New Traditions

Daddy Dumpsalot · May 27, 2010

Please define what a "real" tradition is. What "large" schools are you referring to?

Florida State

Florida

Notre Dame

Auburn

A&M

Funny that in just me typing these schools you get a visualization of the traditions they have and are known for without me having to explain.

Is that defined enough for you?

Daddy Dumpsalot · May 27, 2010

I can't wait for the season to open in our new stadium. I think that this will be a great time for our old traditions to take root and hopefully we can add some new ones to start the future off right.

SilverEagle · May 27, 2010

Silver, I really not sure you actually believe this. All fans, students, faculty, staff, alumni, etc. helped to create the traditions that I witnessed and have enjoyed by having graduated from three different universities and having attended a fourth. Several schools I know have had BIG TIME traditions started by a member of the coaching staff, some have had faculty/staff input and, yes, some were 100% student driven. But, anyone who supports the Mean Green gets a hand in creating and maintaining traditions. Many traditions would die away if it were not for the fans (grads or not) who support "their" universities win, lose or draw.

I, for one, am plenty happy to have folks like Army of Dad and Army of Mom who are not grads, but who support the Mean Green. In fact, one of the biggest local supports of the Mean Green attended, but never graduated from UNT. Should he not be involved in setting and maintaining traditions for the Mean Green?
Also, many traditions just develop over time. They are not planned by anyone. While we often disagree on politics, we seldom disagree on support for the Mean Green. On this one, we will just have to "agree to disagree".

GO MEAN GREEN!

Let me ask you this. If any non-graduate of North Texas came forward with a significant amount of money that they wanted to contribute to the athletic program, but the hitch would be that they would rather see the school colors changed to pink, and the mascot changed to the peacocks; where would you stand on that?

CMJ · May 27, 2010

Florida State
Florida
Notre Dame
Auburn
A&M

Funny that in just me typing these schools you get a visualization of the traditions they have and are known for without me having to explain.

Is that defined enough for you?

What the hell is FSU's unique tradition? The spear being thrown in the field? It's cool -- but I believe USC's Trojan dude sticking his sword in midfield was done first. Maybe the Tomahawk Chop?

Not sure what Florida's unique tradition is. The Chomp? I remember UNLV's basketball fans doing that over 20 years ago - before UF. Not sure who did it first, but man San Jose Shark fans do the same thing and have for years too. For all I know they started it before the Gators. Gatorade? At least we get to see all those awesome "and the tradition continues" commercials narrated by Keith Jackson.

Auburn has the Tigerwalk -- which used to be pretty unique. Over the last 10-15 years though, just about everyone has copied it. I guess there's Toomer's Corner --- should we roll Fry Steet after a big win?

Notre Dame & TAMU I will grant you are kind of unique. For the most part tho, everyone steals from everyone in regards to traditions. They're all awesome if they're your school, and kinda corny if they're someone elses.

Edited May 27, 2010 by CMJ

KRAM1 · May 27, 2010

Let me ask you this. If any non-graduate of North Texas came forward with a significant amount of money that they wanted to contribute to the athletic program, but the hitch would be that they would rather see the school colors changed to pink, and the mascot changed to the peacocks; where would you stand on that?

Obvious answer is No. But, one does not "buy" traditions. And, just because some non-grad donated abunch of money does not mean that person gets to start a tradition. I find this line of thinking from you, Silver, quite odd. I think the largest donor in recent history to any program has been Boone Pickens at Oklahoma State. Boone has not asked that OSU's colors be changed.

With your line of reasoning it would be OK for a graduate to donate and have the colors changed to pink? I really do not see the point you are trying to make with this example. Hey, maybe DD got a bunch of money from someone who wanted to change the uniforms to black???? Howdid that work out as a tradition? Just kiddin' you there, Silver, but you are going to have to come up with a better example of what you are trying to say.

Point is...NO ONE creates a tradition because they throw a bunch of money at something unless it is a good idea in the first place and the students, faculty, staff, alumni, fans, etc. embrace it. Traditions are, I believe, by definition created and accepted over a period of time. "buying" a color change would not be starting a tradition, it would be buying a color change. If the change were accepted over time by the students, alums, fans, faculty, staff, etc., then and only then might it become a tradition. If someone had the idea to light the tower green after every victory and it "caught on", well after several years of doing so, that might become a tradition. If some big rich guy wanted to pay enough to have fireworks after every home game along with hot dogs and green soda pop for all the fans in attendance, well that might become a tradition after many many years. It's not that a rich guy paid for it in the first place, it's that the thing caught on and became part of what a UNT football home game is all about.

Really, Silver, with all due respect, I think you are barking up the wrong tree here.

Army of Dad · May 27, 2010

Let me ask you this. If any non-graduate of North Texas came forward with a significant amount of money that they wanted to contribute to the athletic program, but the hitch would be that they would rather see the school colors changed to pink, and the mascot changed to the peacocks; where would you stand on that?

So if that was a grad in your scenario that would make it ok?

SilverEagle · May 27, 2010

Obvious answer is No. But, one does not "buy" traditions. And, just because some non-grad donated abunch of money does not mean that person gets to start a tradition. I find this line of thinking from you, Silver, quite odd. I think the largest donor in recent history to any program has been Boone Pickens at Oklahoma State. Boone has not asked that OSU's colors be changed.

With your line of reasoning it would be OK for a graduate to donate and have the colors changed to pink? I really do not see the point you are trying to make with this example. Hey, maybe DD got a bunch of money from someone who wanted to change the uniforms to black???? Howdid that work out as a tradition? Just kiddin' you there, Silver, but you are going to have to come up with a better example of what you are trying to say.

Point is...NO ONE creates a tradition because they throw a bunch of money at something unless it is a good idea in the first place and the students, faculty, staff, alumni, fans, etc. embrace it. Traditions are, I believe, by definition created and accepted over a period of time. "buying" a color change would not be starting a tradition, it would be buying a color change. If the change were accepted over time by the students, alums, fans, faculty, staff, etc., then and only then might it become a tradition. If someone had the idea to light the tower green after every victory and it "caught on", well after several years of doing so, that might become a tradition. If some big rich guy wanted to pay enough to have fireworks after every home game along with hot dogs and green soda pop for all the fans in attendance, well that might become a tradition after many many years. It's not that a rich guy paid for it in the first place, it's that the thing caught on and became part of what a UNT football home game is all about.

Really, Silver, with all due respect, I think you are barking up the wrong tree here.

No, I wasn't barking up the wrong tree. I just wanted to know if you had a price or not regarding North Texas traditions............ :rolleyes:

And Army of Dad. To answer your question, it was not too long ago that a group of North Texas students got a petition signed to put to a student vote to have the Albino Squirrel be named as the secondary mascot of North Texas. Fortunately it was voted down by the students, but no outside influences (graduate or non-graduate) prevented the issue from coming to a vote.

However, we did have people in the athletic department (non-North Texas graduates) during the Craig Helwig era (90's) that came up with a design (officially licensed) that included the colors "copper and blue" in it. It took years of complaining (and a change in athletic directors) to finally get the design out of circulation.