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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Another 'copyrighted' cheer

I am writing to make evident another cheer performed at our football games that is clearly a signature cheer at a different school. I'm talking about the different parts of the stadium shouting, "We--Are--N--D" in response to cheerleaders holding up the respective signs. To anyone like me who has been an avid Penn State fan for most of his life, this cheer completely infringes upon Penn State's trademark "We Are Penn State." For those oblivious to Penn State's cheer, the song officially called "Kernkraft 400" by Zombie Nation is sometimes played in Beaver Stadium after a good play, and there is a point in the song when the entire stadium (100,000+) chants in unison, "We Are Penn State" If you are still skeptical, a quick Youtube search for 'Penn State Zombie Nation' might be worthwhile. Now don't get me wrong - I would pick ND above Penn State any day, and so I have no complaints about just the student section doing the "We Are (clap clap) N.D. (clap clap)" at appropriate times, but the official cheerleader cheer that gets the whole stadium saying it needs to be eliminated. The concept of the entire stadium chanting "We Are..." is, I believe a Penn State tradition.

Piyush Ranade

sophomore

Dillonl Hall

Sept. 29