administration didn't like that the students shouted "Oh" at that part of the national anthem. They were unsuccessful then as I'm sure the KU administration will be now. But guess what, a few years later the students dropped it on their own when they grew tired of it.

October 24, 2008 at 7:07 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

imnotpaulpierce (anonymous) says...

In a follow up poll, the Kansan asked students if they would actually shout the new chant. 80% of the students said they would.In another follow up poll, the Kansas asked students, "Really?" --To which only 10% said they would.

October 24, 2008 at 7:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

swishymcjayhawk (anonymous) says...

yea, good luck with that, KU P.R. Department. Lame replacements will not stop the students. especially when they're drunk.

October 24, 2008 at 7:42 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

drewdun (anonymous) says...

I'm just wishing there was something even more generic we could've chosen - something like 'goooooo team' would be great.In all seriousness, why not 'rock chalk jayhawk'? i believe our chant is severely underutilized at football games. At the very least I hope the AD or cheerleading team or whoever's responsible for this stuff heeds an idea kicked around on phog.net and jayhawkslant.com to have one side yell 'rock chalk' and the other 'jayhawk' during timeouts or pregame or halftime. But that would require an extremely complicated process that involves many steps, such as 1) buying corrugated poster board and 2) writing on it, so it might take three eight-member study groups to determine if this is feasible and/or desirable, and a two-year approval process, so I'm doubtful we see something common sense like that before the KSU game in 2010.

October 24, 2008 at 7:45 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayViking (anonymous) says...

I think you might be surprised how load kkkkkkkkkkkkkk uuuuuuuu is. But it's still going to be lame.

October 24, 2008 at 7:46 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

bmcmich1 (anonymous) says...

Wow, how original. We couldn't beat OU last week, so let's steal their kickoff chant, is that it?

October 24, 2008 at 7:46 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

DBK (anonymous) says...

Thank you, bmcmich1; I was wondering when somebody was going to point that out. Are we going to hold up the "#1" index finger as well? :-)

October 24, 2008 at 7:55 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

LakeShawnee (anonymous) says...

imnotpaulpierce,Funny, but you should at least give credit to SNL where credit is due....

October 24, 2008 at 8:44 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayViking (anonymous) says...

Meant to type loud....I have mixed feelings about the kickoff chant, but I certainly don't think the Kansan went about this very well....

October 24, 2008 at 8:59 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

imnotpaulpierce (anonymous) says...

I was not referring to the Bradley effect!Complete original comedy. :)

October 24, 2008 at 9:06 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

nebraska_jayhawk (anonymous) says...

I don't like the obscene chant, but how do officials think they are going to enforce the new one? Kick the students out if keep chanting the old one? People are just going to have to face it. Fans just dont have as much class as they used to anywhere. KU fans are starting to show that they are no better than any other fans.

October 24, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KUHawkhead (anonymous) says...

How about "Rip his fvcking head off.....kkkkkaaayyyy yyoooouuuu!!!"That would satisfy both sides!In all seriousness...the best way to have handled this would have been to not give it any pub whatsoever. There's no way this will stop, especially now that it's plastered everywhere. Most students will now scream out the old one clearer than ever. I'm not saying it's right, as I find the chant rather crass, but I'd much rather have this chant (the obscene one) than only 3K students in the stands, just waiting til hafltime to leave and go get drunk, like it was during the gameball years!rcjhku!rhfho!

October 24, 2008 at 9:17 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

d_prowess (anonymous) says...

I think this has a good chance at taking off if the whole stadium does it. As of now, you are looking at only the students yelling the offensive chant. But if it is on the scoreboard, maybe the rest of the crowd will remember that they are at a football game and yell that. It would drown out the students and they will eventually switch over.

October 24, 2008 at 9:17 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KUbsee69 (anonymous) says...

If the AD / KU administration is really serious about this, why don't they use the stadium's PA system to blare out the "new" chant and drown-out the old chant?Or, is that against some rule?

October 24, 2008 at 9:31 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

DocBean (anonymous) says...

How about just changing it to what was written above:"Rip his Expletive Head off!"it's got a nice ring to it.

October 24, 2008 at 9:38 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

oldalum (anonymous) says...

Ryan Green: You actually think students are projecting "pride and dignity" with that dopey copy-cat chant? Now that's comedy, so I hope you were joking.

October 24, 2008 at 9:51 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

bdsnook (anonymous) says...

I think the Waterboy chant is rediculous because, well, Waterboy (and Rob Schneider) are things of the past. But this new chant is very uninspiring.I agree with an earlier poster about incorporating the 'Rock-Chalk' into things more. There could be a way to do that and still hang on to this new chant the UDK has been so thoughtful to come up with...---The ref blows the whistle and the teams line up for the kickoff. Immediately following, the bass drummer in the band hits the drum and the fans start yelling (like in the Rock-Chalk Chant) "Rock-Chalk Jayhawk KU Rock-Chalk Jayhawk KU Rock-Chalk Jayhawk "Kayyyyyyy (kick) Youuuuuuu!"I'm not in love with it, but it's better than nothing.

