Here is my story of it. I was a freshman in the fall of 78. We went to every basketball game. At no time were newspapers a part of the pregame. That is until the Arkansas game in 81. Up until then we were trying to think of something creative like Michigan st who would chant as the opponents starters were announced by chanting "big deal", "so what", "who's he" and so on. At the time, there was an actual debate about being disrespectful of opponents. There was a debate in the batt about if it was sportsmanlike to yell at the other team while shooting free throws. We actually won the conference sportsmanship award at the 79 swc basketball tourney and a buddy I was there with laughed and said that was not a good thing.
I used to spend free time on campus in the bookstore reading sports magazines. Sometime in my freshman or sophomore year I saw a small picture of a basketball fan base holding up newspapers while the other team was being introduced. Looked pretty neat. But at that time all we did at intros was politely clap for the opposition players. But when the Aggies were about to be introduced, we would yell so loud that the players could not hear the intros. Players loved it and it was great.
So, at the Arkansas game in 81, we were the first ones in the arena and we decided to sit mid court halfway up. But at the base of the stands, there was a stack of battalions that were still in a bundle. Thinking back to the picture I saw years earlier, we started telling folks in our section to open the Batt's when the other team was introduced. We had no idea that people would do it. But we decided to move to the corner section of the arena for better viewing. We did the same thing with the students with the Batt's in that section. When the Arkansas
players were introduced up went the Batt's in the center and corner section. We punched holes in our papers to see what it would be. It was fantastic in those sections. Game sucked. Reggie roberts and Darrell walker got into a scuffle and later in the game Claude riley got ejected.
But by the next game, there was more paper participation, then by the next game it was full student section coverage. The Batt then wrote an article calling it a "trashy tradition" so students brought trash bags. It kept going through all of 82 when I graduated. I am glad it has kept going.
As far as other stories, I can't speak for games before fall of 78. And I can't say any of the other stories of 81 are not right. But this was how I lived it at the time.
