Spirit Squad?

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PD INDY ALUM

The Sycamore Level
Is it just me or does anyone else miss the actual cheerleaders and the Sparkettes??? I am an old alum (class of 75), and I don't understand why these two squads were combined and are now called the "Spirit Squad". Don't get me wrong, I think the girls in the Spirit Squad do a fine job, but why this break with tradition? Can we not afford a coach for each squad?? We should have increased revenue from the draft beer available from the new concession stands, so why not earmark some of that money to help with the over all game experience for our students and fans. I hope this is not a point that is trivial, but it seems we are too eager to just throw away traditions that are decades old without any reason or explanation. The Chief included.
 

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I can only relate my daughters experience. About 12 years ago Joe Newton introduced my daughter to the cheer squad and coach - she was deciding on a college and wanted to continue her her cheerleading. To say the least she was underwhelmed. The coach was dismissive and uninterested and several of the cheerleaders did not seem to have any direction or interest. After competing with her high school cheer squad in the Illinois state championship most of the ISU cheerleaders wouldn't have even made her high school squad in her opinion. (In Illinois cheerleading is a ISHA sport - not sure if thats the case in Indiana). Our daughter ended up at Mizzou since she wanted to major in Journalism and cheered her Freshman year. I did see that same coach on the sidelines during the Miami game. Certainly could have been a bad day for the coach and cheer squad, so take the story with a grain of salt.
 
PD INDY ALUM said:
Is it just me or does anyone else miss the actual cheerleaders and the Sparkettes??? I am an old alum (class of 75), and I don't understand why these two squads were combined and are now called the "Spirit Squad". Don't get me wrong, I think the girls in the Spirit Squad do a fine job, but why this break with tradition? Can we not afford a coach for each squad?? We should have increased revenue from the draft beer available from the new concession stands, so why not earmark some of that money to help with the over all game experience for our students and fans. I hope this is not a point that is trivial, but it seems we are too eager to just throw away traditions that are decades old without any reason or explanation. The Chief included.
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Chief Oubachi was created in time for the 1969 football season (check out the story at GoSycamores.com) - the football page has all of the old media guides

The Chief and the (later added) Indian Princess were shuttered around 1989 (or so I've been told)

20 seasons isn't much of tradition... course longer traditions mean nothing to the AD, adding, changing school colors over the years

ignoring the past IS the ISU Tradition
 

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PD INDY ALUM said:
Is it just me or does anyone else miss the actual cheerleaders and the Sparkettes??? I am an old alum (class of 75), and I don't understand why these two squads were combined and are now called the "Spirit Squad". Don't get me wrong, I think the girls in the Spirit Squad do a fine job, but why this break with tradition? Can we not afford a coach for each squad?? We should have increased revenue from the draft beer available from the new concession stands, so why not earmark some of that money to help with the over all game experience for our students and fans. I hope this is not a point that is trivial, but it seems we are too eager to just throw away traditions that are decades old without any reason or explanation. The Chief included.
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Yes, the two groups served drastically different functions especially during the game. It is another move that tells people you're low budget without telling them you're low budget.
 
Or it could be that they couldn't keep a cheerleading squad together for an entire season, since 3/4 of the squad usually quit in November. So they had to do something? I agree, it is bush league. But that's not gonna change anytime soon.
 
I haven't been able to verify this, but it looks like the cheer coach has been taking a greater role in involvement with the Forest...which has also been dwindling. It's clear we've gone from a team to a club. I think most of us remember a time when people made it a point to come to ISU to cheer, a time when we were known for baton twirling theatrics. Now we are known for the 58 second halftime show with bad music splices. I bet we're still using dual cassette boom-boxes. I can't remember the last time I went to a non-ISU game and did not think to myself, "Yup, they're better than us too."
I should probably put this in an "in-game experience" post. But we need to experiment and find something that we can embrace as our own. I have no idea why we never brought back the toilet paper in the winning seasons. I have no idea why we've insisted on playing Mortal Kombat as much as the fight song for the past 26 years. I think the band played Sweet Caroline and Livin' on A Prayer during the Hanover game and I nearly s**t myself.

I think I'll start a new thread over this.
 
It's 1999 just 10 minutes before the opening tip of the championship game between Bob Knight's Hoosiers and Royce Waltman's Sycamores.
The teams have left the court.
The Indiana and Indiana State cheerleading squads meet near the south basket and line up for a pregame challenge.
Three male cheerleaders from each team lift up and hold a female cheerleader aloft. The war of attrition based on strength and balance begins. For a considerable period of time all six girls are held overhead standing in the single hand of her partner.
Finally, one by one those in red drop to the ground while the girls in blue and white remain towering over the court
After the last IU couple surrendered, the three pairs of ISU cheerleaders formed a line and the team executed a synchronized somersault dismount.
It was a fantastic prelude to a most memorable evening.
 

