Game Day

emmitt01 · July 5, 2007

Here's a "tradition" I already participate in and I hope it catches on:

STOP WHINING ABOUT TRADITIONS.

Daddy Dumpsalot · July 5, 2007

emmitt01 said:
Here's a "tradition" I already participate in and I hope it catches on:
STOP WHINING ABOUT TRADITIONS.

Exactly the reason why nothing ever changes.

July 5, 2007

Good grief! You people get bent out of shape for lack of enthusiasm when the most exciting offensive play was to see how far Spencer could punt the ball.

Wait until we get something to stand and cheer for. I expect much of that to change this coming year. This team may wear us out with the first down chant. But to get all excited when there is little doing on seems a little riditulous when you are out of the game and it's still in the first quarter. Okay, that's an exageration but not much.

The tradition things are good and I still participate in most of them. I'm just sorry that I won't still be around when some of you are 70-75 and have knees that are much older trying to stand or jump up and down constantly. Us oldsters will do what we can; as often as we can. We've been doing it for 30, 40, 50, or in my case, 60 years and can still get excited when there is something to get excited about. My biggest yell in the past couple of years has been "defense".

I look for a lot more excitement these coming years. Maybe I'll start yelling "another TD TD".

Green Lantern · July 5, 2007

In simplest terms, I'd like to see the way the general fan watches/participates in the Gameday experience change. Someone else in the thread pointed out that many NT fans (especially on the Alumni side) seem embarrassed or show no real interest in participating in chants/standing & cheering. This is pretty much the case on the Alumni side (lower to mid section E excluded). It was depressing to graduate and get season tickets that first year and come to the Alumni side and see how docile and boring that portion of the crowd is. Being told by people that sit on that side that you should "sit down" when you are standing and cheering for NT doing something good just got old. I now watch most of the games from the Ben E. Keith deck because at least the people on the deck like to cheer/high five/talk NT football during the game.

The only really good Alumni side Gameday experience I've had with the crowd was during the NMSU game for the conference title/bowl bid a few years back...other than that, the Alumni side crowd pretty much sucks.

I'm hopeful that with TD, the crowd will have quite a bit more to cheer about in the future and will actually participate. It makes the whole experience much more enjoyable.

BIG DAWG · July 5, 2007

Quote
If we really want these thing to catch on I vote we put together a mailer now and send it out to every resident of Southlake. They talk about all these traditions during orientation and the students aren't carrying it on so I'd say we let our new fan base take the torch and run with it

See 2007 Fan Guide...mailed out to all season ticket holders (new and old)...the freshmen get the same stuff at orientation

Quote
Here's a "tradition" I already participate in and I hope it catches on:
STOP WHINING ABOUT TRADITIONS.

AMEN...Big Dawg OUT!

UNTLifer · July 5, 2007

Daddy Dumpsalot said:
Everything we have is highschoolish so far. Our traditions aren't catching on. So we have a cannon, the only part the fans play in that is getting the crap scared out of them. We yell north texas back and forth a few times a game, that takes about 5 minutes. We celebrate a first down, BUT what about kickoffs? What about TDs? What about interceptions, fumble recoveries, hard hits? What about a march up the field and we're about to score? These are the real things we should be celebrating. Sadly though, the fans pay little attention to the actual game going on.
The band plays the same songs over and over and the fans dont get into it.
UNT has got to incorporate the fans into the traditions for them to catch on, if they dont, they wont, and they havent.

Well, if the above qualifies as "highschoolish" then every 1A team is high schoolish. Don't you think Tennessee fans get tired of listening to Rocky Top or OU fans with Boomer Sooner? What about Florida State and the indian chant or Florida and the gator chomp?

What about TD's, drives, tackles, touchdown, etc...? How about just standing up and cheering? These aren't traditions.

greenminer · July 5, 2007

Traditions are a lot more fun when we have a winning atmosphere to attach them to. I think this subject is moot until we can claim what it feels like to win regularly. People will feel differently about this program and the things we do.

Then again, it's the offseason. Proceed...

Daddy Dumpsalot · July 5, 2007

UNTLifer said:
Well, if the above qualifies as "highschoolish" then every 1A team is high schoolish.

Not true and its simply because EVERYONE DOES IT...and in unison.

UNTLifer said:
Don't you think Tennessee fans get tired of listening to Rocky Top or OU fans with Boomer Sooner? What about Florida State and the indian chant or Florida and the gator chomp?

