Hate the Wave? It Started in Oakland...

by louismg on Sep 2, 2006 9:24 PM PDT Comment 19 comments

During today's otherwise forgettable Cal vs. Tennessee college football game, the legendary Joe Starkey remarked that the 25th anniversary of "The Wave" was coming up, and that its origin dated back to the 1981 playoffs between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees, when "Krazy George" Henderson first successfully encouraged fans to stand and sit in unison to create a rolling wave effect.

Though I deplore the wave and refuse to partake in it for a variety of reasons, I thought the wave's origin was worth investigating, especially following the allegations it actually started in the Oakland Coliseum!

While some at the University of Washington would like to take claim for The Wave's creation, the events of Oct. 15, 1981 are not in dispute.

Joe Garagiola, former NBC sports commentator who called the game that day in Oakland, recalled the experience in a Nov. 15, 1984, article in The Dallas Morning News:

"I remember during the game that all of a sudden the fans started getting up then sitting down," Garagiola said... "As I remember, it looked the same or better than what they're doing now. Our producer, Don Ohlmeyer, was trying to get the cameraman to catch the wave, but he was always one sections behind. He (Ohlmeyer) kept pounding on him saying, `Get it. Get that thing.'

"I had never seen anything like it before. It was super."

Krazy George, or so he prefers to be called, had quit his teaching profession to become a full-time cheerleader. With the prospects of a full stadium and a national television audience, he seized the opportunity when the Yankees came to Oakland in 1981. Knowing the first attempt would fail, he told fans to boo each time it failed until they had a successful wave.

'I knew the concept because I had done it at high school rallies and hockey games,' he said. 'But [at the baseball game], nobody had seen it, so I had to get everyone organized. I could only yell as far as four to five sections so I told everyone, 'Once it starts, it will die. And when it dies, I want everyone to boo.'

'The first time it went about eight sections down, and I had about four or five sections booing. The second time we started and stopped, and a huge boo went out. By the third time we tried, it went all the way around once, everyone stood up and applauded and then stopped. I had to explain to keep it going. The fourth time, all four decks did it and it kept going.

'It was a great feeling. It's so powerful.'

The wave has expanded beyond its initial roots here in Oakland worlwide, to international soccer matches, and of course, more baseball. One article on the wave says Cuban dictator Fidel Castro tried it but stopped with his hands half-way up, likely because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. The wave also had been unofficially banned from Chicago's Wrigley Field as the San Diego Padres fans mercilessly repeated the wave throughout the 1984 playoffs. The Padres eventually won that series.

So, go ahead, hate the wave. I know I do. Despise the Southern California mentality of the wave and beachballs on the field. But now you know where it all started.

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Edmonton

The wikipedia article you link to cites KG as saying the Wave started in Edmonton, and he then took it to Oakland.

Boo Canadians! (except you, Rich Harden!)

by matthias on Sep 2, 2006 9:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Yep, started in Oakland

I was at the game.

It was not something that he brought over from another place. It was something that just happened organically.

Krazy George used to have individual sections stand and cheer. It just happened when he was doing that schtick.

I still think if Dwayne Murphy was not injured, the A's would have taken that game at least.

by Athletics Central on Sep 3, 2006 6:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I had heard that it started at a football game

by OaklandSi on Sep 2, 2006 10:32 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I hate the wave...

the only time I ever enjoyed it was the on July 3rd...fireworks day. It seemed appropriate that day for some reason.

by IM4Oakgal on Sep 3, 2006 12:31 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm surprised

you guys didn't know this -- but I'm an old-timer. I thought all A's fans knew the Wave started in Oakland . . . I'm sorry we ever created that monster, now I know how Dr. Frankenstein feels.

VacaAsFan

by Vacafan on Sep 3, 2006 7:10 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The wave's origin is indeed in dispute

and not as clear as you suggest.

Check this discussion out on whether or not it started in Mexico in soccer games in the 60's or 70's.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-21439,00.html

I've talked to many people who watched soccer games in Mexico before the 80's who say the wave was already being used. However, this is one thing Mexicans should let Americans take credit for. Cant' stand that damn thing.

by oaktownmario on Sep 3, 2006 9:44 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

May have started at a hockey game also

http://www.answers.com/topic/audience-wave

as told by Krazy George himself.

by oaktownmario on Sep 3, 2006 9:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i agree

i used to like it but then they waved it to death. i was very distracted friday night. i loved left field bleachers did the anti-wave to discourage. didnt work though

by smasfan on Sep 3, 2006 9:47 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Same here.

