It's time for Stars on Sports! A podcast-radio show dedicated to sharing stories about our athletic program at Lansing Community College. LCC athletics has a strong tradition. 24 national championship wins! Over 170 All-Americans! 19 MCCAA All Sports trophies! Stars on Sports will introduce you to individuals that have contributed to our program success and give you the backstory on what it takes to develop it. We'll also dive into and break down the topics and issues facing athletic departments across the nation and right here at LCC. This is Stars on Sports! Podcast radio show dedicated to sharing stories about our athletic program at Lansing Community College.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Tarzan Sports. I'm joined by our assistant athletic director Steven Cutter and our producer Jereny Robinson. And today, gentlemen, we're going to be talking about traditions. And in sports, traditions are a big part of our culture, of our contest events and just life in general. And I'm sure you have a thought that comes to your mind when you think of traditions and it's pretty important part of sports even here at LCC, whether it's things we just do on a regular basis because we've always done in sport such as the national anthem as Jerry and I were talking about before. We've talked about the post season, post game handshake on podcasts before and there's some symbolism and that we'll dig into a little bit with even that tradition in sports and how some sports do it differently. Music has become a big part of sports traditions. But um, you know, it's one of it. It's, I think it relates because it's how f it, it brings the whole team community together. It's, you know, that I think the main importance behind a tradition is that that team's identifier, that team, you know, their tradition, their bond and bond was the key word I saw when I was researching the history of sport traditions. It creates a bond among that team. And now as sports has such a big following, it's not just the team, it's the people that follow that team and or the rivalry of that team like or dislike that tradition, mock it or find one of their own to like up it. So any initial thoughts on, you know, I mean in baseball there's a lot of this, the, you know, take me out to the ball game and the, the seventh inning stretch. Harry Carey that's one of the top traditions in sports history. If you in according to most.

It was always interesting too because I was able to be a part of a few of those seventh inning stretches and the Cubs a lot of times were not a very solid baseball team. But you Saw the whole, you know, everybody come together that was at the field for the seventh inning stretch and take me out to the, you know, the ball game. And so I think those traditions are kind of unique. To each their own. But I think in general, we all have traditions and we have family traditions like Thanksgiving and, you know, and then there's the sports ties into Thanksgiving because there's always football. Yeah, Thanksgiving tradition, Thanksgiving football, there's another tradition that kind of ties in. Into that. So I think just in general, as people, we are, we enjoy the traditions. And you're right, it does bring people together, whether it's with family or with sport.

And I think you hit on a key point talking about the Cubs in the sense of they weren't good. And this was one thing that you could come and enjoy and watch and, and get excited about. You know, that that seventh inning, we're all going to. Whether we're winning or losing, and most of the time losing for a certain period of time, we're going to stand. And I wonder if even that's how traditions start sometimes is to help bring something to the table that might be missing in the other part of the contest.

The Browns had the dog pound, right?

They do and they've had. They still have it. Yeah. You know, hard to have a Browns mascot. So the dog. They have a dog as a mascot, but yeah, it's a Cleveland sports fan that's, you know, Brownbacker dog club. You know, you just. That's you're related as being a part of that dog pound and, you know, and other teams have followed suit. There's many dog pounds out there now. I wasn't even thinking of my Cleveland sports teams. I think it more Michigan sports teams or LCC. I think Michigan has one of the ones in college football where they run out and touch the banner. The M club supports you, which I like. At the end. Club is all the student athletes. So they're out there supporting the football team. But that, you know, in researching this, there are a handful of other ones in college football that are significantly more known and celebrated and respected. And in college football, that seems to be a lot of traditions.

So you are a baseball coach and I was wondering, because I know basketball does it, but I think you guys were doing it first. The handshakes, the baseball handshakes that all the different players do you guys still do that?

Are you talking post game handshakes with the other team or.

No, like the team hand. Like y'all, like each player, like got a special handshake with. That's a long handshake that they do.

You know, being a coach, at some point, I felt an inferior, you know, very inferior with, you know, not knowing them all and having to work on them and turn into players and, you know, what's this? What's that? You know, And I think, you know, somewhat joking in that. But it is a thing and it's a tradition. And baseball is very tradition rich. And I think probably most of the sports are in general, and most of the traditions like that we've talked about are, you know, great traditions. But there are plenty of traditions that aren't great, you know, that don't make a lot of sense, don't necessarily help anybody, but you still do them, you.

Know, and that's a great point. Journey. I was watching our softball team, LCC softball team, play an opponent last spring, and their coach did a different handshake every inning. Same handshake with each individual, but a different one for all nine individuals as they ran out into the field. So she stood halfway between the first baseline and would do, you know. And you see it in basketball, too, at the introduction. They, you know, the starting five each have something, and there's usually one of the players at the end of the line that they.

