During a high school boys basketball game between Houston and Summersville last Friday in Tiger Fieldhouse, something incredible took center stage numerous times.
I can’t think of any way to attempt to describe it without sounding as if the story is being made up, but all I can say is, this is entirely based on truth.
Basically, when a Summersville player went to the free throw line, a female fan in the Houston student section would let out an ultra-high-pitched shriek. But this was no ordinary shriek; to say it was loud is a titanic understatement. Honestly, it was beyond the loudness of anything you can imagine – especially coming from the mouth of a high school-age girl.
I’m not exaggerating; you wouldn’t believe how loud it was unless you were in the building.
The first couple of times the shriek rang out, you could see people in all corners of the gym looking around with facial expressions of extreme surprise and wonder. Everyone was like, “what the…?”
And for good reason.
The sheer volume of the shriek was wildly remarkable. I of course don’t know what the decibel level was, but I’d say it was about that of an AC/DC concert or an F-17 fighter jet taking off.
Its resonance was absolutely spectacular, and its presence was completely all-encompassing. I’m pretty sure nobody in the stands or on the floor had ever heard anything similar.
And after hearing a few shrieks, I noticed that each time one filled the air in the gym (and I mean filled it to its capacity), its tone and duration were identical, and its volume was (amazingly) at the exact same off-the-charts level.
I also noticed that when several of the kids in the shrieker’s immediate proximity knew another one was coming, they (not surprisingly) literally plugged their ears with their fingers. I figure that probably only helped muffle the massive sound a little, because it was simply too great to be hindered at such close range.
While I was standing at one end of the basketball court taking action photos, I made eye contact with a lady who was obviously shocked and astonished by the shriek, and I just shrugged my shoulders. It was like, “who knew and who knows?”
At least once, Summersville’s coach wondered aloud why his boys were having to deal with the shriek, but the three-man officiating crew did nothing to curtail it, likely because they had never encountered (or even heard of) such a thing and had no knowledge of anything in the rule book preventing it.
Following the game, I spoke to a woman who said the shrieker could probably find work in Hollywood thanks to her out-of-this world “talent.” I thought that was probably an accurate statement, because of the tremendous uniqueness and general unbelievable nature of this explosive vocal delivery.
Anyway, at the end of the night, there were some attendees of the game who were fans of the shriek and some who weren’t, but it’s safe to say that everyone in the building had taken notice of it.
It was impossible not to.
In sports, it’s not at all unusual for home crowds to try to disrupt an opposing team’s offense by yelling and screaming in unison. And it’s not that strange for a single fan to sort of lead the charge, so to speak.
As is often said, that helps create more of a home field or home court advantage, and it’s considered good gamesmanship. In fact, some stadiums or arenas become renowned for being tough places to play because of the home crowd’s consistent involvement.
That said, I’m not sure how to quantify the effect of the shriek. Suffice to say that there’s something more there than the typical components of your standard home court advantage.
The Willow Springs boys play in Houston this week. I kind of wonder if it will be Shriek 2.