Wiki has it down to Krazy george at an As game in 1981. I vaguely remember reading on here that we've done it earlier at Memorial Stadium, any input on the subject?

More worryingly, some UW fans have claimed the origin of the wave in 1981:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_%28audience%29#University_of_Washington

:wave

Krazy George was doing it at San Jose Earthquake games in 1973--I was there and saw it with my own eyes!

The wave originated at a Village Idiot's Convention in Eastern Europe in the late 18th century.

Boredom?

The first place I saw it was in person at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. I remember it really taking off at that point. I am sure, as others have mentioned, there were earlier origins.

bearister;841903523 said:

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The wave originated at a Village Idiot's Convention in Eastern Europe in the late 18th century.

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That is some good signage by 18th century standards.

BerlinerBaer;841903581 said:

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Boredom?

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yes?

The A's

Bearacious;841903512 said:

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Krazy George was doing it at San Jose Earthquake games in 1973--I was there and saw it with my own eyes!

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This is what I had heard previously.

This is what I've always heard and this is from Wiki.....

Quote:

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A number of wave stories have been suggested for numerous events, including the following. The wave was done later at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and adopted by the National Hockey League in Canada in the late 1970s, then introduced to a wider audience (intentionally) in October 1981 at a Major League Baseball game in Oakland, California, by Krazy George, and gained notoriety at American Football games in Seattle, Washington's Kingdome stadium.[citation needed] The wave was created in Vancouver, British Columbia by a marketing campaign for the local soccer team the Vancouver Whitecaps, in which they got the crowd to perform this for a commercial in which their slogan was "Catch the Wave

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Quote:

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Krazy George

Some claim that the first appearance of the wave was a section by section cheer at a Major League Baseball game that was led by professional cheerleader Krazy George Henderson in Oakland, California on October 15, 1981, in an American League Championship Series game between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees.[2][3]

Krazy George believes that the wave originally was inspired by accident when he was leading cheers at a National Hockey League game at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His routine was to have one side of the arena jump and cheer, then have the opposite side respond. One night in late 1980, there was a delayed response from one section of fans, leading to them jumping to their feet a few seconds later than the section beside them. The next section of fans followed suit, and the first wave circled the Northlands Coliseum of its own accord.[4] Krazy George then perfected the method for initiating a wave cheer with the Edmonton fans, and carried the wave with him to other venues, culminating with the aforementioned televised Major League Baseball game

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Back in the 60's, the Cal Student section used to do the wave from the bottom of the stands to the top.

:wave

UDUB has also claimed to be the source of "The Wave" but I believe Crazy George beat then to it. I was also at one of the A's-Yankee Playoff games 1981 where fans did the wave (they really were enthusiastic and knew how to do the wave). The wave had definitely been around before then.

The first wave was when all those escaped Roman slaves kept jumping up and down saying "I'm Spartacus!"

Calfans;841903894 said:

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Back in the 60's, the Cal Student section used to do the wave from the bottom of the stands to the top.

:wave

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The night before either the 1980 or 1982 Big Game (I don't remember which) we practiced the Wave in the Greek Theatre at the Bonfire Rally going from the bottom to the top. The next day at Big Game we started doing it, bottom to top and the students started yelling, "Go around!!" so we started it from one side and watched it go around Memorial Stadium and were amused to see the Stanford section join in. It was definitely the first time I or anyone I knew had seen a Wave.

I believe even the Husky stadium claim is only bottom to top (they have a stadium that is multilevels and open on one end. The Crazy George claim is with him pointing at each section. Thus, I do believe, whether ours came first or not, it was the first true, around the stadium, Wave.

Hitler was teaching the wave to young nazis in Germany. The fact that we are following it only shows how militaristic and brainless we have become.

Bearacious;841903512 said:

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Krazy George was doing it at San Jose Earthquake games in 1973--I was there and saw it with my own eyes!

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Krazy George better update that Wiki page then.

If Wiki is saying "1981" as the earliest year of origin, but KG was witnessed doing it 8 years earlier at soccer games, then he better get credit for it and leave no doubt.

Our Domicile;841903961 said:

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Krazy George better update that Wiki page then.

If Wiki is saying "1981" as the earliest year of origin, but KG was witnessed doing it 8 years earlier at soccer games, then he better get credit for it and leave no doubt.

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LOL....I think he is just kidding OD since the Earthquakes didn't exist in 1973 though there was some NASL team way back in 1974 which folded. The current Earthquakes came back as the Clash in 94 and then became the Earthquakes in 1999.

Pretty sure it began in Mexico, hence the reason the official term is pinned as "The Mexican Wave".

Cal88;841903511 said:

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Wiki has it down to Krazy george at an As game in 1981. I vaguely remember reading on here that we've done it earlier at Memorial Stadium, any input on the subject?

More worryingly, some UW fans have claimed the origin of the wave in 1981:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_%28audience%29#University_of_Washington

:wave

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I don't know if it was done any earlier, but I definitely remember Krazy George leading the crowd in the wave at an A's game I attended in the spring of 1981.

FrankBear21;841903965 said:

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Pretty sure it began in Mexico, hence the reason the official term is pinned as "The Mexican Wave".

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I think the term "Mexican Wave" actually became official in....1986. It was because of the worldwide media exposure generated by the World Cup in Mexico during that year.

If true then this guy pictured below still might have some sort of "inventor rights" for the phenomenon by predating 1986 by 5 years or so. Check out his Cal jersey. Nice!