So there's team stuff, but then you're talking about basketball. There's. I always, I think of, like, LeBron. That's another chalk.

Yeah, that's crazy. He knows every handshake of. Different handshake of each of his teammates, and they all do a different one.

But his chalk routine is an individual.

Yeah, that's classic. Yeah.

Yeah, it is a classic one. According to the sports traditions, how he starts every game, Steph runs real fast.

And then he stops right at the front of the padding thing in front of the basketball room. He does that.

I wonder if some of it's superstitious, too. Like they, you know, they've done it. And like you said, there'd been some failures out there. I don't, you know, know them, but I did write failures down of, you know, teams playing songs or doing some, you know, some traditions with cheers. And then they, you know, decide.

Did you ever run into this? Because in football, it was a big thing on the upsets to take the goal post down. Did you run into that at the high school level ever?

No, we. We did have issues. We had strict rules about not rushing the field after the game. We did have a school plant a flag on our field after the game. That was a really messy situation that created Animosity on the field with everybody. So we worked real hard at the high school level of not rushing the field. And I'm not sure I'm. I'm so. I support that. And in college now they have that. But under big games, you know, you're a student at that school to have some celebration. It's just how you orchestrate it. And even seen it in college basketball, where some schools get the team because the opposing team is in the Fischl. They're probably the team you have to worry about the most. You got to worry about your own players, but they're usually in the celebration. But just orchestrating it so you can get them off the field or court safely so that the rest can celebrate. And at Mason, we would bring our. We tried to get everyone to come to our student section instead of our student section going out to everyone else, but we never. I don't remember ever go post. You know, I've been a part of rushing the field as a college student in that before.

But were you on the goalpost then?

I was.

You were not.

Those are dangerous. They're, you know, they're in the ground. Submitted in. And, you know, there was just a team the other day a couple weeks ago in college football.

Did they find one in a river?

They did, but they carried it through. They got it out of the stadium, took it down to the Vanderbilt a couple weeks ago when they upset Alabama.

Wow.

First time they've ever beat a top five team in school history. And now they're selling things from the goalpost and as a fundraiser. So, you know, that'll be a new tradition. Making money off of. Off of traditions.

But Michigan State, they like to make campfires.

Yeah. Burning couches was a big one. See, I try to make it.

You can say burning stuff. Yeah.

Campfire. Right. But even some cheers at some college games you hear that include swear words and such. I was a big Michigan hockey fan and they had a cheer after.

I thought you said cheer. I was thinking of Bobby Knight.

Well, that's not. Good thing. That didn't become. Become a tradition.

Not a tradition.

Fourth moment in history. I don't think anyone else has tried to follow suit, although I guess there probably has been, but. Yeah. So you even see it at our level, you know, some of the standard tradition that every sport does, as you mentioned, handshakes and such, but each team, I think, has some of their own that they like each new team does to try and build that bond again or that community among their team. Is that something that you know, more player led, you think, or do you think some coaches try to.

I think it's probably a mixture of both. I know that we had a home run tradition.

That's the one I wanted to remember, actually. Yeah, right.

Basically just canceled it this season. So just one of those things like that you need to rewire stuff at times. And some. And that's what I mean, like some traditions are fine for a little bit, but I think what makes the great traditions is the longevity piece.

Okay.

You know.

Yeah. And there had been some long ones. I mean, they talk about, you know, like the Ohio State started dotting their eye in 1936 and their last home game, their band bells out Ohio and a tuba player gets the dot I. And that's like one of the biggest honors. And Trish tradition in their band. It was a trumpet player in 1936, but now it's one of their biggest traditions. That's pretty cool. Even Michigan now, which I like, they sing Mr. Brightside at the end of the third quarter and 100,000 people singing a song is pretty cool.

That is a very famous college song.

Is it? Yeah.

When I DJed, they used to love that song.

I didn't know much of it. And Michigan just played it on a whim probably about five, six years ago. And it went over so well. They started playing it every week. Wisconsin has jump around, Virginia Tech has inner sandman.

Oh, wow.

So there's a couple other ones out there where singing a song at a stadium is a big part. You know, it really started even with traditions, you know, how mascots and school colors became part of integrated in sports where, you know, building that identity and be, you know, getting a tradition going, which is huge for us. I mean, we identify with our royal blue and gray and our mascot of the stars and that's a, you know, that you don't see that. I mean, companies are starting to, or not starting. They do have logos and, and brand colors, but I would think that really started in athletics over time.

I think traditions are just a natural human behavior thing. And without going like super deep into the psychology piece of it, we enjoy traditions in the same stuff. I'm sitting in my chair today for stars on sports and I'm six inches to the right. And it's different for me. We think about other traditions, you know, to think about. What do you think about for Thanksgiving? What do you eat?

