{"id":3095,"date":"2011-10-18T23:08:52","date_gmt":"2011-10-19T03:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3095"},"modified":"2011-10-19T07:14:26","modified_gmt":"2011-10-19T11:14:26","slug":"guest-blogger-the-need-for-some-jmu-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3095","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blogger: The Need for Some JMU Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"
JMUSB Reader Sean Petrizzi won our initial prediction contest<\/a> and earned the right to guest post about whatever he wants. Have at it Sean. \u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
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First of all, let me say how awesome I think it is that I get to write for this blog. I love JMU sports blog, and JMU sports for that matter and I think Rob and Todd do a great job. (Ed. note – Every blog on the internet should start with that sentence.)<\/em> Secondly, to all my challengers on the prediction thread, get used to me writing articles cause I planning on winning a lot (wry grin) Rob and Todd, lets keep a tally a la Around the Horn and make it Sean 1, the rest of readers 0. So here is my \u201c30 seconds\u201d on JMU sports.<\/div>\n
Quick Personal Bio:<\/em> As a Born and Bred Tar Heel (forgive me if this offends you, it\u2019s a family thing, please do not discredit the rest of my entry.), my dream school was always UNC. But after what I thought was a deserving high school career,( I\u2019ll save you the self promoting qualifications) I did not get into Chapel Hill, as most would not out of state. I then turned my sights to a school with pride and school spirit. As anyone who knows me would tell you, college sports fanaticism is less an obsession with me and more of a defining personality trait. So I needed a school with a big athletics program that also had a big athletics following. Being the bleed Carolina blue fan that I am, Tech and UVA were not even considered and I did not apply (among other reasons). ODuh and GMCC were also not options for more academic reasons, and while I was accepted to William and Mary, I had always been less than impressed with their student involvement in the athletics arenas. I came to CHOICES at JMU and was sold for a life in purple the minute I participated in my first J! M! U! DUUUUUKES chant. I fell in love with it all and hope to see JMU continue to grow both academically and athletically. Which brings me to my post.<\/div>\n
JMU\u2019s lack of traditions<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/strong>It has been mentioned before on this blog the lack of traditions that JMU athletics has as a whole. (link to that article from you guys). Everyone loves the fight song and no other school can deny the awesomeness that is our streamers, but we need more. A school with an ever growing fan base, who I think rivals any in the state in size if you count the true fans, not the my-daddy-when-to-Tech-so-I-know-everything-about-football Hokie fans, should have more tried and true traditions we are proud of and enjoy. I have said before and Mike Barber over at DNR says it too that with 25k fan average after four home games this year, higher than 1\/3 of FBS schools, above average television coverage for even MAC and C-USA schools let alone FCS institutions, new facilities in baseball, football and a basketball upgrade on the horizon, JMU doesn\u2019t need to wonder what its like to be FBS, many FBS schools wonder what its like to be JMU. \u00a0To aid that growth and make JMU pride even higher I have some suggestions for new JMU traditions. And not traditions that are forced upon us like painting a rock, which is fine and I happen to like.(also mentioned in last years article). But I feel traditions take time to build, so I would like to suggest mine, hopefully let the internet take hold of them (this blog and CAA Boards), get them initiated and let them grow into the JMU fabricate. So lets spread the word and get your own ideas out here!<\/div>\n
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1. Welcome home<\/strong>
\nAs many wanted, Welcome Home has been made into the kickoff song. I supported it, I love it, but I\u2019d make some minor changes. I want to use it as our entrance song. Every great entrance at any school has a great song. At UNC its Jump Around. At Tech it\u2019s Enter Sandman. They go crazy for it. I hate them, but you can\u2019t deny how awesome it is. They think it\u2019s theirs. We need a song that JMU fans can think of as theirs. Welcome Home can be it. But we need to use the part of the song the band uses. \u00a0Imagine 25k chanting before the team runs out onto the field and tell me that wouldn\u2019t be intimidating. I have compiled what I think it would be an awesome entrance. Tell me what you think. JMU Entrance<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Smokestack<\/strong>
\nI have seen and heard many attempts at turning the smokestack by Bridgeforth into something. It really does add some character I think. The setting of Bridgeforth is quite beautiful if you\u2019ve never thought to recognize this with the mountains, Wilson in the distance and the smokestack. An idea I have is after every JMU touchdown, purple smoke could emanate from the stack. I don\u2019t know the functionality of the stack itself but that would be quite a cool sight. If every touchdown is too frequent (not really a problem last year but hopefully Anderson can single-handedly change that) then it might be cooler to do it just after a JMU victory. That way everyone going down 81 and everyone in Harrisonburg would know JMU has just won. It would create something of a reward for players and fans alike after a win and something players strive for after a loss.<\/p>\n

3. Fourth Quarter song\/Pump up video.<\/strong>
\nMany schools have a video accompanied with a song at the start of the fourth. At Carolina it\u2019s a Hells Bells remix that sends chills down my spine. JMU needs this. The crowd needs to be revamped at the most critical juncture of the game. Many songs come to mind. This could also be used at the start of the second half to get us students back up on our feet since many (who stay that long) don\u2019t pay attention to kickoff since they are socializing. A song could snap them back to attention and that song would signify the beginning of the second half.<\/p>\n

4. Rock the Campus<\/strong>
\nAn idea me and my roommate came up with was to utilize the JMU radio station for game day use. 2 hour or so before every game, the station could play a playlist of \u201cjock jams\u201d and MRD songs. If every person tailgating, every student in the dorm, every apartment building and every car driving to the \u2018Burg for the game tuned into that station, that could be seriously awesome for lack of a better term. More realistically if just HALF of every person did that, that would still be pretty impressive sounding. This could also signal when it is time to pack up and head into the stadium, for those tailgaters who never seem to realize.<\/p>\n

These are just four of the ideas I have thought about. All four would seriously add to the JMU Game Day experience which would just make it more likely for sellouts. Like it or not we have to compete with the Hokies and Hoos on any given Saturday for attendance, not too mention our other FCS brethren and the likes of WVU, Maryland and the North Carolina schools. To maintain and increase the JMU football atmosphere, the culture needs to change, these four possible traditions could help do just that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n