October 24, 2008 at 10:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

truefan (anonymous) says...

The chant has slowed down dramatically in my opinion. Me and my group of friends don't yell it anymore just because they are raising such a stink about it. I don't really care if the donors' little kids can hear the chant or not, I'm more worried about the chant turning off the parents of the recruits we are going after. If their parents think that we aren't classy because of the chant, then KU might get the veto as a choice of school. Honestly, I don't think their parents care either, but I'm paranoid that we may have lost a great recruit or two because their parents didn't like the chant. That being sad, I think the chant will slowly disappear, but the new chant will not be created by an online poll, it will be a new student "inside joke" that we create ourselves.

October 24, 2008 at 10:05 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

AlferdPacker (anonymous) says...

This is so incredibly corny and lame. I don't support the obscene chant, but do you have to replace it with something? Why do we even need a chant? Just drop the obscene one and yell and make noise during kickoffs, there's no absolute need for some sort of chant. This new one is just terrible corny.

October 24, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

pepper_bar (anonymous) says...

The "new chant" will be a layer of solid background noise for the students' hillbilly chant. Might sound kind of cool, like a chorus.

October 24, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

oldalum (anonymous) says...

I thought they might come up with something that was at least a little peppy. Like the fast portion of the chant (Rock Chalk Jayhawk (drop KU), Rock Chalk Jayhawk--building to the kick and then followed by KU. At least that would be unique and not quite so dull.

October 24, 2008 at 10:34 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

bdsnook (anonymous) says...

Yeah honestly, we don't even need a chant. I went to Michigan for grad school, and they don't have a kickoff chant. They just yell "ahhhhhhhh----oooh", just like we do w/o the Waterboy line afterward.Do the students still shake their key's before the kickoff? IMHO, that's even more lame than any chant. Key shaking should be reserved for 3rd down when KU is on defense...because it's a "Key Play".

October 24, 2008 at 10:39 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

rgreene (Ryan Greene) says...

I think there's pride and dignity in not backing down to a bunch of bullies, which is basically what the athletic department is acting like.

October 24, 2008 at 11:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

100 (anonymous) says...

during the larry brown/ manning years this one of the best chants. The timing has to be right. The k and u echo back and forth across the stands. I know it's not planned but it will happen naturally by the laws of physics. Then the fans will get creative with the echoing.

October 24, 2008 at 11:16 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

vmwskywalk (anonymous) says...

I think we should be even more basic. Not even use words for the kickoff. Just sounds....grunts and such. Or KU could hand out kazoos to all the fans in attendance. That might actually be pretty funny.

October 24, 2008 at 11:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

100 (anonymous) says...

Nice. Everybody bring kazoos and harmonicas.

October 24, 2008 at 11:53 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KU (anonymous) says...

I'll get in on the new cheer. But here's how I see it shaking out:"Kaaaaaaaaaaaay (kick) U! Rip his f'ing head off!"

October 24, 2008 at 11:54 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Warren (anonymous) says...

Don't the students chant the obsene water boy chant when the opposing player catches the football? How does this new one replace the old one if it is during the actual kick? Or am I confused?

October 24, 2008 at 12:07 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ajs10 (anonymous) says...

The athletic department has blown this way out of proportion. Has anyone else heard of the Wisconsin chant where one side yells, "F*** You" followed by the other side yelling, "Eat Sh*t"? We are making an issue of something that could be worse.

October 24, 2008 at 12:41 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

KUdude101 (anonymous) says...

****I just received word that this game is not yet sold out. This absolutely infuriates me!!!! I am ashamed in KU football "fans" for not wanting to attend a game and a win that could do a hell of a lot for this program. I have been posting all week about trying to get our crowd to get loud and stand up, but now I feel that's all worthless if we can't even sell out the damn game!!! My work received FREE tickets yesterday evening from the KU Athletic Dept. due to it not selling out, this is truly pathetic! Does anyone recall us winning the Orange Bowl last year? As a KU alum who just graduated in May, I miss the days of KU football being completely under the radar when fans came to the games because we were the underdogs EVERY game!! do not take this for granted!!!!**** We CAN be more than JUST a basketball school!!

October 24, 2008 at 12:53 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

imnotpaulpierce (anonymous) says...

I heard on the radio this morning that it was indeed sold out...

October 24, 2008 at 1:05 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

EvanstonReader (anonymous) says...

If this is the new chant I think it should be "kaaayyyyy" during the run up and a sharp short "U" at the moment of the kick. The drawn out "U" is a bit weak in my opinion. But I also really like the "Gooooooo Team" chant suggested earlier to really show generic the new chant is.

