OK, Cael Sanderson went 159-0 as a college wrestler, won four national championships and later earned an Olympic gold medal in Greece of all places. He’s a winner.
As a college coach, his Penn State teams are 199-16-2 in dual meets, have won 10 of the last 12 national championships and produced 83 All-Americans and 34 national champions. Again, a winner. No doubt.
But he’s wrong about the music.
In case you missed it, and if you’re reading this you probably did not, Sanderson dissed some Penn State fans and embraced the move to pump music into Rec Hall during wrestling matches last week, calling the venerable venue where his teams are “awkwardly quiet.” At one point, when explaining his perspective after last week’s victory over Ohio State, he said, “It’s a sporting event, let’s make some noise.”
He’s not wrong, but he — and ever-growing cadre of sports marketing enablers — sometimes miss the point. Let’s let the fans make the noise, thanks to authentic enthusiasm, rather than having something dictated or imposed upon them.
Why was Rec Hall quiet at the start last week against Ohio State? Primarily because many fans probably thought their 125-pound wrestler lost. It sure looked like a loss, no matter how new rules are getting implemented.
There was really no action that provided reason for raucous behavior for the next couple of matches, either. Sometimes that happens at a sporting event. Things ebb and flow.
In my more than four decades of attending Penn State sporting events, a couple of wrestling matches at Rec Hall top the list of live experiences with loud, rowdy moments. Anything after them, even some historic and memorable football moments, are well down on the list. There’s just something special about a completive wrestling match that makes it fun.
When Penn State upended Iowa at home in 1988, a tight fought 18-16 decision, it felt like the roof would blow off Rec Hall. There have been many more of those moments during the years, and certainly during Sanderson’s tenure.
Every blue-and-white fan has a favorite wrestler or two, but the aggressive style Sanderson prefers certainly led to noise inside the 95-year-old building for the likes of Roman Bravo-Young, Bo Nickal, Jason Nolf, Zain Retherford, Ed Ruth and David Taylor.
Before them, and pre-Sanderson many others brought fans to their feet and prompted an appropriately loud atmosphere. From Greg Elinsky and Jim Martin to Jeremy Hunter, Kerry McCoy and Quentin Wright, Penn State fans have proven they know how to support wrestlers and a wrestling team.
Make no mistake, Penn State fans know how and when to cheer, too. Plus, they’re savvy enough to be biased — offering liberal and quick vocal support for stall warnings against an opponent while never noticing similar behavior from one of their own.
If you’re Penn State, you want fans doing what they’ve always done because it impacts officials inside Rec Hall. That was clear against OSU, as Beau Bartlett got credited for a takedown at 141 that looked no more legit than the one the Buckeyes wanted at 125.
Some will frame the pumped-in music as an age thing, with older fans — and fans at Rec Hall do skew older — complaining just because it’s a change in approach. They’re not wrong.
Others might wisely point out that Penn State’s success has hampered the atmosphere a bit. They’re not wrong, either. Things sometimes lag, with fans slow to get loud, because outcomes are rarely in doubt. Penn State has become that dominant.
Either way, the atmosphere, distraction, music, whatever your word, is probably here to stay. That’s apparently what the coach wants, and certainly what the sports marketing folks want.
Still, things might get louder but that does not mean the atmosphere or fans will get better. Penn State wrestling fans are already super, and it’s OK, honest, for fans to focus on the action, watch and then cheer appropriately.
Every moment at an event does not need to be filled — because when that happens it’s clear that whatever goes into the space is just filler.
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