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[Joe_Strand]

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[hawkssb04]

It's not him. Just a poser. However, I forwarded the links to these threads to the real Joe Strand so he could get an idea of what the fans really want and this was the response I got.

"Although no one has been willing recently to come talk to me directly (I’m quite obvious and open at Portal 2), someone told me that a group had been complaining on a forum about Joker and the Thief. I emailed Kyle about this and had a conversation with one other person at a game last year. I also know a small section in the recent alumni who yell at me during games, and I try to notify them by signals when it will be played. Thanks for the links. Good to know where it is at.
As for picking the music, I’m not responsible for that anymore. The new marketing department has made sweeping changes from previous regimes that you might have noticed: different signage around town, the tailgate area at football, new signage at the Dee, and many more promotional commercials/contests at time outs.
Part of the changes also include scripting out the entire game, every timeout. This includes what video and promotional material are played on the board (which is why there is less crowd shots and more “sponsored by” on the video screen), and the song selection for introductions and each time out (thus the playing of stupid-Cotton Eye Joe, Moves Like Jagger, etc. every game at the exact same point of the game). Excluding this are the extra :30s near the end of the game (they can’t promise these to sponsors, that’s how we get Joker played in the close/intense games), but many times, such as Monday, these time outs go unused. This new marketing direction isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just means less time for spirit squad, band, and canned music that is secondary to the time out sponsor.
Basically I’m just pushing buttons now. I’m not, nor was I ever, a DJ. You guys give me too much credit in that regard. You should be able to distinguish a significant tempo change when the scheduled time outs run out, and I can begin to play that which isn’t scripted, generally about the final three breaks post the 4:00 media time out.
For the record: Never would I choose a Nickleback song for the introduction. I grit my teeth every time and simply do what I’m asked.
As for using Joker for the intro, I agree with everyone on the forum. It was a great introduction song. I started playing it in the 2005-6 season before, to my knowledge, it was even released as a single. It was awesome for many years. However, as great as it was before tip off, we lost so much momentum after the music stopped, and went so the slow, rhythmic clap, and then everyone sat down after the first basket, and then the arena wide excitement was wasted (save the first few rows of the student section) into the doldrums of regular timeouts. In 2009-10, three seasons ago, Joker and the Thief was promoted to a time in the game when the impact actually matters, when the excitement and energy that comes from that song translates into the entire crowd, when they can and will all stand and cheer not only throughout the song, but into the game play as well: these are the times that the team needs it most. I’ll be the first to agree that the song that replaced J&T that year was not the best, it was too complicated for the fans to catch onto the chant part.
That was my mistake; however, the past two years have been much better, and personal feelings aside, the Nickleback song has people standing up and clapping. Isn’t that what people really like about Joker? It isn’t the song, it’s the way that everyone participates and gets loud and makes them feel, and yet, I see (some of) the same people that complain about Joker not participating with the intro song, sitting on their hands and not clapping with the music. I would think that all big time fans would do that which they can to get the rest of the crowd into the game, and wouldn’t need to be assisted or queued when to cheer like the bench-side of the arena does.
I hope this answers some of your questions. I can’t change the intro song, nor the early time out songs. This is the direction they want to go right now. But I promise to play J&T as many games as I can, when needed. There was no need to play it Monday, that game was over on Sunday morning. I’m in the same place every game, and I’m at the Dee every day of the week, or email me at [email protected]. Feel free to stop by tomorrow and I’ll show you the script and be honest and open and take as many suggestions as you have, and I’d enjoy meeting everyone instead of hiding behind the internet.

Thanks for taking the time to contact me.
Joe

PS I did a quick search through the forum and saw that it would seem I’m enemy #1. How exciting! Glad to take the heat. However, as you know, don’t believe everything you read. For example, I was disappointed to see that I was blamed for not saving the Vicotory/Dew tree. Sadly, I only had one person ask about the tree, and that was an intern with the athletics department, not a forum poster, after the tree was gone. I can’t promise anything with state funded projects like that, but I could have at least asked for the tree, in the very least the wood so that someone could have made something with it. Hope that this group finds a new location and a new tree to hold their pregame activities, it sounds like a fun time. But once again, that goes back to contacting us as opposed to posting on a forum. We are able to do favors and cool things all the time for people, compared to other locations on campus, we hope we’re a little more community friendly at the Dee; we know and value what a special place this is for the people of Northern Utah...

Surprisingly, he was very informative. Although I don't agree with some of his points, especially the part about WSU fans supposedly not voicing their views to the athletic department, he did take the time to respond about this issue. Sounds like we may have been pointing the finger at the wrong guy.

 

[weberwildcat1]

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Not cool and obviously not the real Joe. Banning user for slander/libel/hating...what have you.