Which one of you was this guy?
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Whistlers say they've been threatened by ESPN, fans[/h]Tracking down the Vandy whistlers isn’t easy. Many opposing fans think they are one person, so they’re perplexed and incensed when whistles come from different directions.
A few years ago, Pack said he was assaulted from behind by a Mississippi State fan in the parking lot outside Hawkins Field after the final game of a series. That fan, Pack later learned via Twitter, had been looking for him all weekend.
But who knows if the fan’s ears were bleeding from the chirps of Pack or Franklin?
The Vandy whistler needs to be taken out back and summarily executed.
— Stephen Roddey (@rowdyroddey67)
April 30, 2018
The most publicized incident involving the whistlers
occurred at the 2014 College World Series in Omaha, Neb., during Vanderbilt’s national championship win.
Pack and Franklin were whistling constantly during the game, and the ESPN microphones hanging overhead picked up every shrieking sound during the broadcast. They both say a security guard and an ESPN staff member threatened to toss them out of the ballpark if they continued whistling. An ESPN spokesperson denied that claim at the time.
At last year’s SEC baseball tournament in Hoover, Ala., a female Ole Miss fan marched over to the Vanderbilt side of the stands and told Pack that her friends back home watching the TV broadcast demanded that he stop whistling.
He replied, “Well, I want the (Mississippi State) cowbells to stop,” and kept whistling. She smacked him on the shoulder and returned to her seat. The incident gained traction immediately on social media, as nearby fans took up for the angry woman and the whistler.
The Whistler stays as long as they allow those awful cowbells.
— andy⚓️ (@Nvrgvup15)
March 24, 2018
At a Vanderbilt-Mississippi State game in Starkville in March, Franklin said a fan got face-to-face with him and grunted, “I’m about to knock you out.” That fan ultimately was ejected, according to Franklin.