‘Stupid screaming bird’? Count that as bulletin board material for Gamecocks vs UK
A lot has been made this week about the crowing rooster sound clip that’s played over the Williams-Brice Stadium loudspeakers during South Carolina football home games.
Kentucky has blasted it during practices along with the “Sandstorm” song that’s become an anthem for all Gamecock teams. A UK reporter asked coach Mark Stoops about staying focused with “that stupid rooster crowing out there.”
One website went as far as saying the “stupid screaming bird” gives the Gamecocks “the most annoying football stadium in America.”
First-year Gamecock coach Shane Beamer offered his response to it all this week. The Gamecocks are using it as motivation for their SEC home opener, and they’re hoping the fans do as well.
“Hey @ericnichols .....What’s our record for the most times we’ve ever played that “stupid screaming bird” during a game ?? Let’s DOUBLE it tomorrow night Thx,” Beamer posted on Twitter to the athletics department’s director of marketing.
“On it,” Nichols replied.
The Gamecocks host Kentucky at 7 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2) with a capacity crowd expected.
The rooster crowing noise is played in various intervals during a home game’s countdown to kickoff. It’s used more often through the game — including on third downs for the defense, after South Carolina scores and often while “Sandstorm” is being played.
The internet site Barstool posted about USC’s rooster sound tradition earlier this week, saying “Sandstorm” is fine but calling the crow itself “the most annoying thing in college football.”
“They play it all the ... time. They play it so much that Rocky Top seems like it’s barely played,” a Barstool author wrote. “It’s just the worst. ... Yeah, I’m sure South Carolina fans love it. The rest of America should hate it. It honestly ruins the cool thing they have with Sandstorm.”
Kentucky Sports Radio posted a video to social media of “Sandstorm” and the rooster crow being played at Wildcats practice this week. Stoops said he did it to get his players acclimated to the noise after playing without big crowds in the 2020 season.
“We do have two classes and a significant amount of guys that haven’t been in this environment,” Stoops told reporters Monday. “We are going to address it. I’m not going to overdo it, but they have to understand.”
Beamer said he hopes the Gamecocks over-use both on Saturday.
Darude’s “Sandstorm,” which started being used at USC games in 2009, is traditionally played just before kickoffs. Beamer isn’t opposed to have it played more often during games.
“We don’t play it enough, in my opinion. It’s one of the things unique to South Carolina. We started it,” Beamer told ESPN Louisville during an appearance on Thursday afternoon. “It seems like all kinds of teams and programs across the country in different sports like to play ‘Sandstorm’ at their games. We know where it started. It started in Columbia.
“I hope they’re going to hear it a lot, the (Kentucky fans) that make the trip.”
