Freedom of Cheer?

by Mary Claire Gilder

LSU has a reputation of being a party school—binge drinking, loud music, and obscenity. Many Tiger fans try to dispel these rumors, reminding others of all of the wonderful things our university does outside of a Saturday night in Death Valley. There is a video circulating the internet which was filmed at the LSU versus South Carolina game, in which a cheer that is an old favorite of the student section gets a makeover. The “Oh-e-oh” song that is sung after an LSU touchdown had the word “cock” added to the end of it, causing a surge of mixed emotions through Tiger Stadium, as well as the country. There were other cheers and chants that night, as well as many others, that stirred up controversy, but this cheer seemed to make headlines more than others.

This video was originally posted to showcase the creativity of the student section. However, there were many comments left by people who were disgusted with the chant. Not only were on-lookers upset with student, but University officials tried to censor the student section more than ever after the South Carolina game. The controversy of the language used in the student section at home games is displayed by this video and its comments.



The video looks as though it was filmed with someone’s digital camera. It’s is hard to distinguish faces, because the pixilation is poor, but the most important part of the video, the audio, is loud and clear. It is a very short clip, only seventeen seconds, but the chant “You suck cock” surely resounds in a listener’s ear for much longer than that.

I think that the message of this video is two-fold. One argument could be that the student section is obscene, vulgar, and as many comments said “classless.” The other side of the argument could be that LSU students have a fiery passion for their football team, and that each opponent is a joke to them. These two arguments were present in the running commentary left by viewers under the video. However, the video just demonstrated to me that young adults with a lot of pride and, most frequently, a lot of alcohol in their systems, will speak their minds and when caught up in the moment, use adult humor to make a point. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with what was said. I was not one of the fans to say it, but given the heat of competition in the SEC and the general distaste LSU holds for its opponent when at the game, it is something relatively tame that was said.

The language used in the student section has always been controversial. “Tiger Rag” was a popular song at football games, but last year the Tiger Band was forced to stop playing it at football games because students had turned part of the song into a chant used to heckle the opposing team. At last week’s game, “Oh-e-oh” was not even played due to the fact that Tiger Band was held responsible for leading the student section in the vulgarity. Tiger Band is not at all responsible for what the students say, but they are the ones who bear the brunt of the disciplining from University officials.

What this video symbolizes is the unwavering pride that LSU fans hold. The fire that is in an LSU fan is something that is hard to extinguish, and it is also something that many other people around the country do not understand and therefore judge. As a Tiger fan, I am proud, but around the country, saying “Geaux Tigers” will conjure up this booze-soaked, loud-mouthed, arrogant football fan. While Tiger fans range in age and personality, there is one distinguishing trait that keeps them together—pride, even if it is vulgar, crude or classless. All other fans are just Tiger bait.