The Woooooo

Nearly five ago I made a vow not to talk about. I thought talking about it would only egg 'them' on.

But we have entered year five of this.....this....whatever it is.

It is spreading. It's everywhere. It's clearly not going away.

It was even a subject of discussion when I was a guest of Bruce Hooley on 105.7 The Zone in Columbus this morning.

What is it? That damn 'Woooooooooooo' chant at GABP.

It’s loud, it's obnoxious, it's a high-pitched yelp in tribute to wrestling legend Ric Flair and his trademark scream. If I didn't know any better, and I'm not sure I do, it could possibly be some primal mating call from the mountain top on a full moon evening.

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Rocky has discussed it on Extra Innings: ....the annoying and inexplainable trend of fans echoing chants of "WOOO!" from all corners of the ballpark. Throughout. The. Enter. Game....It's awful.

Mo wrote about it today: I'm naturally inclined to root for the students trying to pull the innocent prank on their helpless principal, or angry angry constituents shouting down the dim-witted politician at a public appearance. So now I'm in favor of the woo.

Paul Daugherty has written about it..... "The pleasure of the many should not be sacrificed to the dumbfoolery of the few. Sit down, shut up, watch the game. Woooo that, people.'

John Fay declared "for the love of God, Reds fans, stop wooing!".

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Not only do I not get the wooooo, I don't even know how many o's to include when I type the damn word.

What is the purpose? What's the end game?

Making matters worse, the chant bounces off of empty seats and rattles around GABP, driving through the side of my head. It annoyingly fills up the pause in Marty's play-by-play description:"Votto steps in, he's 2 for 3 tonight with a walk........."WOOOOOOOOOOOO".....'he takes a fastball down and away for ball one.'

I've been told this all started in Pittsburgh. Well, that kind of figures.

The fan site PenguinPoop.com was addressing this in 2010:

The “WOO” has become the most annoying thing to overtake Pens games. Even more annoying than the wave. It started sometime during mid to late season last year and has gotten progressively worse. I don’t know why, but it has now found its way into every single game. The worst part of the woo-ing…Consol Energy Center has started to sound like the Verizon Center in DC. That’s right Pens fans, you now sound like the idiot Caps fans.

So, maybe it started in Washington D.C. But how the hell did it get here?

What is the point? What's the end game?

It's not a cheer. It's not a rally cry. It seems random. But once it starts at GABP, settle in.

I've been told this is just an 'old guy media thing,' that I need to loosen up and 'have fun.'

My fear all along has been that attempting to public shame these 'woooers' would only strengthen their resolve.

But I must be honest, if you are one of them, a 'wooooer,' you sound like some sleeveless t-shirts wearing, dip stuck in your gum, derelict. No offense.

You are making our city sound like it's inhabited by a bunch of moonshine chugging, Honey Boo Boo watching, backwoods hilljacks. No offense to backwoods hilljacks.

Look, you don't live in a town straight out of a scene from Deliverance, you live in Cincinnati!

For goodness sakes, we are home to the first professional baseball team. We are home to Hall of Fame players and World Championship teams.

So the next person who hears anyone.....

I suppose we can have a good laugh over this, but the reality is the woooo is impacting the enjoyment of the game for fans. Fans at GABP, listening on the radio and watching TV are complaining. Their next step is to not go, not listen and not watch.

It's now on the Reds to do something about it, from scoreboard messages to ushers simply removing fans. How did it get to this point?

Do you woooo? Do you know someone that wooooo's?

We will discuss tonight on Sports Talk. Join our discussion HERE.

Remember this classic dating back to 2013?