October 24, 2008 at 1:08 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

KUdude101 (anonymous) says...

The point is, this game and other games of this magnitude indeed should have been sold out weeks ago!!

October 24, 2008 at 1:26 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayViking (anonymous) says...

I think the drawn out U is weak, too.I imagine the students will naturally make the U sharp after the kick...that is if they do the new chant.

October 24, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkintx73 (anonymous) says...

This chant is really nothing. What needs to happen,and I lived it a couple of times myself, when KU broke the streak against Kansas State in 2004. get loud and stay loud! When K-State was of Offense in that game, and we took the lead after Simmons'1 handed catch for the TD, it got loud. But when the QB stepped up to take the snap, it got louder! And it disrupted his ability to call audibles. this has to happen tomorrow! and AGainst Texas! When Memorial STadium is at its loudest, its louder than Arrowhead! ANd this game is sold out and it had better be loud early and often!

October 24, 2008 at 1:48 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jayhawk444 (anonymous) says...

The biggest problem I have with the obscene chant is that only a few thousand student fans will ever yell it. Have those of you who want to keep yelling it ever thought about that? I know my 6th grader probably hears f-bombs dropped every day at school, so to me that's not the issue. But imagine how much more louder and intimidating a kickoff yell would be if all 50K of us joined in? I challenge those of you who want to continue shouting obscenities to stop being stubborn for stubbornness' sake and come up with something creative that all KU fans will feel inclined to yell for kickoffs. Otherwise, you're hurting our Jayhawks. I was in Norman last Saturday. Lame or not, everybody participated and it was certainly louder than our student section alone can ever hope to be .

October 24, 2008 at 2:24 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

milwaukeeJAYHAWK (anonymous) says...

All I know is that I'm glad we don't do what Iowa State does....At the game in Ames back on Oct. 4, I got more annoyed every time the announcer would say "That's another Iowa State...."and the the crowd responds "first down!" and throws their arm forward.Please KU, don't go down this slippery slope and end up like that......

October 24, 2008 at 2:28 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Strikewso (anonymous) says...

This game will be packed. I need tix to the KState game, any suggestions?

October 24, 2008 at 2:41 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jaminrawk (anonymous) says...

They should just replace the the expletive with the mascot of the team. Like, "Rip his Husker head off", or "Rip his Tiger head off". Stil lame but better than "kkkkaaaaaaayyyy yyyyyyyoooooouuuu"!

October 24, 2008 at 3:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

100 (anonymous) says...

jayhawkintex73 is right about being loud. I was at the OU game in 1983 when, a KU team which should have been beaten 70-0, beat OU, the #2 ranked team in the country. Pound per pound, we sucked. But the players dug into their hearts and the fans got so loud OU, practically melted into that old cheap AstroTurf. The coaches had to use spatulas to get them back on the OU bus.The same should happen Saturday. Loudness is the key. Everybody has to take part. If somebody isn't gettin loud, yank them up and tell them to join the fun.

October 24, 2008 at 3:22 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

rgreene (Ryan Greene) says...

I still think it's funny how people think anything will be replaced. There's no way to mandate or enforce it. The 'Rip his f****** head off' chant will not die because Lew & Co. say so. It just won't.

October 24, 2008 at 5:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

DalTXJayhawk (anonymous) says...

Everyone meet at the Wheel at 8:00 am work on an original chant, by kickoff, a new chant can be heard, and everyone is 'prepped' for the game

October 24, 2008 at 6:43 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

NickMontana (anonymous) says...

I can see the newspaper staff is learning their lesson well on how they should be the determining force in controlling other peoples lives. Errr well at least trying to as I'm sure this will fail. Good luck finding jobs in those newspapers who keep slashing their workforces due to declining readers. You connect the dots oh brilliant journalists.

October 24, 2008 at 7:05 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ku_tailg8 (anonymous) says...

There is no way that Memorial Stadium is louder than Arrowhead at either stadiums loudest moments. Arrowhead is a bowl. It traps the sound and in and there are 30,000 more people there. I would love for KU to be consistently loud but even at the loudest it is not louder than Arrowhead. Another thing. KU Football will never fully take off because there isn't very many places to set up camp and tailgate like you can at Arrowhead. The on-campus stadium is pretty but the lack of parking keeps people from making it an all day event.

October 24, 2008 at 10:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

martyks (anonymous) says...

The easy way to get rid of this offensive chant is to tell the refs to give us a 15 yard penalty on every kick off until we stop. Let the players stare up in the crowd a few times and it would be over. That's actually the way it's supposed to be controlled, back in the day when people behaved with civility.

October 24, 2008 at 11:45 p.m. ( | suggest removal )