Chop-Chop!

The Atlanta “chop” has become part of baseball tradition. I remember how it began.

It all got started in Tallahassee, Florida. Back in the late 1970’s the Florida State Seminoles were well on their way to building a tradition of their own. They bulked up their football schedule impressively, playing national powerhouses like Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ohio State and others - these games were all bought at a great price - they had to play these giants at their home fields and usually for their homecoming game - everybody wants a cream puff to play for homecoming. Florida State seemed the perfect fall guy.

Never mind that Florida State won a number of these games, that’s just part of the story. Back in Tallahassee, the Seminole team painted a Seminole face on mid-field, got a new scoreboard, and started a great number of innovations. One of these was to get crowd chants going. The crowd would pick up one chant or song for a while and go on to another. One of the “songs” that was popular back then was one that went something like this: “Ohhhhhh, your Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama!” The words were sung choppingly “ma-ma, ma-ma”, and the crowd seemed to gravitate to this “song” during seemingly pivotable points in the game.

The Seminoles also got a number of impressive players. One of which was an absolute whiz, and would have been world class no matter where or what he played. He was a running back/receiver/punt returner. His name was Dion Sanders. He was so flashy, people started calling him “Neon Dion”, a name he did not like, but it really seemed to fit, at least in the beginning.

He was probably at his best when receiving punts. He would stand alone out in the middle of the field as the punting team was breaking its huddle. Dion would point to the stands and lift his hands upward, telling everyone to get up, he would cup his hands to his mouth as if to shout, and then cup his hands behind his ears awaiting the roar. Once during such an event the crowd broke into a “Ohhhhh Your Ma-ma . . .” and Dion started chopping with his hand over his head toward the punting team.

Dion Sanders ran back more than a few punts, many of them all the way for a touchdown, and the entire ritual really caught on. Eventually the “Ma-ma” part was lost to a more “Ohhhh, oh, ohhhhhhoooo-uh”, then a “Uhhhh - a - uhhhh-ah”, just a sound to accompany the chopping motion. It became big at FSU, as it still is today a quarter-of-a-century later.

Sanders also played for the FSU Seminole baseball team, and helped introduce the chant and chop to the “Animals” (rabid supporters of the FSU baseball team).

Later he became a major league player in the National Football League, and he also played major league baseball. In one incredible autumn week he scored a touchdown in a major league football game, and hit a home run in a major league baseball game.

He played baseball for the Atlanta Braves. Dion introduced the chop to the crowd there, and a recording of the “music” was used to show the Atlanta folks how to do it.

So, that’s how I remember it. It was maybe a little bit different in some respects, but like most folks who saw all this happen, I really wasn’t paying that much attention.

Like some others, I really didn’t think that much of Dion Sanders. I thought he was just a big show - not the real thing. That was probably because Mr. Sanders was always a member of the really big leagues and we minor league sports fans didn’t know what we were watching.

Ohhhhhhh your Ma-ma, Ma-ma, Ma-ma!


Canon ZR 50MC Camcorder, made on SD card
© John Womack, 2006. All Rights Reserved