My name is Mike and I have a sickness. I take tons of notes. I record the minute and meaningless. I rather like going back through old box scores and the play-by-play I took during a game. I either have too much time on my hands or I’m guilty of wasting time that could/should be spent elsewhere.

But this whole Cotton Eye Joe thing got me twisted. And I wasn’t alone.

The 25314 said:

Cotton Eyed Joe played during a stoppage in play at the 13:04 mark in the second half with WVU leading 41-37. Syracuse immediately went on a 9-0 run. That is all the ammunition needed.

Um, I circled that in my play-by-play. Twice (I’m awful, I know). Texts flowed shortly thereafter. Combine my aforementioned affliction with my appreciation for visiting other stadiums and arenas as well as my sincere disdain for CEJ and the wheels started spinning in my brain.

There are, as best as I can tell, at least 13 and as many as 23 moments in a basketball game where there is a pause and a possibility for music: A video montage on the scoreboard that shows the players and highlights, visiting team intros, home team intros, tip-off in each half, timeouts in each half at the under-16, 12, eight and four mark and as many as 10 timeouts.

For the purpose of this post, let’s say there are six timeouts called and 19 total opportunities.

Going on my notes, the pep band plays twice a half, the dance team performs once a half and there is one promotion every half as part of the planned stoppages. That’s eight claimed spots. We’re now down to 11 openings: Montage, two intros, the start of each half and six team or media timeouts we’ll split up as three media timeouts and three team timeouts (two for the opponent, one for WVU).

Let’s roll:

Montage: This is what they run and I have no problem with it whatsoever. It works well with what they’ve packaged and people dig it. 

Visiting team intro: I’m not arguing this.

Home team intro: The lights go out, the piano hits and after 20 seconds you get into the players. I’m torn on this though and will accept suggestions. I’d already been encouraged to incorporate others: Like this, this, this and … hell, there are tons. I’m open. You could really play anything and people will like it because it’s the intro.

Pre-tip: Key moment here. It’s a tone-setter and you’ve got to get the fans on the line right now. The crowd should jump right into things if properly inspired. WVU opts for Let it Rock, which is fine, but I worry it’s getting a little tired.

Under 16: I’ve seen this at two places now and I’ve been stunned twice. It’s hilarious. Not the song. Well, it is, but people go nuts. People start jumping and rapping and bumping into one another. You need that here. The electricity dips after the start of the game so you’ve got to get the juice going again. Against Syracuse, WVU debuted (I think) this and used spliced in clips from “The Office,” “Seinfeld,” “Tommy Boy” and other shows and movies. I don’t think people knew what to do. Dance? Watch? I flashed back to playing this cassette tape in my driveway as I dunked on my eight foot rim.

Opponent timeout: Send them reeling into a timeout…just don’t throw the haymaker quite yet.

Start of the second half: You have to pull the crowd back in and the “oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh…oh” can do the trick. WVU does Welcome to the Jungle with a clap montage. I don’t mind. I’d also accept this, which is still oddly popular, as well as this, this and this.

(Just wanted to see if you were still with me.)

Under 16: RJB

Visitor timeout: This was where WVU put CEJ and the people responded appropriately. I’ll never get it. I think Syracuse was offended and replied with the 9-0 run as retaliation. Just throw the haymaker. Blare “Jump Around” and cruise to the victory.

WVU timeout: By now you see the timeouts are subjective, but figure WVU is winning at home, as is usuallythe case. This is the spot for this song (and we’re jumping in at the 2:30 mark). Ideally, there are some highlights from the game spliced in to tie it all together. Say it’s late and WVU is either rallying or holding off a rally. Still works.

You may now begin to critique, complain and construct.