Crazy Justin Idea - Silent Treatment (With Surprise!)

Ok, this is actually a Crazy Justin Idea that I have actually tried out - with exceptional results. The idea is when the visiting basketball team is shooting a free throw, instead of having the home crowd go bonkers, screaming, yelling, and clapping/waving hands trying to distract the shooter and cause him/her to miss, you do the exact opposite. That is right, instead, you have the home crowd go deathly silent. Not a peep in the entire stadium. Then, right when the player bends down to take his/her shot, a single person in the crowd makes a very loud and audible "farting" noise. This can be done through mouth or hand-to-mouth (preferably not an actual passing of gas).

Now, in high school, I actually got the high school fans to embrace this concept. We were able to get the crowd go completely silent, and then one of my friends (from our collection of "Super Fans") would be assigned the task of making the audible farting noise. I know that this at least was absorbed by players as you could see them smile or chuckle even as they were going through their follow-through. It definitely was a more effective strategy than the popular strategy of trying to create as much noise as possible (which, as a result, becomes white noise to the players). Also, by rotating the "farting" noise responsibility amongst the fans throughout the bleachers or stadium, you also create a subtle element of surprise, as the noise will be coming from different directions with a different "pitch", volume, and length. You may also elect not to "fart" every once in awhile, to keep the players off balance (players like consistency). Finally -just stating the obvious - it is incredibly hilarious. Both young and old can enjoy a good "fart" joke.

We also implemented this strategy during women's basketball games. The results were so effective (and hilarious) that they were (predictibly) banned immediately by our school's athletic director. Apparently, we had "pushed the envelope" too far. Unbelievable.

P.S. What inspired me to bring this up was reading Bill Simmons's (The Sports Guy) book, "The Book of Basketball". 

In it, on page 342 in footnote 95, he says one of three things he wants to see during an NBA game was, "the arena going dead silent before a key FT attempt from an opponent (would totally psych out the other team)". Well, Mr. Simmons, if you are reading this, I know that it works. I also know that adding the "Surprise!" element is doubly effective -- and unbelievably hilarious! Cheers!