Too much noise surrounds college games

FAYETTEVILLE — Here is a question likely to be answered with “they.”

Besides marketing directors and their minions, who enjoys the NBAstyle canned cacophony assaulting the ears of fans assembled to watch a college football game or college basketball game?

Obviously “they” do, say the marketers identifying the numbed fans as “they.”

It’s wondered here how “they” in the stands withstand a pregame under siege. It’s a siege of conversation-killing, ear-splitting, mind-numbing, nonstop noise blasted through sound systems apparently equipped to register from Fayetteville to El Paso.

Sunday’s Razorbacks Red-White game at Walton Arena became this writer’s basketball season-opening last straw after weathering four Reynolds Razorback Stadium football pregames that likely mass-produced migraines.

If the migraine symptoms emanated from their own authentic crowd noise, the crowd would love it. They did love it two games ago at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. By their own noise, with the canned noise ceased as the play clock started, the rollicking Arkansas crowd affected the Ole Miss Rebels struggling to impart signals through the fans’ spontaneous roar.

But loudspeaker blasted artificial noise has nothing to do with the attending crowd other than assaulting it. Blast music louder than rock concert decibels, and it doesn’t matter whether your football crowd is 7,000 or 70,000 or your basketball attendance is 20,000 or 200.

It all sounds the same: Overbearingly, oppressively loud and less inspiring the crowd than causing them to wish they had stayed home.

The pregame electricity of a big game, Hog calling, buzzing crowd used to be truly electric until unplugged by plugged-in amplifiers.

Admittedly this opinion comes from a 66-year-old curmudgeon but also one who grew up with rock music. I still relish attending a simultaneous Doors and The Who concert during which The Who bashed its instruments.

Loud music is the show for most rock concerts and what those audiences come to hear.

Sports fans aren’t coming for a rock concert. Yet like it or not — and the wagering here is that for most it’s not — that’s the noise level they are now subjected to endure.

The Razorbacks band, always a key football component and a significant basketball home-court advantage back when Jim Robken raced Hogwild through Barnhill Arena — now plays third fiddle to canned noise and commercials.

Arkansas’ game day atmosphere traditionally attracted fans to attend games, which otherwise can be watched at home with an unobstructed view on already paid for TV by an audience free to eat and drink what they want and when they want it.

If that stadium or arena atmosphere is a pointlessly induced earache before the game ever starts, then what’s the point of coming?

Also should there ever be an Arkansas home football or basketball version of last Saturday’s Auburn inflicted 56-3 debacle, surely the UA would throttle back the artificial noise during timeouts.

Last Saturday’s assault on the eyes was already horrific. It would be cruel and unusual punishment assaulting the ears, too.