Why are we making fun of our own fans?

[WuDrWu]

Her hair however was all kinds of amazing - and not in a good way.

Epic.

[SpanglerFan316]

I'm not a fan of these promotions; in my opinion, they highlight things we should not highlight. Visitors to CKA might leave with the impressions that

• WSU fans leave early ("don't leave early" video)
• WSU fans wear other teams colors/shirts ("What not to wear")
• WSU makes fun of Shocker fans ("Crazy Hair")

The crazy hair, if it was for the best "Shocker Hair" (Gold or Gold & Black) and came with a prize, would be great. The Kiss Cam is dumb. The towel race is also dumb. The recliner shot contest is lame; why not see if a fan can dunk the ball? Overall, the promotions need lots of improvement.

[SHOCKvalue]

Epic.

For individuals who did not see the hair at CKA, Marge Simpson a representative sample. While actual lady's hair was obviously not quite this ridiculous, you'd be surprised how close it actually came.



I post this with the disclaimer that I don't know the lady in the video nor do most who saw her on Saturday, and I have not posted her name or an actual image of her, so I don't think I'm really stepping on any toes here.

[WuDrWu]

If that were white, I think you'd have nailed it.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

I'm not a fan of these promotions; in my opinion, they highlight things we should not highlight. Visitors to CKA might leave with the impressions that

• WSU fans leave early ("don't leave early" video)
• WSU fans wear other teams colors/shirts ("What not to wear")
• WSU makes fun of Shocker fans ("Crazy Hair")

.

Its kind of hard to NOT give that impression when that is EXACTLY the way things are...

I had to go out of town (coincidently to Omaha where I wore nothing but Shocker yellow and looked at EVERYONE with a fiery passion) and my girlfriend was going to the game with a friend of hers. She happens to be a KU fan and I told her if she wore anything remotely related to a Jayhawk I was going to hold her down and giver her a swirly...

FWIW it's Im with @ShockerFever: on this.. I understand not making fun of the elderly for various reasons... But seriously, unless its an obvious defect then everything is fair game..

[martymoose]

I'm late to the conversation, but I have to admit, I felt very uncomfortable for that lady when she "won" craziest hair. I felt like someone in the marketing/promotions department really dropped the ball on that one. Not only did they make fun of a fan...embarrass her in front of friends, family and strangers, but wasn't the entire target a MALE fan??? They kept saying let's find the craziest hair on a guy, but kept singling out women and then a woman won. Everyone sitting around me was asking "I thought a guy was supposed to win" Another guy in front of me said "That's not cool" in regards to embarrassing her. Hopefully whoever's in charge of that doesn't make a mistake like that again.

As for singling out fans wearing other schools, I'm all for that.

[wu_shizzle]

I'm in the camp of not making fun of seasoned citizens with "crazy hair" or the sartorial choices of those with disabilities. It's just not funny.

Now if you're a kid with "crazy hair" or a college age student with a KSU sweatshirt, lower the boom.

[Kung Wu]

1) If you weren't there, then you don't realize how bad it was. The lady was not laughing, smiling, or anything. And the camera just stayed on and on. You'll just have to take my word for it, it wasn't cool. Given that more than 50% of the posters on here feel the same way, you can see there is a problem with it.

2) I think the cause might be as simple as someone telling the dude on "Camera #3" to choose a person with goofy hair and left it up to interpretation with no guidance. Probably just bad judgement on one cameraman's part -- easily fixed. All they had to say was choose a person with intentionally goofy hair -- problem solved.

3) Some of you are really worried about what the 100 visitors to CKA think about our production? It has ramped up big time this year and if the 10,400 crazy Shocker fans are loving it, that's what it's all about. Any visitor who comes to CKA and sees the production and fan support as it has been, that walks away thinking we are small time based on 1:30 seconds of videos -- well they're one taco short of a combo platter.

4) I haven't seen near as much cat or beaker stuff. Not NEAR as much. I think the Final Four fixed that trend nicely. There will always be a few, because there will always be guests that show up that have no allegiance to WSU -- and that's cool. But the black and yellow are drowning them out this year.

[CBB_Fan]

I do not feel that the main worry should be how we come off to opposing fans. Those events aren't shown on television and we aren't likely to see more than few fans from other teams in our sold out arena, and those fans are almost certainly going to be more concerned with how their team plays against us than our time-wasters during the pregame.

What I AM concerned about is the reactions of our own fans. Every shocker fan should feel comfortable attending our games, and media promotions that detract from the game should be avoided. The crazy hair thing was obviously uncomfortable for the woman that was targeted, and that by extension made many in the audience uncomfortable. Not okay.

On the other hand, the don't leave early video was fine. It was high quality and actually funny, and I don't care what an opposing team fan thinks about it. If we play that against against a conference opponent I think they'll more likely be impressed by the giant scoreboard, video quality, and the general talent of our media market than the fact that it makes fun of some of our fans. And that is only if they aren't too busy worrying about how badly their team is losing!

So a big NO to those dance-cams, kiss-cams, and crazy hair-cams. But our marketing department should continue making high quality videos!

[EB 22]

I'm all for making fun of fans who don't belong in the front rows of the student section, sorry, I mean general admission.

[shockmonster]

You are kidding yourself if you don't realize that at least some of the beaker fans that wear the beaker clothes don't know what they are doing.

[Cdizzle]

2)All they had to say was choose a person with intentionally goofy hair -- problem solved.

I agree with you. But you can't tell me that wasn't done intentionally.

[kochHead]

On the other hand, the don't leave early video was fine.

I disagree! I never leave a game early, but I had to on Saturday. As I am walking down the stairs at the 12 minute mark of the second half a video comes on the screen, so I stop to see what the marketing department has up their sleeve this time. Needless to say at the end of the video I am embarrassed and feel I have been collectively shamed by thousands of people, and I was only half way down the steps...but I had to keep going. As I am leaving I pass Eric Sexton on my way out the tunnel and I feel as if he is judging me. Once I get to the exit all I can see is Wu's face staring at me...horrible experience. Plus, my grandma got called out in front of 10,500 fans for having crazy hair. Seriously, this happened. Well, everything but the grandma part.

[1972Shocker]

Plus, my grandma got called out in front of 10,500 fans for having crazy hair. Seriously, this happened. Well, everything but the grandma part.

Go ahead and admit it, it was your wife, right?

[Capitol Shock II]

I'm really enjoying this discussion and all of the wide ranging a passionate viewpoints. So I would like to weigh in. I thought it was funny and I enjoy the promo. I love to people watch and if you're going to leave the house in an attempt to make a statement be prepared for all possible reactions. When I show up at the games I know full well that I too may be a target of ribbing or discussion privately or publicly and if I can't handle that possibility maybe I should stay home.

Hair design is very superficial thing in my opinion. If you wear your hair like that woman and you like it that way than who the hell cares what other people think. If you're upset that people think it's funny than change it or don't attend. The choice is totally yours.