- January 30th, 2011, 11:18 pm
#338195
Okay, I've tried not to make this a comparison to The LUnatics because nothing I said in that way could come off as any way other than egotistical. However, I'm tired of these guys being stupid so I'm throwing it out there.
ToTheLeft, TDDance, flamesfilmguy, TBGBG, BJ, BrysOn, JDub, sweetnahmah1, Th3rd, schfourteenteen, and all of the other LUnatics: this one goes out to you.
The LUnatics were the best student group in the Big South in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 before we started to graduate and/or take jobs that made it to where our core was split up. There was no doubt about it. We weren't the best team but we had the best group of fans. At our height, other teams' fans and students were asking, "Are The LUnatics coming to tonight's game?" (see: High Point 2009) Other student sections tried to replicate what we did and tried to be as good as us (see: UNCA in the 2008 Big South Championship game). We went into other team's stadiums/arenas and took over (see: W&M 2007, VMI 2009, UNCA 2008, CCU 2008, GWU 2007, etc). Coaches from other teams said they hated coming to play at Liberty because of us. We single handedly caused a player to take a crappy shot near the end of the shot clock and another to get a technical foul in the Niagra game in 2008 that ended up winning us the game.
We had an article written about us in the Liberty Journal that was going to be solely about The LUnatics until Athletics asked that the Student Flames Club be included as well. I was called by Becki Falwell and asked to come to a meeting about the Red Hot campaign that included top representatives from Athletics, Alumni, and Marketing. We had a story on us in the yearbook. Coach McKay personally bought us t-shirts two seasons in a row. We even helped get classes cancelled for people who travelled to a Big South tournament game.
And how did we do that?
We worked with athletics.
We did what the people above our heads asked us to do.
We partnered with them to lead in the way that they wanted things to be led.
They asked us to wear red and we made sure everyone was in red. If you weren't in red, you were in the back. They asked us not to say the word "suck" and we made sure not to say the word "suck." They asked us to help with a promotion and we helped with the promotion.
When you get the administration of Liberty on your side, things go much better and you're much more effective.
Some of our guys hated the people that ran athletics. For a long time, I was on the bad side of some of the key athletics officials because, like you, I thought I had to be different and do it my own way for people to notice. Once we all realized it was stupid to fight against a machine so powerful as the athletics administration and the administration in general, we started to thrive. We took off completely. We went through the proper channels to do things the write way and almost overnight we went from a group of 6-7 in my living room to a group of 60+ in The Vines.
Before it all ended, we were on the good side of Athletics, the football program, and the basketball program to the point that we rarely ever paid for tickets. From 2007 to 2009, the only time I ever paid for a ticket was at W&M for football and in the Big South Tournament for basketball. None of us did.
On the Thursday before the JMU football game in 2009, Coach Rocco walked up to me and said, "I've got a little surprise for you and your LUnatic friends on Saturday night." Coach Dunton used to buy our dinner after games. McKay gave us shirts and filmed videos with us.
If wearing red to games is good enough for Jerry and Becki Falwell then it should be good enough for a group of kids wanting to lead the chants and cheers.
The LUnatics came before you and reach higher heights while cheering on a team that's not as good as this year's and it's because we did things the right way.
You guys have the potential to be even better than we were.
The only way to do that is by doing things the way that they're supposed to be done.
- By LU Armchair coach
- By Sly Fox