You know, that's our question at the end of the podcast. No, it's.

So we're very tradition based routine and it feeds into that routine and makes a large difference. And then when you see more people get behind it and say, you know, hey, this matters to me too. Then there's that piece of unity.

Well, unity is huge. But you also tied on, I think, two other key opponents of traditions and that participation that people can participate them. I mean, tailgating has become a big tradition in sports, and we've even had it at our events. You know, people coming together and, you know, and then it passed down from generation to generation. Back to your point of longevity. Some of the best traditions stand over time. Again, the Steelers in the terrible tower or the. In the English Premier League, they do these chants and sing songs of the whole stadium throughout the game. And, you know, that started in 1963, so. But it did. Now they do it every game. You know, that's, you know, 60 years later. So. Yeah, so I think it is about participation. I think it is about sending it down from generation. Generation. Even as you talk about on your team is that's one thing that connects the new student athletes with the current ones is teaching them those traditions or bringing them into those traditions. It does unify your team, and it brings excitement. They're fun. I mean, they're usually pretty cool to be a part of. And again, back to, you know, we are a business of routine. That is much. I mean, almost not synonymous as tradition, but you could. You could interchange them a little bit. I believe you've.

We've kind of talked about a lot of things that are traditions, but it made me think, as we're talking about this a little bit, you know, college football, Keith Jackson, college basketball, Dick Vitale.

Those were big.

Yeah.

So people, Right. Can really be a large piece of that issue. It's not necessarily groups, but it's. A certain person's tied to a certain thing.

Yep, those were two big ones. And, you know, and it's also carried over into every sport, you know, and let's get ready to rumble. And boxing, drinking milk after the Indianapolis 500.

The green jacket for NASCAR.

Oh, yeah, that's a good one.

Start your engines. Was another big one. Yep. And used to be, gentlemen, start your engine. Now that the sport is diversified, just start your engines. And usually a celebrity from that local area get the honor of saying that the green jacket and the masters. So the ceremonial first pitch at baseball.

Yeah, that's. Celebrities get to do that.

The Lambo leap. I mean, just. There's just so many. Like you said, it could be a famous personality, it could be a person that is a part of that sport. And it could be someone you bring into and you make them a part of. Of that sport. So I think those. The Gatorade shower, you know, the dump.

The big Gatorade, dumping on the coach. You like that one?

Most coaches don't now. They look out for it because they don't. And, you know, now you even see the, you know, the locker rooms, how they protect them after big wins because of, you know, celebrating there.

So what y'all feel about the human wave? When you think, when did the wave start?

That's a great question. Yeah, great question.

That wasn't on any of my one. But I like it. I like, you know, I like it.

I like it better when there isn't a lot of people and they're still trying to do it.

I like Michigan Stadium. They usually get pretty good at coordinating it where they. They do it like normal for a couple of laps and then they go the other way. And then they do it really fast and really slow, and then they get it going both directions. Yeah. So, you know, it's even carried on to more creative. But again, I think it's popular because it's participation. Crowd participating in the event. And you see some people there that don't stand up or just sit. And you're right. It's even funnier when there's only one section doing it and, you know, they can't get the other group groups that do it. Or it keeps going. Then all of a sudden a big play happens and it just dies right there. But it's part of the event, and that's something we've worked hard to do, is make the event more entertaining and even harder because the entertainment part, some people are staying home and not watching it on tv or. I know tailgaters that go in tailgate and watch it at the tailgate and don't even go into the game with technology and having big TVs there. So, yeah, I think it's pretty neat because traditions are formed every day. New ones are being formed every day, every year. Some are getting. I'm gonna miss that home run jump by our bench. That was a cool one for LCC.

We have a lot of really cool pictures from the years of doing that.

The dog pile, a huge one for baseball.

Oh, wow. Yeah.

Again. And that had. Injuries have happened from that tradition, of course.

Yep. We had a. In 2017 when they dogpiled, they had one of their players get significantly hurt on the bottom of the pile and was out for the World Series.

Crazy. Wow. Yeah. Not good. Not A good tradition, but we still dogpile and you just try. You still have to do it, orchestrate it and make it the best you can. But yeah, so. But it's okay to maybe transition another one, then come up with new ones and some failures, you know, as an ad, you worry about some traditions, Even some of the chants that are said, you're like, no, we can't do that one. And even music being played. We've, you know, talked about music, how, you know, if it's not a great song or, you know, it can be a flop.

So I like the new like age camera traditions like the dance cam.

Yeah.

And the kissing cam where they go into the different couples and stuff. That stuff is hilarious.

That can go sideways though too.