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DyedBlue said:
It's 1999 just 10 minutes before the opening tip of the championship game between Bob Knight's Hoosiers and Royce Waltman's Sycamores.
The teams have left the court.
The Indiana and Indiana State cheerleading squads meet near the south basket and line up for a pregame challenge.
Three male cheerleaders from each team lift up and hold a female cheerleader aloft. The war of attrition based on strength and balance begins. For a considerable period of time all six girls are held overhead standing in the single hand of her partner.
Finally, one by one those in red drop to the ground while the girls in blue and white remain towering over the court
After the last IU couple surrendered, the three pairs of ISU cheerleaders formed a line and the team executed a synchronized somersault dismount.
It was a fantastic prelude to a most memorable evening.
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The Hoosiers took two losses that night, and they would scrap that classic and all records from the annuls of Indiana University.
 
Yes! A great night to be a Sycamore. While we are at it, who can we put in charge of dusting off all of our trophies, particularly the last HOOSIER CLASSIC from 1999 and put them in the new display cases. Also, why can't a few art students work on murals of Klueh, Newsome, Bird, Nicks, Odum, and any other past players who are worthy to be hung up in our new expanded concourse at Hulman Center.
 
PD INDY ALUM said:
Yes! A great night to be a Sycamore. While we are at it, who can we put in charge of dusting off all of our trophies, particularly the last HOOSIER CLASSIC from 1999 and put them in the new display cases. Also, why can't a few art students work on murals of Klueh, Newsome, Bird, Nicks, Odum, and any other past players who are worthy to be hung up in our new expanded concourse at Hulman Center.
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The art student murals are a phenomenal idea. Phenomenal.
 

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Huff77 said:
The art student murals are a phenomenal idea. Phenomenal.
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Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the Hoosier Classic trophy was intended to be a traveling trophy. Since the Loosiers were defeated for the first time in the history of their own home tournament, it was cancelled as a future event! Therefore, it now belongs to US for all eternity. Any first time visitor to HC that I talked into going to a game would have to visit that trophy display at half time so I could point out the dismal record of IU against the Sycamores. They probably will not ever play us again. At least not in my lifetime.
 
I went to Royce Waltman's funeral. Nate Green eulogized. He told this story:

After that 1999 IU win we were on the bus ready to leave when Coach and Carole got on the bus. He said "fellas I'm not going back to Terre Haute with you all tonight. Carole and I are staying here tonight because after a win like that even an old guy like me might get lucky."

Brought the house down.
 
PD INDY ALUM said:
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the Hoosier Classic trophy was intended to be a traveling trophy. Since the Loosiers were defeated for the first time in the history of their own home tournament, it was cancelled as a future event! Therefore, it now belongs to US for all eternity. Any first time visitor to HC that I talked into going to a game would have to visit that trophy display at half time so I could point out the dismal record of IU against the Sycamores. They probably will not ever play us again. At least not in my lifetime.
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There is confusion in your post. The HOOSIER Classic was the original Crossroads Classic (2 indiana big ten schools, buttler and north crook - it ran from the late 1940s through the early 1960s and was a buttler-hosted event at their fieldhouse) in the early '80s, the Monroe County Reform School glommed the title and began hosting a 2-cupcake tourney at Market Square Arena -- this was in addition to their long-time monroe county-hosted 2-tm 'holiday tourney' aka the Indiana Classic...

the Hoosier Classic was shuttered in 2001-02 after gloomington lost at conseco to buttler
the Indiana Classic survived our Victory in 1999-2000 for one season but as gloomington nearly lost (again) to Valparaiso in the 2001-02, the gloomington reform school shuttered it

The 1999 Indiana Classic trophy should be in a place of honor in Hulman BUT shouldn't be treated any differently than the 1978-79 Hatter Classic title nor the 1970-71 Vegas Invitational

https://www.indystar.com/story/spor.../01/time-for-another-hoosier-classic/2555339/
 
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There was a bit of a version of this cupcake tourney this year...although there isn't much talk of it. I thought it was weird during the Marshall game they referred to it as "the championship game". Looking at the schedules...L-lafayette, marshall, and jackson state played each other at the same time...almost like a round robin format, over a week span (just not all at IU)....no doubt the work and collaboration efforts of ADs, and no doubt not a coincidence.
 
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