Poll: Cow bells, Am I the only one who HATES them at races? Options

[hillbetty]

When ever I hear cow bells on a race course, I always think the people ringing them have good intentions and are trying to cheer on the runners. That's why I can never bring myself to scream "can you please stop ringing that thing?!!" or snatch the cow bell out of their hand if I'm close enough.

If I'm running easy in a race, I find the sound annoying but bearable. But if I'm really working, that sound just makes me tense and distracts me. Am I alone?

[bad_karma_dude]

I'm with you. But then again, I find much of the common "encouraging" behavior exhibited by race viewers annoying. Among my personal pet peeves:

- The guy sitting in a lawn chair banging two short pieces of 2x4 together
- The assclowns who yell "last hill," or "it's all downhill from here," at the top of the first hill of the course
- Those who yell, "You're looking strong!" at the point of the race where it's obvious to everyone that you're toast and all really want to do is die with dignity. I have actually yelled back, "Oh, shut up!" to these folks. Feeling like death does not put me in a good mood.
- The generic "Let's go runners!" comment. Please. If you're going to yell something annoying, at least put some effort and/or originality into it.

I guess it's an individual personality thing. Some people crave and feed off of the energy of the crowd. I'm pretty much self-contained and tend to get tunnel-visioned during a race. I could really care less how many people are lining a race course, and I certainly don't pick races based on crowd support.

[General Discussi...]

I'm going to jump on a mini trampoline wearing a cowbell jacket and no pants at both of your homes tonight. Late.

[hillbetty]

I'm going to jump on a mini trampoline wearing a cowbell jacket and no pants at both of your homes tonight. Late.

Are you a cow? I've never minded cow bells too much when they're on cows. :-) Then again, I've never seen a cow type on a computer keyboard, wear pants or a jacket (or consider wearing/not wearing them an "option"), jump on a trampoline.

Even if you're not a cow, the good news is that I don't plan to run a race late tonight. So I think your gleeful act of self humiliation will be great for laughs. Can you bring some good beer with you?

bad_karma_dude: I agree that what bugs us depends on personality. But I'm with you about:
- Noise makers of any sort (those plastic hands clapping really annoy me)
- The "last hill" screamers -- but it bugs me more now because of the tales of woe I hear from beginner runners. I just ignore those people. Let's face it, there's a reason they're saying that and NOT running, right?

No matter how rotten I look or feel (which is generally pretty bad on both counts when I'm racing), I don't mind people claiming I look strong/good. :-) I generally don't mind unoriginal phrases to cheer me on -- EXCEPT when one person repeats the exact same phrase over and over again like the needle has hit a scratch on an old vinyl LP. Then I want to scream "shut up!!" (but haven't yet).

True confessions... I'm a dead middle-of-the-packer. And one of my favorite "friendly heckles" to the fast runners who I see running the other direction (either to cool down or to find slower friends on the course) is to tell them "you're going the wrong way". Lame to say, I know. But it amuses me. And sometimes that's the best I can do -- just keep myself amused.

[RD1]

I found myself in the position of being a spectator at the Resolution Run in January, my "home field" race. To be honest, after running all these years, I didn't know what to say, so I said most of the things above. And we didn't have a cowbell but found some other noise makers. I'm sure that Dmit is tired of hearing me say "Let's go Hot Peppers" by now.

How can you not like the cowbell?

[Husker Runner]

[Mike Schieffer]

How can you not like the cowbell?

Having been in Longhorn Band for four years, I have to say I LOVE THE COWBELL!! You will not survive even one fall semester in LHB if you do not want MORE COWBELL . To quote the great Bruce Dickinson (AKA Christopher Walken), "Guess what?! I got a fever, and the only prescription... is more cowbell!"

[hillbetty]

Good point, Mike. I usually like cow bells when they're part of musical arrangements. I love the cowbells at the beginning of this golden oldie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68i4tMmv9F4

I just don't like when people rattle them at me when I'm trying to run a race (well meaning though those people may be).


On a separate note... No sign of trampolines, Generals or beer at my place -- not yet...

[axel]

At all my races in the States I have never heard anything that qualifies as a cow bell. Hamster bells perhaps ...
These are cow bells:

(Jungfrau Marathon in Switzerland)

[Comet]

The only time hamsterbells bug me during a race is when I'm a spectator and the sounds of the bell never go away. Augh.

If I'm running a race and find something annoying, it's great incentive to go a little faster.

[hillbetty]

HA! I *finally* watched the SNL video. Hilarious!!

Many thanks and much karma to rsecker who pointed folks to this URL: http://www.geekspeakweekly.com/cowbell/data_search.pl

And thanks RD1 for not pointing out how (unwittingly) unoriginal this thread turned out to be. :-)

--betty

P. S. Despite the SNL video, I still love my TDN song.