I was at a baseball game last night and the crowd was doing the wave. You know, that thing where you stand up and throw your arms periodically as it runs around the stadium?
Who invented this wave? When was it first performed? Was it just some person and his or her friends, or was a stadium anouncer involved?
In the U.K. the wave you are referring to is known as a “Mexican Wave”. The origin is given by www.phrases.org.uk as:
No indication of how this phenomenon “came to a mass audience” however.
I really wish there was an edit button on this site!! (or I finished looking around before posting).
Just found this on www.guardian.co.uk , it is the opinion of a poster so may not be fact.
Good question. Looks like there isn’t a conclusive answer:
I’ve wanted to know this for some time. As soon as I get my hands on a time machine, I’m going back in time to break the guys legs before the first event the wave appears at.
I didn’t know that it was still done.
I remember it being done at Seahawks games on TV in the eary 80s, which would make sense if it originated at UW.
No way!
If the stadium’s full, and everyone participates properly (without throwing shit like beer in the air) then it looks awesome, IMO.
I thought I read somewhere that the Wave was American and that it was a rarity elsewhere… Didnt think it was big across the pond.
My German teacher told me that Sports/Cheerleading wasnt common in Germany, as far as schools go. I tend to think that America has enough Cheer leaders for the entire world as it is anyway.
I think the popularity of the mexican wave isn’t defined by geography but by sport. It seems to have been popular at football (soccer) games the world over for some time now.
Meeko you are right about cheerleaders being mainly American I think. they are starting to creep into rugby games in the U.K. and occasionally at football matches but are still quite rare and lack the trained routines of their American counterparts, more a case of pretty girls with pom poms waving them at random.
Yeah. I just can’t “get with” or believe ““fake”” emotion. It’s as if it is in a can. Prepackaged and ready to use. Always stale, never fresh.
I had heard that the wave originated, or at least became a phenomenon, when it became popular at Tiger Stadium in Detroit during the 1984 season (the last time the Tigers won the World Series). But since I grew up in Detroit, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some unjustified boasting involved.
As for the wave outside the U.S., I know British crowds at Wimbledon did it the year that heavy rains forced soccer to be played on a Sunday, which meant letting the “commoners” in to centre court. It looked like a great time!
I agree the origin was at the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium in about 1981. Its cool to hate it now, but it was pretty cool when it was new.
It’s described in the Bible: John 3:17
Which may explain why Rainbow Man may have gone nuts and ended up like a Tarantino script.
What’s with those “John 3:16” signs that people hold up at football games?
I saw it for the first time in a Notre Dame at Miami game when Gerry Faust was the head coach. This would have been 1981 or 1982. The announcers called it the “Hurricane Wave.” During which one of those years did Notre Dame visit Miami?
After reading a 1984 newspaper story about the controversy, back when the wave was a national phenomenon in the US, I have to go with the Oakland A’s and “Krazy” George Henderson.
It was established at least as long ago as 1981.
I say this because I participated in one at Philly Jam '81 (or possibly 82…). The bands were: The Tubes, John Cougar, Brian Adams (he SUCKED), Sammy Hagar (pre-Van Halen), and headlining, Journey.
It was a loooong day! But we did the wave, and it wasn’t a new thing at the time…
It’s common practice at the cricket here in Australia to chuck stuff in the air as you’re doing it, often near (but not quite) emtpy plastic beer cups. Had it’s day a long time ago.
in France it’s called the “Hola” which makes me think that, like the Brits, the French first saw it in the Mexico world cup. I don’t do soccer, especially as it’s not really a family atmposhere in the stadiums if you know what I mean but almost every rugby union match I’ve been to here has had at least one - more if the standard of play is boring or one team way ahead of the other. (Mind you the Paris team, Stade Francais encourage that sort of thing, they have a theme song and sometimes cheerleaders too.)
I once heard (I can’t remember from whom) that the wave started at Gallaudet University (a school for the deaf), as an alternative to applause that the deaf players would be able to notice more easily. However, I can’t turn up a single cite for this online, so I doubt that it’s true.
