Perfect pitch?

Watching a basketball game the other night, I heard the inevitable "Air Ball, Air Ball" mass chant when the visiting player whiffed a scoring attempt. You've heard the taunt many times, and in fact it has crept into other sports, such as "Air Puck, Air Puck" at hockey games.

But did you know that crowds world-wide always chant in the key of F, descending to D? Try it. Belt out a couple of "Air Balls" and then go check the piano. Or your pitch-pipe iPhone App. F to D. Every time.

Dr. Cherrill P. Heaton, an English professor first pointed this out way back in '95 in his learned paper "Air Ball: Spontaneous Large Group Precision Chanting," published in the journal Popular Music and Society. Heaton stated: "As any director of a church choir or secular chorus knows, getting a mere 20 or 30 trained singers to sing or chant together and in tune is not always easy. Yet without direction, instruction, a conductor or a pitch pipe, thousands of strangers, massed in indoor stadiums and arenas, are able, if stimulated by an air ball, to chant, 'Air ball,' in total and rhythmic unison."

His research also found that basketball fans always start chanting at the same time--prompted by the basketball's hitting nothing but air--and consistently remain on key.

Dave Barry picked this up and put his patented spin on the story. His version is funnier than my blog, so promise if you go there, you'll come back.

Turns out, this is not the only example of "Large Group Precision Chanting." Remember when Darryl Strawberry played for the Mets and the fans shouted "Dar-ryl, Dar-ryl?" How about John Elway's last name repeatedly during the 1986 American Football Conference Championship in Clevend? Well, play like you remember! Work with me here, people!

Same deal - F to D,  F to D.

And then there's "Na Na Na, Hey Hey Goodbye." D-minor. Always.

And here I make history with my very own suggestion  that "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo" is always sung in the same key - according to my reckoning -  F.

Remember, you heard it first here.