Football traditions.

Flynn4Heisman

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2006
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I very rarely post anymore (hell, I can't even remember the last time I did), and I just react like Hot Wheels does with all his "Dumbs" in the politics forum (everyone else is saying what I'm thinking so why say anything at all).

But I'm curious as to the origins of some of our traditions at football games.

Where did the grinding/moving the shoulders to the beat come from? I don't know the song's name (I know, I should), but you know exactly what I am talking about.

Where did the "Whoop Whoop" with the increasing speed of the drums come from?

And most of all, when did "Juicy Wiggle" become a thing?

Years ago, my father and I were at the game, and the then moved student section (that season) started doing the Juicy Wiggle.

I was so confused. Still am about it's origin.

I still love the "Shoulders to The Beat" (I didn't know what else to call it), and "Whoop Whoop" though.

They can never be replaced.

Yes, I know I will get some sh*t for this given my username, registration date, etc (Yes, I know I should have known the answers already), but I was never really curious until now.

Also, can someone please explain the origins of "Don't Know The Words To This Stupid F*** ing Song"?

I first heard it at the UNI game as a 26 year old student in the student section in 2013, and I got angry. Show some respect.

Apparently it's a long running joke though, so I understand.
 
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Not sure what song you're referring to on the shoulders/grinding one, but can maybe help in varying degrees on the others.

Whoop whoop is actually named "Cowbell"... don't know if there's more of a story to origins / crowd motions but I think it just started as a drum cadence for marching band and I know it's been a thing since at least 2001. Google AI seems to indicate mid 90s origin, which seems believable, but I'd want outside verification before stating as fact.

Juicy wiggle was released in 2015 and I think got adopted fairly shortly thereafter but maybe not immediately. I might guess it became a staple 2017ish. My recollection is that I was originally aware of the song's existence from following new music as a DJ, but it had largely faded / never gained critical mass in terms of mainstream popularity before becoming a standard at football games.

"Don't know the words" is actually "Go Cyclones Go". Which I think was an original composition written for the band some decades ago... lyrics adapted/swearing added by student section at some point, and popularized to the extent that the revised version is what everyone knows it by.
 
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I was at Iowa state around the time when juicy wiggle started. It started the officially 2018 season with the night game against WVU. The dance was something students in the front were already workshopping a bit but it really didn’t catch on until that night game. It was the perfect storm of atmosphere, throttling a highly rated team, and song that fit.
 
Juicy Wiggle started the night of the WVU game in 2018 (Purdy's first start). At the time, everyone whipped out their phone lights and people were going nuts, and it was really cool. It got to the point where people would pull out their phone lights to any "techno" type song becasue they thought it was Juicy Wiggle.

Post pandemic is when some freshmen in the front row tried to start the cringy arm "dance" thing, which itself is not original at all. Heck, I remember being in my high school basketball student section back in 2012 doing the same exact arm "dance" to random songs. As games went on, more and more joined those freshmen until the athletic department had to insert themselves and all but put an ad on it, which imo has ruined it.

The song goes "move your hips and dance like fish" not "pump your fists to an unoriginal arm dance".
 
Is it the "Watcha gonna do ISU?" song that you are referring to here?

I remember learning this at a Destination Iowa State in late 2000s and they called it "Cyclone Aerobics" or something like that, but that was the first time I put a name to it but I know it's much older because I know I saw it on TV plenty of times before that.
 
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I was watching a replay of another game in 2018 that was prior to that West Virginia game and they played Juicy Wiggle. So West Virginia wasn’t the first time. But West Virginia was what made it stick. That moment remains probably a top 5 moment for me in Jack Trice. It was pure magic.
 
"Go Cyclones Go" came with Jimmy Howard Reynolds when he became the band director in the 70s. He came from Louisiana Tech and they use the same tune (at least they did the last time I saw them on TV), though they presumably call it something else!
 
Also, can someone please explain the origins of "Don't Know The Words To This Stupid F*** ing Song"?
They played it in the early 90s when I was there. At that time it was “I don’t know the words, and I…don’t….care..”
 
Was that the one where Grier took egregiously long sacks by continually running backwards?
He took sacks instead of throwing it away because he wanted a good completion percentage and low number of picks. Passer rating doesn’t factor in eating the ball or throwing it away to avoid lost yardage. So eating the ball helps your rating while throwing it away hurts it.
 
I’m pretty sure the “Cyclone Aerobics” originated towards the end of Mac/Chizik.

I have a vivid memory of Jeff Johnson being on the field with the band teaching the crowd a bunch of cheers; I don’t remember if it was pregame or halftime.

The “duh-duh-duh-duuuuuuuuh-GO CYCLONES”x3 thing, Cyclone Aerobics (the song with wiggling), and the Cyclone Power chant were all taught, and there were a few others which didn’t continue for long.

“Go Cyclones Go” is just one of the many fight songs we have. The band people started the words for the explicit version about not knowing the words. “ISU Fights” is the “main” fight song. We also have “For I, For S, Forever” (which sounds like Go Cyclones Go a bit, the band plays it after field goals and extra points). Also there’s “Sons of Iowa State” which they do a snippet of during pregame; this one is also done by the all-men choir Statesman at each concert.

Juicy Wiggle was born against WVU, as discussed above.
 
I remember hearing the Juicy Wiggle song at JTS long before I knew what it was. As I recall, there was a game where Purdy used a dead-leg move to score a TD in the SE corner. After the game, I heard an announcer call the move a "juicy wiggle." Only later did I learn that the song was called Juicy Wiggle.

I recall a game in which we scored quickly twice in a row, perhaps off a quick TD after a kickoff fumble recovery . . . and they played Juicy Wiggle twice within a few minutes of clock time. That really cemented it in my mind.

It seems that we may need guidelines for how Juicy Wiggle is used in basketball. For instance, only use it in the second half. Only with us in the lead. Only after we have gone on a scoring run of 6+ points. Only during a timeout for which there will be enough time to get to the good parts.
 
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I recall the student section having our keys out for kickoffs and during expected key plays back in the late 1980s, but more recently my kids when at ISU said the student section will now hold a shoe in the air as an alternative to keys. I am wondering when that became a thing. I am assuming it was because a lot of students didn't have keys, but I don't really know. I am pretty sure the shoe thing wasn't a thing in the 1980s, but I don't know that for fact.
 
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