Here at KU, we eat, sleep and breathe college basketball. And there is no better place to watch a basketball game than at our own Allen Fieldhouse. However, there are a few rules to follow when attending games that might not be written down anywhere, but definitely need stating.
Here are some of the most important unwritten rules of going to a KU basketball game:
1. You Don't Pregame
We are really good at basketball. You don't need to show up to the games drunk to enjoy yourself. It is warm in Allen Fieldhouse (AFH), crowded and you stand most of the time. Alcohol doesn't mix well with any of that. If that still isn't enough, no one wants to smell the alcohol on your breath while you talk about how Andrew Wiggins wasn't really even that good, even though he really was. A common saying around Lawrence is that AFH is our church and Bill Self is our Pope. You wouldn't show up to church on Sunday hammered, so don't do it for basketball games.
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2. The song says "Home of the Brave" not "Home of the Chiefs".
If you want to tell them about how you thought the song should be changed to honor a football team, go ahead.
This one really gets me going. We go to the University of Kansas, not the University of Kansas City! Not everyone here is a Chiefs fan! Not only that, you are changing the words to the national anthem of our country. What do you guys have against "The Star-Spangled Banner???" Even Bill Self has said he wished students didn't say it. "I don't think that's good. I don't think it's anything we should be proud about as students to carry that on, because I don't see the place for it when you are honoring your country," said Self. WHY ARE YOU DELIBERATELY DISOBEYING BILL SELF?
3. Hug your neighbor during the Alma Mater (even if you don't know them).
The Alma Mater is a chance for everyone in the building to show how united we are and how this wonderful place has brought all of us together from all over the country and the world. Who cares if there is a weirdo next to you that you haven't met before? Put your arm around them, sway back and forth to the beautiful song and listen to the voices of your 16,300 closest friends. That being said, guys, watch how low on the back you are putting your hands.
4. If you are in the front row, it is recommended to paint your chest.
First of all, why wouldn't you want to??? Secondly, you are going to be on TV a lot, so if you want to be noticed, painting your chest is a good start. You can tell all of your friends and family, "I'm the guy with the 'A' painted on my chest, screaming at the top of my lungs for nearly two straight hours." (Hint: I actually am the guy with the painted on A in that picture... Go Jayhawks!). Also, you will be right behind the basket, and if the opposing team is shooting free throws, what better way to distract them than to have half-naked, painted people jumping around right behind the backboard?
5. On gamedays, we wear blue.
Wear blue. Not red. Blue. It looks a lot better to look around you and see a sea of blue rather than a lot of blue, some red, some white, some grey, etc. Definitely don't wear red because a lot of other schools' colors are red. So when those teams come to Allen Fieldhouse, their "away" jerseys might be a shade of red. For example, Iowa State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma all wear a shade of red on the road. While you might be wearing a red KU shirt, it's going to appear that there are more fans for the other team in AFH, and we don't want people to think that our fans can't fill up AFH anymore.
6. THERE IS NO WOO IN THE ROCK CHALK CHANT!!!!! EVER!
(If you woo, this is what you look like to me. If you don't know what this is, watch How I Met Your Mother, because you should have started watching it a long time ago.)
This is by far the most annoying thing anyone does in Allen Fieldhouse. I don't know when or how it started, but it needs to stop. Some fans, whether they don't know any better, or they don't care, like to let out a loud "WOO!" at the end of the rock chalk chant. This is completely incorrect. The building is supposed to be silent at the end of the chant so you can hear the "KU" echo through those historic rafters. At the end of games, the echo sends chills down the spines of the opposing team, letting them know exactly who they lost to and why. This is another reason to not be drunk at the games, so you don't make a fool of yourself and yell out in a drunken stupor. Some people honestly don't know any better, and that's fine, but they are missing out. So please, if you hear someone woo, turn to them and politely ask them to not ruin the full Allen Fieldhouse experience anymore.
