Getty Image / Sean Gardner
Teams pumping in crowd noise is no new thing. After all, home-field advantage and crowd noise matter. Teams want every advantage they can get. After all, the Atlanta Falcons were actually penalized by the NFL for pumping in crowd noise in 2015. Of course, they pump in cheers, not boos. Why would you pump in boos for your home team?
It’s clearly not cool to pump in crowd noise, as if you’re going to have a home advantage it should have to be organic. I don’t even like piped-in music at college football games. But, the New Orleans Pelicans were accused of pumping in something entirely different.
The Pelicans were accused of pumping in boos
In a bizarre scene from Sunday night’s Suns-Pelicans game, Suns TV announcer Eddie Johnson accused New Orleans of pumping in boos.
Eddie Johnson wasn't buying all the boos for Chris Paul in NOLA pic.twitter.com/BFqFHUiWbf
— Brandon Contes (@BrandonContes) December 12, 2022
His comments were just bizarre.
“They are booing, but they got a machine in here that kinda echoes the boos, okay?” he said. “Alright, trust me, this crowd is not as loud as it seems. And they’re loud — I’ll give their respect. But they got a machine in here that’s really working wonders, man. I’ll tell you that right now ’cause I’m looking at people’s mouths, and they’re not saying anything, but yet, it’s a lot of boos.”
I’m going to guess that they were not pumping in boos to boo franchise legend Chris Paul. Mr. Johnson sounds off his rocker.
The Pelicans beat the Suns for the 2nd straight game, 129-124 in overtime.