We Are...White Out [Marshall]

by Kevin HD on Jul 16, 2008 8:49 AM EDT

I'm really enjoyed the visiting lecture series over at EDSBS, and especially this self defeating comment from Marshall blogger Herd Nation:

[reason number three why Cinci will fall at Marshall]

C) It’s a white-out! The latest success in our ongoing attempt to steal every single tradition from Penn State.

They need not worry, they aren't the first and won't be the last. It's amazing how that 2005 atmosphere still rings pretty loud.

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I don't think Penn State invented this cheer

For the Glory; National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994

by jesse. on Jul 16, 2008 9:29 AM EDT 0 recs

by cheer do you refer to the whiteout or the "We are... Penn State"?

The whiteout was first (well first time documented that i could ever find) done by the Winnepeg Jets

But I don’t know anything about the origin of the we are penn state cheer. Did psu created it, or did we steal it from someone else (aka Marshall)?

"Boy that student section now is up and really making a gigantic amount of noise. You see the sea of white, the white out. Well they are 2 minutes and 28 seconds away from the whiteout of the Buckeyes here tonight." - Ron Franklin

by rmcmillen50 on Jul 16, 2008 10:08 AM EDT up 0 recs

the white out

had been done before, but i think it’s safe to say the recent “[Color] Out!” trend you see nationwide is a result of the 2005 OSU game.

Kevin @ Black Shoe Diaries

by Kevin HD on Jul 16, 2008 10:33 AM EDT up 0 recs

Oh absolutely

by rmcmillen50 on Jul 16, 2008 10:38 AM EDT up 0 recs

I remember

back in ‘02 the nebraska game when LJ tore appart the cornhuskers

though it wasn’t officially called white out…I thouhgt it was called something like

operation Visine “Get the Red out” b/c there was a rumor of a bunch of nebraska fans trying to buy tickets and get the stadium more red than blue/white

not sure though just heard it from a friend…I was still at a branch in erie at the time

awesome game to watch though…my roomie and I did flaming dr peppers every time PSU scored…I got pretty damn wasted for that game

by Lion Alum on Jul 16, 2008 10:50 AM EDT up 0 recs

The most pathetic example

Was the 2005 “Maize Out” at the PSU-Michigan game. Does that even make sense?!

by tomatpsu on Jul 16, 2008 2:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

haha i know

I didn’t realize they tried to do that in 2005, but I was there last year when they did it. “Maize Out” just sounds funny. I must admit though, after white, gold probably looks the best of all the color outs.

by rmcmillen50 on Jul 16, 2008 2:24 PM EDT up 0 recs

great article

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2008/02/27/triplett_reflects_on_texas_tri.aspx

for PSU fans to learn where WE ARE came from…after reading it I am so much more proud to chant it when and where ever I can

as you can see from the article the PSU chant came along in 1946

as I can tell from internet research we are “marshall” didn’t come along until about the 1970’s and even that wasn’t directly related to the school…it was only made famous by the movie and the term “we are” was more so refering to the town sticking together after that tragic accident

as far as the other schools that use it I have no idea but PSU has to be one of the earliest

by Lion Alum on Jul 16, 2008 10:16 AM EDT 0 recs

nice find

While it doesn’t specifically state that the cheer came from Suhey’s quote, i think it probably did (after reading the article). I hope so at least, because that is a really cool story. plus that just adds to the legacy of the Suhey family with psu football.

by rmcmillen50 on Jul 16, 2008 10:32 AM EDT up 0 recs

so i did a little searching of my own...

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2004/08/08-11-04fs/08-11-04dnews-02.asp

That article says the chant probably wasn’t started until the 80’s.

by rmcmillen50 on Jul 16, 2008 10:39 AM EDT up 0 recs

God lord...

That dude (Lee Stout, head of public services and outreach of special collections for the university library archives) was obviously just guessing. Heck, I’d bet $50.00 he never even attended a home football game. He says, “I think it came into existence in the ‘80s or ‘90s”. The 90’s?? Come on, man!! It obviously came into existence before the friggin’ 90’s.

So, yeah… I wouldn’t trust anything he said… not for a second.

by BSM PSU 93 on Jul 17, 2008 8:44 AM EDT up 0 recs

Agree -

Lee Stout is a moron. I was a freshman in ‘87 and it was well into use long before I came.

by PSU Jen on Jul 23, 2008 9:57 AM EDT up 0 recs

I meant We are...Penn State

I recall reading that the “We are” cheer was not intoroduced at Penn State until the late 1970’s. I believe that Marshall’s use predates that. I also think that USC used it before us as well.

But I’ll tell you that I really don’t know.

For the Glory; National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994

by jesse. on Jul 16, 2008 10:16 AM EDT 0 recs

nd uses it as well

Kevin @ Black Shoe Diaries

by Kevin HD on Jul 16, 2008 1:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

i always heard

it started, but never caught on at USC.

by psudrozz on Jul 21, 2008 9:52 AM EDT 0 recs

That could be.

I honestly think that the cheer originated at Marshall, and then migrated to Penn State in the late 1970’s, where it was popularized by us. The confusion would make sense, because in 1970’s who ever heard of Marshall, which was a tiny D-2 program in West Virginia at the time (as opposed to a tiny D-1 program, but I digress), but at the same time Marshall is geographically pretty close, we shared common opponents (WVU) and we would have been a bit more in tune with the fallout from the plane crash for those reasons.

All that being said the “We Are” cheer in inexorably linked to Penn State, which is probably why it never caught on at USC. Hell we didn’t invent plain white helmets either, we just perfected them. It reminds me of when they tried to have the students do the gator chomp to the jaws theme in the late 90’s. I never understood doing somebody else’s cheer, even if it is cool (and that one isn’t).

I know there was an article in the Penn Stater Magazine about this. I don’t have it anymore and I can’t cite to it, but it’s consistent with this. It does not give Marshall credit, rather, it simply says a cheerleader brought the cheer to campus in, I believe, 1978.

For the Glory; National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994

by jesse. on Jul 21, 2008 10:29 AM EDT up 0 recs