Remembering the Farce

[sioux fan in phoenix]

Thought I would start this thread in memory of the greatest college hockey student group--ever. Active from the late '70's to early '80's, the Farce tormented opposing teams & made a lot of Sioux faithful laugh. This motley crew wore yellow construction helmets with red flashing lights & coined clever phrases like "Kermit's luck guides our puck" among others. They were even shown on ESPN.

It would be nice to hear from members who have memories of them or who were actually Farce themselves, like Farce Poobah. I would have given my left nut (possibly both) to be a part of this group but was a freshman in high school when they disbanded.

Can somebody explain why they no longer exist? Was it an uptight administration or did they just fizzle out? I think it would be great to organize & establish another Farce following to unite the Sioux faithful & make us laugh again. Give the REA some spirit & encourage those season ticketholders to quit sitting on their hands & clap once in awhile. If some dorks in Duluth can do it, why can't we?

[tboneund]

I agree 100%!

I have never liked the Sioux Crew and I'd love to see the Farce return...unfortunetly I was to young to remember them, but the stories I have heard are great! Aside from the student section there needs to be more life brought into the crowd at REA.

[NorthDakotaHockey]

I was at many a UND game in the late 70's and into the early 80's. The Farce were very funny. Very original. Very in the other team's face in a respectful way. Their bicycle Zamboni, a picture of which is on the wall at the Ralph, was classic.

Don't know if it was members of The Farce or not, but two of the best things I ever saw out of the students -presumably (remember that there are many young die-hard fans who are not students and who never will be students) - were the volumes of dead gophers hurled on the ice during Gophie games, and the game against, as I recall, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin goalie let in a couple of early goals and all of the sudden, lo and behold, appears a live chicken walking around near the goalie crease. I do not know who was more afraid that night, the chicken who was out of its element, or the Wisconsin goalie who was out of his.

The Farce. Original. In your face. Clever. No profanity. No sexism or racism. All the hallmarks of a quality game heckler. Many could take lessons today. The Farce should have made a training video.

[redwing77]

I would love to see the Farce return, however, from my perspective, it is truly a thing of the past. With the new REA, I doubt they'd let us do everything the Farce was able to do: such as getting to ice level and working the "zamboni built for two." I'm sure the reason they'll give is that they don't think it would do much to promote a good image of the University, its athletes, and its students. In other words, they don't want anything to do with the liability.

Back when the Farce was big, people didn't sue just because they could. Nowadays, they do.

[CoteauRinkRat]

I'm too young also, but have heard a lot of stories. I remember they had a reunion a couple years ago in the old ralph. I would be very interested to hear some more stories about what they did before, during, and after the games.

[sioux fan in phoenix]

I was at many a UND game in the late 70's and into the early 80's. The Farce were very funny. Very original. Very in the other team's face in a respectful way. Their bicycle Zamboni, a picture of which is on the wall at the Ralph, was classic.

Don't know if it was members of The Farce or not, but two of the best things I ever saw out of the students -presumably (remember that there are many young die-hard fans who are not students and who never will be students) - were the volumes of dead gophers hurled on the ice during Gophie games, and the game against, as I recall, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin goalie let in a couple of early goals and all of the sudden, lo and behold, appears a live chicken walking around near the goalie crease. I do not know who was more afraid that night, the chicken who was out of its element, or the Wisconsin goalie who was out of his.

The Farce. Original. In your face. Clever. No profanity. No sexism or racism. All the hallmarks of a quality game heckler. Many could take lessons today. The Farce should have made a training video.

Funny stuff

They were truly ahead of their time when it came to comical skits. The difficult thing with starting the Farce today, imo, is that the mentality of today's students is so much different than 25 years ago. You'd probably have to have a few members of the original Farce sit with them & teach them how to be funny in an original way--& we all know that's not easy. I sure wish they'd carry on this tradition, though, because I think it would be worth it. (if the administration would let them)...

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

I remember that my freshman year, there were people calling pet stores to see if they had any gophers for sale. The pet stores refused to sell to anyone with Sioux stuff on, because of what they just knew would happen to them...TFF.

[Stack]

My favorite Farce story is when a number of the Farce decided to go to Duluth one weekend for a hockey series. On Saturday afternoon they had been to a number of bars and were heading to a different one downtown. Like usual most of them were wearing their yellow hard hats with the light and siren.

As they were walking down the street they saw a large crowd gathered in front of a building across the street. They stopped to chant "We've got spirit yes we do, we've got spirit how bout you?' at the crowd. Almost immediately they were surrounded by a number of men in suits who proceeded to escort them away from the crowd. They then discovered that these gentlemen were Secret Service agents and that President Reagan was in the building they had been chanting at.

A couple guys thought they should go back to see if they could see President Reagan. They were shortly talked out of going back since there was some serious drinking to do before game time.

There are many other ones from when I went to the games but this one is my favorite.

[dagies]

That is SO cool.

[CoteauRinkRat]

How many members were a part of the Farce?

[redwing77]

I'm not sure your views on Virg Foss, but regardless, I have been told by a reliable source that he is a good authority on the history of the Farce.

I'm sure you can contact him. He works for the Grand Forks Herald, but I don't have contact info.

As much as it hurts to say this: I think the Farce, as it was, is truly "dead." Recreating it may be a possibility, but I don't think it will be close to the same.

Also, if alcohol is part of the routine, you can count UND out of endorsing it. Possibily not even the REA would either. They are quite anal about that.

[dagies]

One concern about "resurrecting" the Farce is the inability to ever spontaneously resurrect history.

Case in point Woodstock 25 or whatever it was. From my observations over TV it appeared very much to me like they tried to recreate the ambience of the original and failed miserably. Some things were so great the spirit can never be rebuilt.

However, doesn't mean someone couldn't take the "model" and make a new effort work just fine.

[mikejm]

The Wisconsin goalie let in a couple of early goals and all of the sudden, lo and behold, appears a live chicken walking around near the goalie crease.

A live chicken is a hillarious addition to any hockey game. The difficulty in resurrecting The Farce, or at least stunts like the chicken, has more to do however, with today's fashions than to the state of the student body's mindset, etc.

As one who has personally carried more than my share of live chickens into the "old" Ralph, to be done with the proper, humane, care and decorum, an Army surplus overcoat is almost a necessity. The belt around the coat's waist doubles as a "sleeper" hold on the chicken's neck. Much easier to smuggle a "dozing" chicken hanging under one's overcoat than it is to try to stuff one into the pocket of one's Docker cargo pants.

[Mad Man]

My favorite Farce story is when a number of the Farce decided to go to Duluth one weekend for a hockey series. On Saturday afternoon they had been to a number of bars and were heading to a different one downtown. Like usual most of them were wearing their yellow hard hats with the light and siren.

As they were walking down the street they saw a large crowd gathered in front of a building across the street. They stopped to chant "We've got spirit yes we do, we've got spirit how bout you?' at the crowd. Almost immediately they were surrounded by a number of men in suits who proceeded to escort them away from the crowd. They then discovered that these gentlemen were Secret Service agents and that President Reagan was in the building they had been chanting at. 

Didn't know Reagan hung out at the Toga

[sioux fan in phoenix]

Thx for that story, Stack, typical Farce antics.

I agree with Dagies in that it's nearly impossible to duplicate the original but that a 2nd generation of Farce would do well, also. I think it would be a good idea to give some of the more creative members of the Sioux Crew yellow construction helmets, change their name & let 'em loose.

I was wondering also, how many Farce were there & why did they become extinct?