U Of Wisconsin Trying To Curb Profane Chants At Games

October 14, 2011 /

Madison – Wisconsin officials routinely rave about the atmosphere inside Camp Randall Stadium.

Athletic director Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema, in his sixth season as head football coach, laud the student section for its support.

Yet after more negative feedback from people who attended the Big Ten opener against Nebraska, including Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne, Alvarez and Bielema on Thursday sent out an email to students again asking them to stop engaging in vulgar chants.

“You don’t want profanity,” Bielema said Thursday night after practice. “We’ve had to restructure where we sit recruits because if you come into the stadium for the first time and you’ve never heard it, it’s kind of shocking.

“And we’ve got so many positive things. We’ve got a great student section. It has an effect on the game.”

Bielema stopped short of saying the vulgar chants have cost UW a recruit.

“It didn’t help,” he said. “It’s not a positive thing. I get a lot of emails. The ones that get me are when it’s a parent that’s got a small child and they have to explain what is being said or try not to explain what is being said.”

Bielema lauded the students, who filled up their sections long before kickoff against Nebraska.

“I made the comment to coach (Alvarez) last week how much I thought our kids were affected by coming out and (seeing) the student section was full and loud.”

Bielema also praised the student’s rendition of “Build Me Up Buttercup,” which drew the attention of ABC-TV’s announcers.

“That’s unbelievable,” he said. “I had a couple buddies who had never seen a game here before, friends of mine from Kansas State, they were just blown away by that.”

UW officials included links to two videos in the email – the students singing “Build Me Up Buttercup” and engaging in “Jump Around.”

Bielema wanted to include a link to a third video – the students chanting obscenities.

“I wanted to put the third video of the chant,” he explained, “and say: ’Which one do you want to have represent you? We’re going to show this to your employer. . . . Which one looks better?’

“The university didn’t want to put that in the email, which I understand.”


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