It can go sideways. There's been. That's what makes money. Yeah. The highlights that are out there on social media are usually the ones that did go sideways or. Yeah, you're right. Technology has helped with again, back to making the event fun, getting participation in the event beside just the athletes that are out on the, in the arena doing it. And when you're paying big money for a ticket, I mean, there's probably some merit the creating that environment. And it seems like, you know, almost every sport or stadium has some kind of tradition. I mean, you even see animals involved like Colorado bringing that buffalo out or Oklahoma with their horses that have gone sideways. You know, and it could be as simple as like, you know, at our cross country team, our coach gets in the huddle and it's a great day to be a royal blue, is his saying.

Okay.

You know, and just so it can be as simple as that to get your team together and, and again celebrate your mascot or your, your school colors. So what, any favorite traditions from you real quick before we go into. When you think of off the top of your head.

I think I kind of spilled all the ones that I had on the top of my head.

I got to.

Okay, good.

All right. So the first one I think is one of the craziest traditions, the bull run. When the people like they release the bulls and everybody start running. I think that's the craziest thing ever.

Once again, it's the failure of the.

People that run over that everybody wants to see.

Yeah.

But yeah.

Second one is when a wrestler ends his career, he leaves his shoes on the middle of the, really the middle of the mat. I seen this because watching the olympics and this 42 year old, my Jen Lopez won his fifth consecutive gold medal. Fifth consecutive. And he wrestled one last time in his Olympics and won. And then he left. He left his shoes on the mat and then walked away. That's the tradition.

Is that pretty cool?

How old would you be if you didn't know when your birthday was?

Yeah, yeah, Very cool again. And you can. You can relate to it and you can celebrate them. And I've already shared mine, too, but I'm going to hit a couple other that we didn't touch on. Even in the sport of swimming, they bleached their hair or shaved their heads right before big meet. That was a big tradition at my previous job from a strong program. You know, the stripe out. You see at some of the games now that are, you know, what they do with fan and shirts and just, you know, creating a cool scene in stadium that I think a new thing. And I talked about Mr. Brightside. And then the other one is the hockey beards or baseball beards in the postseason and mullets in the. In the state of Minnesota when their high school hockey tournament. And, you know, high school hockey in Minnesota is one of their, you know, biggest sports. The hair pictures that come out are crazy in March, but it's fun and exciting. And again, sometimes, again, we deal with tradition going too far and, you know, turns into hazing or something. And we don't want to go there because I think traditions are a big part of sport, and they're a big part of all levels at the high school, LCC, college and pro sports. And it's one of the ways, as we talk about sports, bring people together. This might be the number one way that, that, that does that.

I got one more.

All right.

This. This is because it's like, this brings me joy every time. He didn't do it this year because he's about to get. He's. His contract is up, so he wanted to be smart, But Jimmy Butler's media day photos.

Okay.

Yeah. Y'all seen any of his media day?

I think I have. I don't remember. I'm sure.

So one year, he put fake dreadlocks in his hair.

Okay.

And then the year before that, he straightened his hair and put, like, black eyeliner looking like a punk rocker. Like, so he does something crazy for media day. So, like, every time, like, they show him on tv, they use the media picture. It looks like this wild dude.

But he broke the tradition. He's not doing that anymore this year.

I think because he had to get serious because his contract about to be up. So he wanted to make sure he shows that he can control.

Okay, but you hit on A couple of key points of a tradition. He was doing something every year and it brought you joy. Yeah. You know, it is a unifier. And then some people might not like it, but again, I think that's even where the. The rivalries things come in because that, you know, can create, you know, a tradition or a different kind of tradition. So. Okay, so great stuff on tradition. We might carry that into some other things in the future, dive into that even further, because I think it is such an important part. But I got a question for you. Today we're going away from food a little bit, so I got these questions that, like, would you kind of. So my question today is, would you rather be the best player on a losing team or the worst player on a winning team?

That one's pretty easy from my standpoint. Winning. Winning is a lot of fun and is joyful, and losing is the exact opposite of it. So I think it's rather be the worst player on a winning team any day of the week.

Okay. What about you, Journey?

Man, I'll be the coldest towel boy. I just realized, hey, let's go.

Yeah. And I figured that was probably an easy one for us because I have other ones that aren't sports specific. And I agree, because being the worst player on a winning team still might mean you're pretty good and you might be the best player, you know, on the other team. But winning, being around winning definitely is a good tradition to.

It's a great tradition.

It makes you better to rounding yourself with people that are. Well, that was an easier one. I'll get harder next time or we'll go back to food or something. But until next time, go Stars.

Stars on Sports is recorded live at the WLNZ studios. Engineering and production assistance are provided by Daedalian Lowry and Jereny Robinson. You can listen to this episode and other episodes of Stars on Sports on demand at LCCconnect.org to find more information about our athletic program, visit LCCstars.com thanks for listening. Go Stars!