A change has had mixed reviews among Penn State wrestling fans in the last two dual meets.
Starting with the Indiana dual meet a few weeks ago, music has been playing during matches in Rec Hall. Some fans voiced their displeasure of the music during the Indiana meet, and it also continued into the Ohio State dual last week.
Many initially thought that it was event workers at Penn State forgetting to turn off the music when action had resumed. It turns out that the idea of playing music during the action came from PSU coach Cael Sanderson.
“Rec Hall is awkwardly quiet, and so we need some noise in there,” Sanderson said.
Sanderson said he didn’t hear anyone say anything about the music during the Indiana meet, but he did hear it for the Ohio State meet last week.
“If people made more noise, we would turn the music off,” he said. “It’s just so quiet in there. You can hear a 4-year-old kid up in the corner yell ‘we are.’ And if that’s the case, it’s too quiet. It’s awkward. This is a sporting event. Let’s make some noise, you know?”
It certainly wouldn’t be the only sporting event where music is played during the action. Music is part of the show in NBA games, and walk-up songs are very popular in MLB games. Even in between pitches, something is often played over the public address system in baseball.
“We’re trying to just make it less awkward so you can talk and have a conversation with somebody sitting next to you without everyone in the arena hearing you,” Sanderson said.
Penn State wrestling is at Iowa later this week. The next home event is the Bryce Jordan Center dual meet against Rutgers. It’s hard to say if music will be played during bouts at the BJC, but Sanderson made it clear for the next dual meet at Rec Hall.
“The music is not coming off. We like it. We might crank it up a little more,” he said.