The wave is one of the most distracting things at the ballpark; the guy that got it started was a few rows ahead of me, and he wouldn't shut the hell up.

Damn wave.

"And it is not a comeback when it is GIFTWRAPPED for you..." -Rev, referring to the A's comeback win on 8/22/06; Hilarious.

by Boonee on Sep 3, 2006 11:41 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

From my personal experience...

I was very young, probably 7-8 years old. I remember sitting behind home plate in the 3rd deck in a game against the Yankees. It wasn't a playoff game.
Rickey Henderson got on first base and Krazy George had everyone in my section stand up and yell "GO!" and the section next to us to do the same. Then we did it. It was only 2 sections at first going back and forth yelling "GO!" because as we all now know, when Rickey got on first base EVERYONE knew he would be stealing. On the big scoreboard there would be "GO!"
That was my story on how the wave was invented.
Krazy F%&#$@N George in Oakland California. Personally, that's why I never resented the wave...and still don't. I just don't stand up everytime

"Who cares?" he said. "We won." - Swisher; "I like the moist sensation" - Zito

by Erik being Erik on Sep 3, 2006 2:49 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

bah humbug!!!

by kvn on Sep 3, 2006 5:24 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Bill king (RIP)

rolls over in his grave every time the wave starts at the Coliseum. He hated that thing.

by AlBowe on Sep 3, 2006 5:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The wave is one of the worst things about sports

"I hate the Angels"

by Vegas A's Fan on Sep 3, 2006 7:09 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The wave suxxx!!!

I doubt it started in Oakland too.

Bill James on Duane Kuiper: "It's absolutely incredible that a player this bad could be given 3000 at bats in the major leagues." -- Baseball Abstract, 1982

by blueconversechucks on Sep 3, 2006 7:54 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I was at that game.

I remember it well. I was up in the 3rd deck. It took forever for Crazy George to get the crowd to figure out what he wanted- he was running back and forth and screaming gibberish for inning after inning. Then, once the wave finally got going, the players stopped and just watched; play didn't resume until it was over. It was on the news that night- if it wasn't the first wave it was one of the first ones.

I was 15 at the time. It was kind of entertaining. Once. That should have been it. Now I am one of those grumpy old guys who hates the stupid goddamn wave.

And, speaking of Crazy George, I saw him at Lee Auto in Alameda a few years back. He was buying spark plugs. He wasn't very crazy.

"You can throw your cocks if I don't care!" - Iggy Pop

by AlamedaAphid on Sep 3, 2006 11:53 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Something seems familiar here..

link

It's a shame that families get torn apart by something as simple as wild dogs. -Jack Handey

by JediLeroy on Sep 4, 2006 10:43 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, Oakland.

"The first night, we were right there," Bradley said. "All we needed was a couple of touchdowns, and we would have had them."

by jeepers on Sep 4, 2006 6:56 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Rememberances of Krazy George

Thanks for the diary Louis. I often wondered whether or not he was still around, and now I know. I enjoyed him at the Coiiseum when I was first going to A's games, and I'm glad he's made a good living out of it.

As far as the wave is concerned, I don't hate the act of the wave, but most of the time I hate the timing of the wave. It usually comes when it's a pivotal point within the game, and you just want to tell the fans that start it what the hell were they thinking, and do you really need to start something to get the crowd up and running.

The perfect time for it? Any time during Sunday's game. After nine runs in the first there is no pivotal time, so wave yourself silly. I have no problem with it then. I'm not the biggest fan of the wave but I can tolerate it and understand that more people come to a ballgame to drink and have fun than rather watch the game in it's entirety.

The funny this is: does anyone remember in the late 80's when the wave would start and they would immediaely put on the JumboTron a picture of a wave with a circle and a slash? I remember that and thought "hey A's, unfortunately the inmates run the asylum. If they want to do the wave, something posted on the JT is not going to stop them."

Lance Armstrong can make homophobic jokes on ESPN, yet Harold Reynolds pays the ultimate price? Explain that to me.

by gmoneymcg on Sep 4, 2006 8:45 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Yes I remember

The wave with the circle and line, I believe that was done in support of Bill King's disdane for the wave. Other Krazy george stuff, loud wihistling, he would get the whole park to whistle. When the visiting team had a pitcher up in the bullpen, he would get the fans to go somthing like "Woooooop" when the pitcher would throw, and "woooooooo" when the catcher threw it back. Like him or not he could get the crowd into the game.

by billyball1981 on Sep 5, 2006 5:54 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs