Massive Wave, Brazil:

The wave is an example of metachronal rhythm achieved in a packed stadium when successive groups of spectators briefly stand, yell, and raise their arms. Immediately upon stretching to full height, the spectator returns to the usual seated position.The result is a wave of standing spectators that travels through the crowd, even though individual spectators never move away from their seats. In many large arenas the crowd is seated in a contiguous circuit all the way around the sport field, and so the wave is able to travel continuously around the arena; in discontiguous seating arrangements, the wave can instead reflect back and forth through the crowd. When the gap in seating is narrow, the wave can sometimes pass through it. Usually only one wave crest will be present at any given time in an arena. Simultaneous, counter-rotating waves have been produced.While there is general disagreement about the precise origin of the wave, most stories of the phenomenon's origin suggest that the wave first started appearing at North American sporting events during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Canadian sports fans make claims of having created waves during the late 1970s at the 1976 Montreal Olympics,National Hockey League games in Canada, and at Vancouver Whitecaps games, where crowds were alleged to have performed the wave for a commercial in which the slogan was "Catch the Wave."Krazy George Henderson led a wave in October 15, 1981 at a Major League Baseball game in Oakland, California.This wave was broadcast on TV, and George owns a videotape of the event, which he uses to bolster his claim as the inventor of the wave. On October 31, 1981, a wave was created at a UW football game in Seattle, and the cheer continued to appear during the rest of that year's football season.Although the people who created the first wave in Seattle acknowledge Krazy George's wave at a baseball stadium, they claim to have popularized the phenomenon, since Krazy George's wave was a one-time event.There is also an unconfirmed claim that on June 24, 1981, while waiting for President Ronald Reagan to take the podium at the U.S.A. Jaycees National Convention at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, the Jaycee members and their guests – about 10,000 people – began doing the wave.It lasted for about three or four minutes before the Secret Service requested that they stop, presumably because it made it difficult to monitor the crowd.Many claim that the first wave originated in Seattle at the University of Washington's Husky Stadium on October 31, 1981,at the prompting of Dave Hunter and Robb Weller. Contrary to Weller's account, former Washington yell leader Tolly Allen has also claimed credit for the first wave. Weller, a Washington graduate, was the guest yell-king during the Huskies' homecoming football game against the Stanford University Cardinal. Weller's initial concept for the wave was for it to travel vertically, from the bottom of the stands to the top, within the UW student section. Weller claimed to have done this at games when he was yell king. When that was met with limited interest, Weller then came up with the idea to move the wave from top to bottom.This failed miserably, as it was necessary to turn backward to see the wave progressing downward. Weller then gave up and returned his attention to the game. However, some fans, including Lee Eckmann and Bob Erickson, including Dave Hunter, toward the open end of the stadium on the student side started yelling "sideways". Weller did not hear them, but the students tried to initiate a "sideways" wave on their own. After a few attempts, and more yelling of "sideways" by students, Weller took notice. He instructed the UW cheerleaders to stand at different sections of the stadium and they in turn instructed the fans to stand up when Weller ran past.He moved along the track toward the open end of the stadium, then ran along the track toward the closed end of the stadium, in front of the student section. After a couple of tries, this caught on, and continued around the entire Husky Stadium, and was repeated throughout the rest of the game and the season. Longtime UW band director Bill Bissell also claimed co-creator credit with Weller, suggesting that the wave was devised by both of them prior to the game. The following week, the wave appeared at Seattle Seahawks professional football games in the Kingdome. While the exact origins of the wave may be in dispute, Seattle was the first place to routinely perform it. It became ubiquitous at every single sporting event in the area in the early 80s, and it has been a staple of Seattle sports ever since.

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