No, I actually dont think they get tired of doing it. Its called school spirit.

UNTLifer said:
What about TD's, drives, tackles, touchdown, etc...? How about just standing up and cheering? These aren't traditions.

Cheering for what? Cheer how? Throwing tortillas could be considered cheering.

Point being we need to be in complete unison in our cheers and when to cheer. As of now, we don't have that, if we did it would be awesome.

Ever been to a Florida State game? Ever heard the War Chant? We need to adopt something like that...Thats tradition.

IF NOT CLICK HERE

Edited July 5, 2007 by Daddy Dumpsalot

gangrene · July 5, 2007

I'd like to nominate a new tradition. Why don't we have a streaker, preferably a 21 Y/O female co-ed, run across the field when the opposing team's band is performing??? Or maybe she should streak before the opening kick-off....that'd be sure-fire way to get the parking lot drinkers in the stadium on time.

Censored by Laurie · July 5, 2007

Our current traditions are perfectly adequate...the problem is pathetic participation and an overall lack of school pride. There's no need to add something new for 7% of the student body to execute half-assed-ly. Winning will help increase school pride, but our efforts as those who bleed mean green need to be directed towards ways of keeping freshmen from leaving campus for the weekend, involving the city of Denton and small-town northern Texas, and getting DFW alumni and family to make a day of things in Denton.

Daddy Dumpsalot · July 5, 2007

Censored by Laurie said:
Our current traditions are perfectly adequate

For a commuter college in Denton

Censored by Laurie said:
Winning will help increase school pride

It couldn't hurt but when we were winning before, it didn't do much, or anything.

Censored by Laurie said:
but our efforts as those who bleed mean green need to be directed towards ways of keeping freshmen from leaving campus for the weekend, involving the city of Denton and small-town northern Texas, and getting DFW alumni and family to make a day of things in Denton.

Couldn't agree with this anymore

Censored by Laurie · July 5, 2007

Our traditions are good for any large University...not just a commuter school. Green on Fridays, lighting the tower after a win, even the first down chant...its just a matter of having the right leadership in place to encourage larger participation. I know there are former Talons on here, so I don't want to offend you personally because I know you hold UNT in high regard...but you have done very little if anything to really involve the general student. The organization itself is a wonderful idea, but it is no where near visable enough...and again don't take it personally...but those who are visable are frequently not who you want trying to birng in new fans...or keep old ones. Are the Eagle Angels still around? They helped for being such a small organization...and I know few of you are Greek, but the AD going to Wings and Lady Wings for support wouldn't be a terrible idea.

Tradition, by definition, isn't something thats new every year. We have a solid base...lets build off of that.

And no more f'n tortillas.

FirefightnRick · July 5, 2007

Daddy, did you just show up last year? Do you not remember '01 thru '04? People will partake moreso when there's something to partake in. Common sense tells me that. There are things in place. It's been fun before and will again. Outside the lack of an easier, unified chant I can't say there's a need for anything more than more participation.

Rick

the real grad88 · July 5, 2007

Censored by Laurie said:
Our traditions are good for any large University...not just a commuter school. Green on Fridays, lighting the tower after a win, even the first down chant...its just a matter of having the right leadership in place to encourage larger participation. I know there are former Talons on here, so I don't want to offend you personally because I know you hold UNT in high regard...but you have done very little if anything to really involve the general student. The organization itself is a wonderful idea, but it is no where near visable enough...and again don't take it personally...but those who are visable are frequently not who you want trying to birng in new fans...or keep old ones. Are the Eagle Angels still around? They helped for being such a small organization...and I know few of you are Greek, but the AD going to Wings and Lady Wings for support wouldn't be a terrible idea.
Tradition, by definition, isn't something thats new every year. We have a solid base...lets build off of that.
And no more f'n tortillas.

I sense a real "woe is me" vs "working man hero" argument coming here, so let me get it started. The problem at UNT has always been one of perception. People always make perceptions about schools based upon who they are associated with. It is our conference that causes the low percentage of interest relative to the large student/alumni body we have. When Baylor came to town a couple of years ago, you would have thought we were in the old Southwest Conference. There was a big-time excitement in the air. When we play Belt games and are not in the running for a championship, we go back to the die-hards only. Like it or not, we stand in the shadow of the BigXII schools. Most people in our geographic region just don't think it is worth their effort, time and money if it is anything less. We just are not going to erase the 70 years of collegiate sports history in this region with a few years of winning. It is going to take sustained winning. It is going to take moving into a new conference-which I think will happen. It is going to take a new stadium. I think we are on the path to all of the above. To be honest, we are damn lucky to have a program and be where we are with our IAA purgatory that lasted 10 plus years. I am grateful. We have a program that is on the rise and a leader who is giving us major momentum to get there. Just give it time.

EagleD · July 5, 2007

This is a first. We are complaining about traditions? That NEVER happens!

Guys, the traditions, pageantry, spirit yells, etc., are all good. During the 4 year bowl run, more people showed up for games, so more people participated in the events and cheers. It was a lot more exciting than most of us can ever remember. But if we don't win, fewer people come. I know it's true for me. It's hard to drive to Denton just to watch us knowingly get beat, no matter how fun a time it is. B/c ultimatly I'll be sad about losing. Sadly, I too attend fewer games when we are losing. When we start winning again, they'll all come back, only bigger this time (me too. I now have an offspring to convert to the Mean Green). In our new stadium, which I'm still hoping to hear an announcement, we will perfect these traditions.

Since RV has been here, we have added traditions, tailgating, the march, etc., They've all been good decisions. (And I'm on record as being anti-torilla flinging. Tortilla eating? yes. Throwing? no). I think having the school/fight songs on the cups is actually a good idea, b/c we need to educate future fans. I personaly don't like the "Fly Like an Eagle" pseudo-fight song. It gets overplayed, imho, but surprisingly enough, people know us by that damn song. Our spirit yells are all fine, we just need a stadium full of people to do them.

I've ranted. I feel better.

GO MEAN GREEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEAT THE HELL OUT OF OU !!!!!!!!!!!

emmitt01 · July 5, 2007

Here, I think I've got an idea that will make all of those who say we need a new tradition happy.

One side of the stadium yells:

THIS IS

Then the other side yells:

A TRADITION

Daddy Dumpsalot · July 5, 2007

FirefightnRick said:
Daddy, did you just show up last year? Do you not remember '01 thru '04? People will partake moreso when there's something to partake in. Common sense tells me that. There are things in place. It's been fun before and will again. Outside the lack of an easier, unified chant I can't say there's a need for anything more than more participation.
Rick

Yes, I remember 01-04 and that is why I said nothing has changed. I was a student then and tried desparately recruiting people to come to the games. Sadly, they didn't come. So I don't get your point. We had no more in attendance then, than we do now.

We need an intimidating chant, a loud one, and not just one (but it's a start).

About the spirit yells in another post...I have no idea what spirit yells you are hearing, because I'm not hearing any.

The time to envoke a chant, push tradition is now, while everyone is excited about what is going on at UNT. We need to have an agenda for each scenario of the game.

From the march, to the waving of Green towels and yelling a NEW chant when the players enter the field, to the fans being at the games, to the yelling GOO mean green during a kickoff, to the crowd making a ton of noise when its our opponents 3rd down, to a 'block that kick' chant when they punt, to a defense chant, to a 'good for MG first down' (i guess) for every first down we get, to the fans jumping up and down like crazy in unison when we're marching down field (maybe it would make fouts crash in)....These are the experiences and 'traditions' that must be repetative to keep fans excited about game days.

Hey but maybe Im the only one who thinks that the 2 things that 50% of the ppl do now need to be improved upon. Maybe Im the only one who thinks that we could have a gator chomp, or war chant, or war eagle hey, instead of the current screeching eagle over the loudspeaker. Maybe Im the only one who would love to see the stands rumble in excitement of our first home touchdown. Maybe Im the only one who doesnt see why all the Big BCS schools are the ones with tons of traditions and unified chants and why everyone thinks the little commuter school in Denton has no tradition. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

greenminer · July 5, 2007

We had chants in '01 - '03. And people were into them. I'll vouch for Rick on that.

UNTLifer · July 6, 2007

Daddy Dumpsalot said:
Not true and its simply because EVERYONE DOES IT...and in unison.
No, I actually dont think they get tired of doing it. Its called school spirit.
Cheering for what? Cheer how? Throwing tortillas could be considered cheering.
Point being we need to be in complete unison in our cheers and when to cheer. As of now, we don't have that, if we did it would be awesome.
Ever been to a Florida State game? Ever heard the War Chant? We need to adopt something like that...Thats tradition.
IF NOT CLICK HERE

So because nobody wants to sing "Fly Like An Eagle" makes this a non-tradition?

Cheering? However each person chooses to. You want to yell, then yell. You want to clap your hands, then clap your hands. Cheering/clapping for a good play in unison doesn't make a tradition.

Tradition is a lot of things:

Midnight Yell Practice at A&M is tradition.

Making the "Hookem' Horns" with your hand is tradition at UT.

The running of the Sooner Schooner is tradition at OU.

Watching crappy football is tradition at SMU.

Rocky Top is tradition at Tennessee

Lighting the tower at UT is tradition.

Traditions at NT:

Firing Boomer

The Model A

The Victory Bell

Lighting the Administration Bldg.

North Texas chant is becoming tradition

"Fly Like An Eagle"

Just because everyone doesn't participate or doesn't like the song, such as you, doesn't mean it is not a tradition. If that were the case, we would be changing traditions every year. A tradition happens over time not over night.

NT03 · July 6, 2007

NEW TRADITION ??

MMMM.. SELL OUT EVERY HOME GAME , YEAR IN AND YEAR OUT!!!!

UNTflyer · July 6, 2007

Maybe the NORTH <-> TEXAS chant can be done after the fight song is played after scoring and ends at the kickoff.

One of the problems with the NORTH <-> TEXAS chant is that they start it up during a lull in the game and it gets going and kinda fades and dies and just lays there looking lame.

BIG DAWG · July 6, 2007

Quote
Yes, I remember 01-04 and that is why I said nothing has changed. I was a student then and tried desparately recruiting people to come to the games. Sadly, they didn't come. So I don't get your point. We had no more in attendance then, than we do now.
We need an intimidating chant, a loud one, and not just one (but it's a start).
About the spirit yells in another post...I have no idea what spirit yells you are hearing, because I'm not hearing any.
The time to envoke a chant, push tradition is now, while everyone is excited about what is going on at UNT. We need to have an agenda for each scenario of the game.
From the march, to the waving of Green towels and yelling a NEW chant when the players enter the field, to the fans being at the games, to the yelling GOO mean green during a kickoff, to the crowd making a ton of noise when its our opponents 3rd down, to a 'block that kick' chant when they punt, to a defense chant, to a 'good for MG first down' (i guess) for every first down we get, to the fans jumping up and down like crazy in unison when we're marching down field (maybe it would make fouts crash in)....These are the experiences and 'traditions' that must be repetative to keep fans excited about game days.
Hey but maybe Im the only one who thinks that the 2 things that 50% of the ppl do now need to be improved upon. Maybe Im the only one who thinks that we could have a gator chomp, or war chant, or war eagle hey, instead of the current screeching eagle over the loudspeaker. Maybe Im the only one who would love to see the stands rumble in excitement of our first home touchdown. Maybe Im the only one who doesnt see why all the Big BCS schools are the ones with tons of traditions and unified chants and why everyone thinks the little commuter school in Denton has no tradition. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

All is well in Mean Green Nation, Daddy "Newbie" is just like we all were once before...he will settle down soon enough.

The young bucks always want to change the world for the better, you have to admire 'em for that. Lets focus on something important...starting up this tradition...

Quote
I'd like to nominate a new tradition. Why don't we have a streaker, preferably a 21 Y/O female co-ed, run across the field when the opposing team's band is performing??? Or maybe she should streak before the opening kick-off....that'd be sure-fire way to get the parking lot drinkers in the stadium on time

I say we do it before each quarter...you saw the effect it had on the players and coaches from the movie "The Replacements"

PlummMeanGreen · July 6, 2007

Green to the Bone said:
I got my bachelor's at UGA, and can tell you that indeed the UNT first down chant is something memorable at UNT. No need to mess with it.
At Georgia games, we had the advantage of knowing that Vince Dooley's teams beat most everybody they played. We also had the occasional live appearance by the actual James Brown, who would perform his local hit, "Dooley's Junkyard Dogs." I'm not making that up.
We chanted "Damn good dawg!" whenever Uga the Bulldog came onto the field, and "Dawg food!" when the opponents came out.
I've been toying with similar predatory references for Scrappy's eating habits, but have come up dry so far.

I wasn't there, but did I hear that NT Ex Don Henley (who amazingly was wearing a Johnny Cash'esque black shirt & slacks) sang his big hit "The Last Worthless Evening" at DD's swan song game @ venerable Fouts Field?

Edited July 6, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen