Some thoughts on this issue, coming from a long-time BU season ticket
holder.
 
There may be a little more to the issue. At the UNH game three weeks back,
there were copies of a letter from Jack Parker put on the seats asking fans
to cut the profanity. (This went to all sections, not just the student/young
alum sections). I have heard that the band director was ordered to stop
playing the song, or at least strongly urged to do so. As a long-time season
ticket holder, I have seen this kind of letter from Jack before, and it is
certainly in line with the "positive reinforcement" rules that the NCAA
requests of participants and spectators.
 
The "Eat 'em up" song has been played for as long as I can remember at BU,
mostly ending with the words "Go BU." Only in the last few years, has "BC
sucks" become the preferred line. Part of the issue is that the band now
uses it as the song that is played every time the opposition takes an
unmatched penalty, making it a song played at least five times a game. This
means that everyone gets a lot of practice doing the chant. When I first
came, the "power play song" was "Jaws," complete with the jaw-like arm
motion, which was a lot of fun.
 
The whole "BC sucks" situation is getting completely out of hand at BU. It's
one thing to chant it at a BC game, which has always been done. It's even
"topical" when the BC score is announced on the out-of-town scoreboard. But
when it's the chant of choice at a BU-Merrimack game, that's really dumb.
 
BU students/alums have always been really creative with their their chants.
Who could forget their "Wasted Draft Pick" chant for Joe Hulbig of
Providence, or for long time fans, the "Our McCann's better than your
McCann" directed at Harvard (HU's Sean was a star, BU's Chris was a
fourth-liner)? So chanting the same thing constantly is not a matter of bad
taste to me, but rather a disappointing demonstration of why a mind is a
terrible thing to waste.
 
And frankly, after last night's Beanpot win, who cares whether BC sucks? The
real story is that BU fans have a great hockey team to watch.
 
Patrick
 
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