COLLEGE FOOTBALL

End Zone: BGSU Falcons

'I gotta have more cowbell'

10/9/2013

In a famous Saturday Night Live skit, Christopher Walken once said, "I've gotta have more cowbell." Clearly Walken has never visited Davis Wade Stadium.

Mississippi State's home field will come alive with the sound of cowbells when the Falcons visit Saturday. This week BG's practices have featured cowbells blasting on the speakers to prep the Falcons for problems besides hearing loss: The din makes play-calling and defensive adjustments harder to make, and snap counts can be missed. The SEC banned "artificial noisemakers" in 1974.

The cowbells remind me of my favorite college traditions. After Central Michigan scored its first basket, the students threw rolls of toilet paper onto the court — enough that everything in sight seemed to be covered in a blanket of snow. In the late '80s the MAC adopted a rule that awarded technical fouls if CMU fans threw toilet paper. The practice soon stopped.

A few years ago the SEC allowed Mississippi State to bring back the cowbells, and I hope someday the MAC allows fans to throw toilet paper after a basket. Why?

When it comes to the traditions that make college sports special, I agree with Walken: We need more cowbell.

Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.