Crazies make comeback
By Dan Glickman
Last Updated:6:11 PM EST 1/27/10 Section: Sports
About 350 people came to see the Cardinal men's basketball team defeat Elmira 75-47, according to the St. John Fisher Athletics web site.
Matt Baker would have probably liked it if more people had shown up. And were louder.
The senior was one of the driving forces last year to bring back the Cardinal Crazies.
The cheering section for the Cardinals, although far smaller in size, is not entirely unlike the famous "Cameron Crazies" at Duke University.
However, it has been a long time since the Cardinal Crazies' glory days.
"The Cardinal Crazies were very big up until 2004 at Fisher," Baker said, "There was an incident and the group had to be dissolved."
The incident that Baker refers to is likely the infamous Fisher-Nazareth basketball brawl that took place February 21, 2004.
A brawl began when an injured Nazareth senior charged the court and punched a Cardinals player in the face.
Individuals on both sides of the bitter rivalry criticized the behavior of the Cardinal Crazies for causing tensions that led up to the incident.
The Crazies had been taunting the Golden Flyers with chants throughout the game.
Complaints existed even before that game regarding chants that the Crazies had been using, including some that targeted opponents' race and sexual orientation.
This history may be one of the reasons keeping the Cardinal Crazies from becoming the force they once were.
"It really is an uphill battle to try and make the Cardinal Crazies cool again," Baker said.
Unlike that fateful night in 2004, when there were 80 members, Baker places the average group now at about 25 individuals.
Many of them are Baker's own friends, who he says "really go all out for these games."
Still, he expected that number to be far larger when he started the group.
"When I started this group this year I expected huge numbers. Like a hundred plus every game," Baker said. "It's not getting the students to the game, it's getting them to participate with our group."
Later he said, "I wouldn't say the attendance has gone up, but the participation in chants and cheers has increased ten-fold."
Baker believes that the Cardinal Crazies could well be able to return to large numbers.
Ironically it could be through the same rivalry game that led to the previous downfall, St. John Fisher vs. Nazareth.
"I really believe the Naz game will be a make or break game for us. If there are a lot of students there I think the group can gain some momentum and get back to the peaks of where it used to be," he said.
In the future, Baker hopes to improve the hierarchy of the group for organizational purposes, extending it beyond the current Facebook and word-of-mouth exposure it has right now.
Baker says that he "would absolutely love to make this an official group at the school."
All of this lies in the future and whether one day the Crazies return to large-scale prominence ultimately depends on the fans.
djg01416@sjfc.edu
Matt Baker would have probably liked it if more people had shown up. And were louder.
The senior was one of the driving forces last year to bring back the Cardinal Crazies.
The cheering section for the Cardinals, although far smaller in size, is not entirely unlike the famous "Cameron Crazies" at Duke University.
However, it has been a long time since the Cardinal Crazies' glory days.
"The Cardinal Crazies were very big up until 2004 at Fisher," Baker said, "There was an incident and the group had to be dissolved."
The incident that Baker refers to is likely the infamous Fisher-Nazareth basketball brawl that took place February 21, 2004.
A brawl began when an injured Nazareth senior charged the court and punched a Cardinals player in the face.
Individuals on both sides of the bitter rivalry criticized the behavior of the Cardinal Crazies for causing tensions that led up to the incident.
The Crazies had been taunting the Golden Flyers with chants throughout the game.
Complaints existed even before that game regarding chants that the Crazies had been using, including some that targeted opponents' race and sexual orientation.
This history may be one of the reasons keeping the Cardinal Crazies from becoming the force they once were.
"It really is an uphill battle to try and make the Cardinal Crazies cool again," Baker said.
Unlike that fateful night in 2004, when there were 80 members, Baker places the average group now at about 25 individuals.
Many of them are Baker's own friends, who he says "really go all out for these games."
Still, he expected that number to be far larger when he started the group.
"When I started this group this year I expected huge numbers. Like a hundred plus every game," Baker said. "It's not getting the students to the game, it's getting them to participate with our group."
Later he said, "I wouldn't say the attendance has gone up, but the participation in chants and cheers has increased ten-fold."
Baker believes that the Cardinal Crazies could well be able to return to large numbers.
Ironically it could be through the same rivalry game that led to the previous downfall, St. John Fisher vs. Nazareth.
"I really believe the Naz game will be a make or break game for us. If there are a lot of students there I think the group can gain some momentum and get back to the peaks of where it used to be," he said.
In the future, Baker hopes to improve the hierarchy of the group for organizational purposes, extending it beyond the current Facebook and word-of-mouth exposure it has right now.
Baker says that he "would absolutely love to make this an official group at the school."
All of this lies in the future and whether one day the Crazies return to large-scale prominence ultimately depends on the fans.
djg01416@sjfc.edu
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