Cowbell Behavior Poll

ckDOG

All-American
Dec 11, 2007
9,832
5,494
113
Just curious to see how the masses view their cowbell behavior.
 

MrHooch

Redshirt
Feb 25, 2008
1,284
0
0
I ring when the opposing team is on offense until they get up to the line of scrimmage. I don't ring it non-stop, but I also don't let Mike Slive and the SEC tell me when I can show my support for my team.
 

russb7591

Redshirt
Oct 3, 2010
98
0
0
I chose E but I dont meant to do it. I keep the bell in my hand and when we have a big play i just jump and ring not even realizing it. Sorry SS and Ath dept.
 

SnakePlissken

Redshirt
Feb 24, 2008
1,322
0
0
I honestly don't really care about it any more.....Not because of the SEC either. I just don't want to have to keep up with my bell or go to the effort of ringing it. It is much easier to just yell and not have to worry about my arm getting tired or getting sore hands. I'm a late 80's grad so I am still pretty young.
 

ckDOG

All-American
Dec 11, 2007
9,832
5,494
113
That's implied since apparently that's the only behavior that can get us in trouble...
 

TheStateUofMS

All-Conference
Dec 26, 2009
10,305
2,340
113
I ring mine when the other team has the ball, but only during the UGA game. I was in upper deck for Auburn so I figured there wasn't much point and I would have been the only one doing it. I'm a student and the students in the lower level ring way more than the students in the upper deck on average. It really is the student's fault I would say and I am one, but I will be respecting the bell from here on out. I promise you that. I don't want the bell banned. If we bowl in our stadium we'll be about as loud as the other big SEC stadiums with just our voices, and I would rather be able to carry my bell with me and ring it at the appropriate times in the future. Respect the bell students, from one student to another.<div>
</div><div>I do ring and will continue to ring whenever the hell I want against non conf. opponents tho until that gets banned.</div>
 

TBonewannabe

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
1,262
0
0
I haven't brought it in but to a couple of games but I also rang it until they lined up. It is acceptable when they are in the huddle.
 

sleepy dawg

Redshirt
Dec 6, 2009
923
0
0
I go to each home game with a group of 5 of us. 3 of us, including me, have brought our bells to every game, and have not once broken the rules. The other two guys decided to not even bring their bells this year since they can't ring when they want to.
We sit in the upper deck east side. People up there tend to not be as much "into the game" as the rest of the stadium, but it still seems like almost everyone up there with a cowbell is breaking the rules except us... I really just can't understand why this is so hard for people to do.

I will not be bringing my bell at all for the remainder of the games in hopes that I can show people that you can make noise without a bell too... I doubt I will be able to convince anyone, but at least I can try.
 

Dawgdoc

Redshirt
Oct 26, 2010
2
0
0
hooch1275 said:
I ring when the opposing team is on offense until they get up to the line of scrimmage. I don't ring it non-stop, but I also don't let Mike Slive and the SEC tell me when I can show my support for my team.
+1
 

dimdawg

Redshirt
Oct 26, 2010
1
0
0
 

ckDOG

All-American
Dec 11, 2007
9,832
5,494
113
At the time of this post, 116 votes had been cast. Assuming that is representative of our attendance, only 30% of the fans don't carry a cowbell. That's likely a little low for 3 reasons: 1) internet posting fans are likely die hards and die hards often carry cowbells (increases pool of cowbell ringers), 2) children aren't responding to this (decreases pool of non-ringers), and 3) people that ring cowbells are more likely to respond to a poll titled "Cowbell Behavior Poll". I'd say in reality, it's closer to a 50/50 split. This stat really wasn't all that important for this purpose. I was just more curious of the response to it and didn't want to leave out the folks that don't ring cowbells.

Now, on to the ringing. First, the bad news. If you chose B, C, D, or E, you are part of the problem (that's me, too). 67% of cowbell ringing fans are contributing to us being fined and potentially losing our tradition. That's a lot of fans that have to do better.

The good news is that very people chose B - Ring Whenever I Please. That tells me that a small percentage of fans have a reckless disregard for the rules and couldn't care less. I think a lot of our fans have just lazy about this. We have either been ignorant to the real set of rules, or just think "a little ringing every now and again won't cause any harm, will it?" Well, ignorance isn't an excuse any more and a little ringing adds up quick when 67% of your cowbell buddies think the same thing.

I still haven't given up hope that we can change our behavior quickly. If the message is communicated the right way Saturday - on the field by Mullen and Stricklin - and it's made absolutely clear that you can't ring even AFTER big plays, we might be able to change a vast majority of the cowbell behavior. Naive? Maybe. We'll see Saturday.