A Sea Of Red

So I'm sittin here watching the Texas shootout - SMU vs. Texas Tech. Showed Tuberville taking a traditional walk just before the game through a crowd of fans on their way to the stadium. That's pretty cool. Maybe Rocco can start that same tradition ((or maybe through Rocco town) at our next home game with the opening of our new stadium renovations

We've talked about this a lot on here because a lot of schools do that. With our setup, though, there's really no way that's not a huge inconvenience to do that. A lot of places have their FOC and practice fields away from the main stadium so there's a place to walk from. With our set up, the bus drops them off right in front of the FOC and that's where they come out at.

They could easily be dropped off across the street from the bookstore (right behind the old score board) and then stroll on through to Rocco town, take a left through the grassy knoll to the FOC... piece of cake

I've actually been thinking about this lately. I think it would be really cool if they got dropped off in the DeMoss parking lot (right in front of the fountain), then walk up University Blvd with the street lined with tailgaters and fans with Rocco leading the way. It would be about a .5 mile walk (maybe .25 miles), so it wouldn't be too bad. They could pass by Roccotown and have that aspect of it too. I think it would really help out our tailgating experience and game day experience overall. It would get the fans jacked up and the team.

That's how most schools I have seen have done it, bozlady. The buses from the hotel drop the team off and they walk through crowd, band & cheerleaders to their FOC. This would just slide back the clock a bit for arrival on their schedule.

Sly Fox wrote:That's how most schools I have seen have done it, bozlady. The buses from the hotel drop the team off and they walk through crowd, band & cheerleaders to their FOC. This would just slide back the clock a bit for arrival on their schedule.

Would that be a problem? I wouldn't imagine the players minding that too much.

LUnpretty11 wrote:

Sly Fox wrote:That's how most schools I have seen have done it, bozlady. The buses from the hotel drop the team off and they walk through crowd, band & cheerleaders to their FOC. This would just slide back the clock a bit for arrival on their schedule.

Would that be a problem? I wouldn't imagine the players minding that too much.

Are you kidding? I think they would LOVE it!! I like the idea from the DeMoss water fountain too!

On the way they should stop by Doc's grave and light a torch from the flame there to carry into the stadium.

olldflame wrote:On the way they should stop by Doc's grave and light a torch from the flame there to carry into the stadium.

awwww, brought a tear to my eye

olldflame wrote:On the way they should stop by Doc's grave and light a torch from the flame there to carry into the stadium.

Capital idea!

olldflame wrote:On the way they should stop by Doc's grave and light a torch from the flame there to carry into the stadium.

I have always thought this is a great idea and it also would be a very unique tradition, not copying something similar that another school(s) are already doing.

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These are some great ideas. Love it!

I know VT busses the team to the front of the stadium and then has them walk through the crowd following the band and cheerleaders. A lot of other schools do it also. It's not unique but it's still something I'd like to see us start doing.

I love the idea of the walk through the crowd before the game. I'm not sure if I'd start it at the fountain, though. That's about a half mile walk...up a hill. Maybe start it in P1 instead.

Not to be Debbie Downer, but I'm not a big fan of the torch thing. That comes across as a little creepy to me, but maybe that's just me.

i saw kids walking up wards towards city stadium on sat am and i thought about the same thing re: traditions at other schools. the fountain at demoss seemed logical to me as well because its the only central/meaningful point within walking distance that is worth starting from.

the flame from Doc's grave would just be really really cool. respect, tradition, uniqueness, history - all rolled into one. no matter what anybody says, we will ALWAYS be Jerry's Kids. that'd be a cool way to acknowledge it and probably bring more than a few tears and chills to the fans as well.

Is the 71 flag raising not enough tradition for honoring Dr. Falwell?

I agree guys, maybe I'm not as connected to Dr. Falwell, having never met him or attended the school while he was still with us, but every game doesn't need to be a full tribute to him. We raise a flag to him, and his jersey is retired. I feel like we really have enough going on.

Plus it would lose its charm pretty quickly. If you were to do something like this, it should be on a special occasion, maybe a homecoming game?

ToTheLeft wrote: Plus it would lose its charm pretty quickly. If you were to do something like this, it should be on a special occasion, maybe a homecoming game?

I'm a big fan of the idea of a Founder's Day Game once a year. It'd be on the one game that we don't have anything going on (not the opener, not homecoming, not CFAW, not hall of fame, not senior day). That's the game everyone could wear white shirts and red ties and we could go out of our way to honor Doc with something like the flame thing.

SuperJon wrote:

ToTheLeft wrote: Plus it would lose its charm pretty quickly. If you were to do something like this, it should be on a special occasion, maybe a homecoming game?

I'm a big fan of the idea of a Founder's Day Game once a year. It'd be on the one game that we don't have anything going on (not the opener, not homecoming, not CFAW, not hall of fame, not senior day). That's the game everyone could wear white shirts and red ties and we could go out of our way to honor Doc with something like the flame thing.

thats a great idea...I love it

I wasn't even really thinking of the "Flame Walk" as a memorial to Doc per se. More of a symbol of the concept which is deeply imbedded in the foundations of the school. Our teams are the Flames. Our school motto is "knowledge aflame". I don't see the flame at Doc's gravesite as being so much an honor to him either as it is a reminder that the flame he helped light is still burning and the importance of keeping it burning. Doing it once a year would be fine, but I really don't see a problem encorporating it into a tradition for every game. If they are going to do a "walk", this is something that would set it apart from all the other schools that do it.

The 71 flag is OK I guess, but it really doesn't do much for me personally. I think they were looking for something to honor Doc right after he passed, and that was what they came up with.

olldflame wrote:I wasn't even really thinking of the "Flame Walk" as a memorial to Doc per se. More of a symbol of the concept which is deeply imbedded in the foundations of the school. Our teams are the Flames. Our school motto is "knowledge aflame". I don't see the flame at Doc's gravesite as being so much an honor to him either as it is a reminder that the flame he helped light is still burning and the importance of keeping it burning. Doing it once a year would be fine, but I really don't see a problem encorporating it into a tradition for every game. If they are going to do a "walk", this is something that would set it apart from all the other schools that do it.

The 71 flag is OK I guess, but it really doesn't do much for me personally. I think they were looking for something to honor Doc right after he passed, and that was what they came up with.

Agreed. If our nickname was Broncos for instance, highlighting the flame would be a 100% tribute to Doc, and would not really be something you would want to do every week. The fact that we are the Flames, the flame is great symbolism and the fact that it is part of Doc's ongoing tribute is only secondary at best. I don't believe Doc would want a on-going tradition if he was the focus of it. I like the Flame, unless we can find someone with a trained bald eagle. IMVHO of course.

A "Flamewalk" would be awesome! Have some type of "contest" to allow a student to carry the flame...even if the bus pulls up to bookstore and they walk into the stadium from there. I really like the idea of the fountain drop-off, however.

I do like the idea of carrying of lighting a torch along the way -- however, stopping at Doc's grave to do so sounds a little creepy.

I agree. I like the walk from in front of Demoss with a designated player carrying a lit torch. But it should not start at Docs grave.

As 01LUgrad has previously said, the walk from DeMoss is a half mile from the FOC and half of it is up hill. No way that our football team should be walking up any hills before a game, we will need our legs in the 4th quarter. Forget DeMoss, it won't happen.