October 10, 2014 www.plaintalk.net B4 Plain Talk: Heritage Edition Coyote Crazies go wild By Sarah Wetzel For the Plain Talk Coyote Crazies are the life of the party at USD sporting events. James D. Cimburek (bottom) and Thomas Hatzenbuhler (top) / For the Plain Talk All aboard the Crazie train! No, that’s not a typo. It’s this year’s theme for the Coyote Crazies, a student-run organization dedicated to creating the best possible experience for student sports fans. “What we’re looking for with the Coyote Crazies is just to have a really great attitude about USD and to get really fired up about everything that USD has to offer,” said Mackenzie Huber, Vermillion native and co-president of the group. “We’re really trying to build the Division I experience here. You go to Nebraska or Iowa and you see these crazy game days. We want to build that so South Dakota is up on that level.” “Anyone can be a coyote crazie,” said Nick Niehus, Huber’s co-president. “It’s a $15 membership. We’re trying to give it all back to the students.” According to Niehus, Crazies receive benefits such as t-shirts, free pizza, and discounted seating for some games. “We make sure they get good seats to be loud, to be crazy and to have fun,” Niehus said. “We want to make a presence.” Niehus and Huber went on to say that part of a Coyote Crazie’s job is to give the opposing team as much trouble as possible. “That’s our goal, to be those type of fans,” Niehus said. “Not rude but annoying. We want to let them know that they’re on our field, we’re here to play, we’re here to dominate them.” Huber agrees. “I think that’s why the coyote crazies originally started too,” Huber said. “It was just to be those jerks in the stands that get into the other teams’ head, and make it a cool experience for everyone else.” Even though being a jerk can be a good time, Niehus said it’s important to remember good sportsmanship. “We don’t want it to be to the point that we’re so rude that it’s offensive,” he said. “It’s all in fun. At the end of the day we’re all from South Dakota. At the same time when we play them, it’s a rivalry so we want to try to be that kind of annoying.” According to Huber and Niehus, the current Coyote Crazies group is a new spin on an old gem. “We are only on our second year as an organization, but the Coyote Crazies tradition predates us all,” Huber said. “It was basically a group of people that were really good friends with the basketball players in the 80’s,” Niehus said. “They started it and that was kind of their thing to support their friends in athletics. It kind of died off five-six years ago. We started it back up as a student-run organization on campus.” There are plenty of good times to be had as a Coyote Crazie according to Rachelle Norberg, the group’s Vice President. “We went to the summer league tournament in Sioux Falls and I got to watch USD dominate (South Dakota State) in the semi-finals,” Norberg said. “Tons of Coyote Crazies were there, we were so fired up. We had a ton of the administration behind us. They gave out free tickets to students who were still around for spring break so really pushing us trying to make us a presence on campus and giving us their support and being there to CRAZIES | PAGE 8B Cheering on Dakota Days Stern was a cheerleader for USD in 1990. During that For the 100 years of time, the team Dakota Days, consisted of three cheerleaders have been parts; screamers, there to make spirit tumblers and resonate through the jumpers. She said streets of Vermillion. that being a part of While cheerleading the cheer team was still remains in a big commitment. “We could Vermillion 100 years practice three hours later, former a day,” Stern said. University of South “…Cheering in high Dakota cheerleader school, you know Staci Stern notices James D. Cimburek/P&D you would practice major differences in after school, here and cheering. there. You put forth the effort but it wasn’t “It [cheerleading] has changed so a major commitment… our cheer coach much,” Stern said. “They [current was very committed to make it [cheering] cheerleaders] are so much better than we not just extracurricular, but a sport.” ever were. It seems there is so much more Stern said she felt more inclusive while gymnastics and talented girls. I think there is a lot more training nowadays.” CHEER | PAGE 6B By Heidi Kronaizl For the Plain Talk Your Locally Owned Pharmacy Reliable Prescriptions Hallmark Greeting Cards MON-FRI 8am–9pm • SAT 8am–5:30pm 624-4444 800-801-5130 5 W. Cherry Street, Vermillion COFFEE | CONFECTIONS | GOURMET MARKET ECTIONS Full Service Rest vice Restaurant Offering American & Eur European Dishes Beer & Wine er Wine i ••• Coffee House Serving House Serving Specialty Coffees & Pastries Coffees Pastries fees ••• Featu Featuring by CUSTOM C M CAKES FOR FOR WEDDINGS & BIRTHDAYS GS BIRT AYS RTHD OPEN DAILY, 7:00 AM TO 9:00 PM 24 W. 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