“Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear…” — Opening monologue by unknown announcer in 1950s TV series, “The Lone Ranger Rides Again.”

When I attended high school football and basketball games in my teen-age years, I didn’t want to join in the chants from the stands, led by cheerleaders. Too often, they just didn’t seem consistent with what was going on in the athletic arena.

So I often sat in areas away from the customary cheering sections, in areas where I could make my own comments in reaction to what I was watching unfold.

I just couldn’t get into the old “school spirit” part of being a spectator, with such lame chants as:

• “All the way down, all the way down, all the way down the field… hey!”
• “First and ten, do it again.”
• “See that basket, see that ball, come on fella, hit the wall.”
• Beat ‘em, beat ‘em bad.”
• “V-I-C-T-O-R-Y, that’s the Wildcat battle cry.”
• Hit ‘em again, hit ‘em again, harder, harder.”

There were others, too many of which were more like taunts than chants, continuing the great American tradition of playground belligerence boasting, “We’re better than you are.”

When I later covered Albion College football and basketball games, I noticed a better show of cheering by entire sections of students and later learned from my other favorite sports editor, Peter Radowick, that students liked to go to the games to hoot and holler.

One of my favorites:

LEADER: “Hail Albion!”

CROWD: “Hail Albion!”

LEADER: “Hail Albion!”

CROWD: “Hail Albion!”

LEADER: “Hail Kazoo?” (That day’s opponent)

CROWD: “Hail No!”

There was some taunting going on here, but it was more amusing than offensive. In fact, “Kazoo” fans at the game chuckled as well.

This improvement has seeped down into the high schools now with entire Wayland High School cheering sections replacing the old tired traditions of cheerleaders. There’s a fresh emphasis in the Battle of the Fans on cheering loudly, proudly but positively for your own team.

It really is an improvement. The old cheerleading system is nearly extinct with its programmed routines and sometimes irrelevant performances. Cheerleading these days is focusing more on athleticism and gymnastics-style competitions. In days gone by, cheerleading instead was a social system in which the cutest and most popular girls ran the show.

“I hear those secret whispers everywhere I go, high school spirit’s at an all-time low.” — Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, 1967

My old colleague and friend Jon Gambee one night on the football field sidelines tried to prove a point when he told me to ask a sideline cutie what the score was. She answered me with that deer in the headlights look, “I don’t know.”

Gambee’s point was that too many cheerleaders in those days were only interested in their own egos, not in paying attention to the fortunes of the team.

But now it seems that crowds have gotten more sophisticated, not satisfied with programmed mindless chants that mirror those of the other team’s cheerleaders. It’s been a pleasure to watch the hordes of students who hoot and holler together for a good time on the sidelines.

Sometimes their stuff is amusing and entertaining. Sometimes it’s puzzling.

But as long as they focus on encouraging the boys and girls who represent their school rather than on belligerent hubris, I salute their efforts. And I’m glad we’ve made progress.