Since N.C. State began its season by playing and eventually defeating the Miami (OH) RedHawks, fans of the Wolfpack were treated to a video highlighting the key players on the team, major landmarks within the campus and state of North Carolina and the tagline of the season: “This is our State.” Throughout the non-conference schedule, this trend never changed for the home games.
Once the conference schedule began against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, this video was played before the national anthem and was replaced in its regular spot with a new video featuring the P.O.D. song “Boom” and high-energy moments in the team’s games prior to ACC play.
“Boom” is an inspiring song for many sports teams, and with the lyric “here comes the boys from the south,” it is a good song for collegiate and professional teams in the southern part of the nation to use for their rally cries.
The only benefits of this newer video are the inclusion of freshman guard Rodney Purvis and freshman forward T.J. Warren in the highlight reels and the additional footage of other game-related celebrations such as the iconic “Wolfpack in the house” yell, the team in transit between the locker room and the court, fans celebrating in the seats and the cheerleaders entering the court with their flags flying high.
The original video has elements that parallel these particular points. For example, freshman guard Tyler Lewis is shown with the aforementioned freshmen with the iconic Bell Tower while being left out in the “Boom” video despite playing in all 16 games thus far. Redshirt junior Jordan Vandenberg, a scholarship athlete and the Brian Scalabrine of the Pack, is another State player shrined in the “Our State” introductions whose highlights were not included in the P.O.D. video.
Finally, nothing makes the impact of a video quite as lasting as the finale. “This is our State” finishes its minute-long video with junior forward Calvin Leslie stating the namesake-line and dribbling on the capitol building while a wolf howls, followed by senior forward Richard Howell making a dunk off of a rebound. From there, head coach Mark Gottfried receives a basketball, perceived to be from Leslie, making the well-known statement and throwing the ball containing State’s block-S logo into the camera where the ball crumbles. This ending sends a more powerful and inspiring message than Mr. Wuf sped up to where it appears he is having an epileptic seizure.
All in all, both videos achieve what they aim to accomplish, and that is to motivate the fans and the team to where PNC Arena is erupting with applause and cheers and to intimidate the opposing team. “This is our State” does a better job of this in the sense of originality and flexibility. “Boom,” while still a powerful and motivating song, has become too unoriginal for the Wolfpack to claim as the song behind which the team will rally.
However, this school is an institution that should stand out from the hoi polloi, especially in the state that has previously boasted Duke University and the other blue school on Interstate 40 as its run-of-the-mill collegiate athletic programs.
As Athletics Director Debbie Yow made clear in the firing of former head football coach Tom O’Brien and the hiring of the new head coach, Dave Doeren, this is a school that refuses to accept the status quo. Any normal school can use this track to pump up its fans, but this is not a normal school.
This is North Carolina State University.
