FAU is tradition-less

Coming off of last week's attempt to fill the FAU Burrow (the basketball arena for those of you who have never been to a basketball game, which is probably 25,000 of the 27,000 students) with over 3,000 fans for the men's basketball game fell short by nearly 1,400. Bury the Burrow IN RED was an attempt to get every fan in attendance to wear red - creating an uncomfortable feeling for visiting Florida International. Plus, it would have looked really cool on television to have the entire crowd wearing red.

Trying to achieve this goal, student government and athletics handed out red t-shirts for fans to wear. Not everyone wore them. The good news - we still won.

But on a much larger scale, I did some research on some other schools (a lot of them that we have played or will be playing in the near future) and their traditions. Let's compare:

Florida Gators v. FAU:
In 1991, Head Football Coach Steve Spurrier talked at a press conference about the season his team just finished. He talked about how teams should be scared to come into the stadium where the Gators play. He called it "The Swamp." The name stuck.

In 2001 and 2002, FAU played home games at Pro Player Stadium (home of the NFL team Miami Dolphins). IN 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, FAU played their home games at Lockhart Stadium (home of Broward County High School games) with a few games being played back at Pro Player to help increase attendance (which it never did). In 2007 - well, we don't know where FAU is playing next year.

Florida State Seminoles v. FAU:
The now-famous Seminole Tomahawk chop that fans do at games started in 1984 when fans that sat behind the band started doing it. By next season, the entire stadium was doing it. The chop also jumped sports over to major league baseball and appeared at Atlanta Brave games. When the "massacre" song comes on that is played by the Seminole band, 80,000 people in the football stadium and millions watching on television do the same hand motion in unison. It's chilling to say the least.

In 2002, I tried to start the Owl Fingers, which are creatively made by putting your thumb and your index finger together - thus leaving your middle, ring and pinkie finger sticking straight up. If you do that on both hands at the same time, you have Owl Fingers.

The fingers died as soon as they started. They resurfaced this football and basketball season and has slowly caught on. Now about 5,000 people at the football games and 900 at basketball games do them when they are told to.

Clemson Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks v. FAU
The Clemson football team rubs a Howard's Rock on their way into the stadium before a game. The team's entrance has been called the most exciting 25 seconds in football. It started when that same rock was brought to Clemson from Death Valley, California before a big game.

Clemson's cross state rival South Carolina has the most exciting entrance overall. In 2001, to the song "2001-A Space Odyssey," the team entered the field to what was the most exciting entrance the school had ever seen. They haven't looked back. The entrance is now one of the only entrances that is shown on national television.

Last year, FAU purchased a giant FAU inflatable helmet. Note: this year, it didn't inflate for the FIU game. This year, Owsley the Owl ran out to the song "2001-A Space Odyssey." One time the song didn't come on at all.

Stoney Brook v. FAU:
Here's an academic tradition. Stoney Brook does not have any classes in session on Wednesday's between 12 noon and 2 p.m. These hours are called "Campus Life Hours." Students (residents and commuters) are encouraged to participate in pep rallies, free food events, lectures, guest speakers, club events and other things that encourage involvement in school.

FAU has the Breezeway where clubs pass out stuff that most people ignore. There's also Reading Day, where there is no class for an entire day. But that day is reserved for studying for finals, which start the very next day. Oh yeah - by the way - Reading Day was cancelled this semester so that we can have an extra day of graduation ceremonies.

Virgina Tech Hokies v. FAU:
The Hokies got their nickname after a 1896 student body vote to change the fight song. The song was titled "Hokie," thus changing the mascot name.

In 2003, FAU cut it's 86 (or so) Owl logos down to one, it's five school colors down to three and there was some student input. And our Owl mascot name has changed quite often. In 2002, it was the FAU Owl and Owlvin. Fans called him Hootie. It was then changed to Owsley. And we have had four different looking mascots in the past five years.

FAU does have tradition though. There is Homecoming that has happened since forever. Oh yeah - that tradition was changed too. It was changed from the spring semester to the fall semester in 2000 to accommodate the football team, not the men's and women's basketball teams like it had in years past.