The Wave
Krazy George claims to be the inventor of "the wave". He first used it as part of his cheerleading routine on October 15, 1981, while at a nationally televised Oakland Athletics American League Championship Series game against the New York Yankees. Krazy George states that the wave was originally inspired by accident when he was leading cheers at a National Hockey League game at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His routine was to have one side of the arena jump and cheer, then have the opposite side respond. One night in late 1980, there was a delayed response from one section of fans, leading to them jumping to their feet a few seconds later than the section beside them. The next section of fans followed suit, and the first wave circled the Northlands Coliseum of its own accord. The A's/Yankees game combined a full stadium with an energetic crowd, the ideal situation for a wave. After a few false starts, the crowd understood what Krazy George was trying to accomplish, and the wave circled the Oakland Coliseum, followed by several others during the game.
In the summer of 2000, supporters of the University of Washington demanded that Krazy George's website be taken down, as they claimed to have invented the wave at their homecoming game against Stanford University in 1981. However, as that game took place on October 31, more than two weeks after the nationally televised A's/Yankees game, Krazy George has refused to remove his site, and continues to claim the invention of the wave.
Read more about this topic: Krazy George Henderson
Famous quotes containing the word wave:
““Speaking of contraries, see how the brook
In that white wave runs counter to itself.
It is from that in water we were from
Long, long before we were from any creature.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“I sometimes compare press officers to riflemen on the Somme—mowing down wave upon wave of distortion, taking out rank upon rank of supposition, deduction and gossip.”
—Bernard Ingham (b. 1932)