A new gesture and saying has made its way into Kent State's baseball games this season. Fans may have noticed a claw-like gesture being made from anyone that runs into second or third base on an extra-base hit, with an added shout of "Hoe-now!" coming from the dugout. For clarification, we went to the players to get some answers:
Jeff Revesz: I don't know the meaning of it. It's the Flash claw. We do it to get pumped. When you hit a double or a triple you get pumped and you do it to get everyone pumped up.
Alex Miklos: The reason is to assert our dominance over the other team.
Zach Beckner: You hit a double and, I don't know...like everyone said, it's the Flash claw.
Jon Wilson: I honestly don't know. It's something Coach Larson told us to do, I just do it. Whenever teams hit doubles, like in the pros, they do different things. No one really knows what it's about. It's one of those things Larson made up and we just do it.
Cody Koch: I don't know, it's something Larson came up with. It just looks like a bear claw, that's all I know it is. Larson started it and everyone has just kept doing it.
Curtis Olvey: It's the hoenow. It's what Larson does, it's his saying. It's the thing we do to celebrate when someone does something good.
For proper clarification, we went to the source itself...
Volunteer assistant coach Brandon Larson: It's just something I started this fall with the guys. It's kind of carried on. I was actually trying to get them in the fall when they hit a double or triple (I was over there on the first base side) to get them to high-five me. I had them do that from across the field. In the fall they were all doing it at me, now I can't get one of them to do it during the season, they all do it to the dugout. It's actually a high-five but it's to the side. I think it's motivated these guys to go out there and have something to celebrate and get motivated and pumped up. You see a lot of big-leaguers doing that stuff. I think it's another way to get these guys to want to hit a double or triple and give it to the dugout.
Whatever the reason, the name, the meaning or the definition, let's hope the hoenow/Flash claw phenomenon follows the team all the way to Omaha.
