That Mediocre Baylor Line

Baylor is a very traditional school. Not only traditional in its values and constitutions, but traditional in that some of us are very proud of our history. If I were to name two schools that upheld "traditions" the best off of the top of my head, I would say Texas A&M, and Baylor. (A&M has a slight advantage in that anything that happens more than one time is considered a sacred "tradition.")

Just this morning, in fact, thousands of students woke at daybreak and braved the bitterly cold, Central-Texas morning to watch or participate in the oldest homecoming parade in America. The students in the organizations that put out floats for the parade spend countless hours and sacrifice countless nights of sleep creating multi-thousand dollar masterpieces, all of which will only be seen by each spectator for a matter of minutes, at the most. The time that each person lining the sides of the street gets to view each float is irrelevant, what counts is that they're there, to support and appreciate the hard work that went into each and every piece of our good ol' parade. And the people in the parade appreciate that support, that welcoming, that feeling that what they've been working for is being looked upon with grateful eyes. So why not return the favor?

One of our oldest, most important, and most visible to the public traditions is the forming of the Baylor Line. Ideally, each and every member of the freshman class in attendance will don their golden jersey, (under a sensible jacket, perhaps), run the length of the football field in as crazy and rambunctious a way as possible, and then form a tunnel that wraps back around the field for the football team to go through. When the team runs, they'll know that they are supported, that they are welcomed, and that what they've been working for is being looked upon with grateful eyes, and they'll appreciate the student body showing that they care. Doesn't that sound familiar? The very same students that could have just walked inside "the lines" this morning, now have the chance to be that support for the team that has taken us so far this year. But will they? More and more, I see freshman run onto the field and immediately go to the guard rail of the stands, trying relentlessly to get a seat in the first or second row. What good does that do the team? None- it surely can't feel that great to know that there could be people cheering you on, and that they chose to do something "more important" with their time. What fun is it for a player to look into the stands, and when he sees the people closest to him, they're only the people who abandoned him at the very beginning? Finally, it looks sloppy. From the field, it may just seem like chaos, but from the stands the division is depressing to watch. If you've never seen it, you'll never know until you watch as an upperclassmen. By then it'll be too late to change anything personally, but I guarantee your opinion will change. By week 3, you'll think like I do: Why can't they just wait another 5 minutes?

The Line isn't the only tradition Baylor has that's suffering, though. Some people may not even know of others- because they've never seen the end of a game. Question: Did you know, that after every home game that we win, the Golden Wave Band plays "The Tennessee Waltz", and a new person performs the solo each week? If you look into the press box, you might be lucky enough to see a window open; opened by an elderly mister who is one of the biggest supporters of our band, whose favorite song is the Tennessee Waltz, and who stays to the end, of every game. Did you know that Art Briles personally comes up and thanks the members of the Line that have stayed until the end for being good supporters and "putting the team on their back?" Probably not, because the group of people that he has to thank is incredibly small, week after week. On the other end of the game, did you know that the band performs a pre-game show every week that includes a Baylor spell-out and the forming of Texas to our state song? If not, I guarantee you can get better seats by being there early enough to see it happen.

The "THIS IS BEAR COUNTRY" tarp may as well read "THIS IS BARREN COUNTRY" by halftime, and it shouldn't have to. The tarp is already sad to think about. The tarp is a concession. The tarp was Baylor giving up on the student body, because it couldn't count on us to show up and stay, and it was tired of looking bad, so it covered some 5,000 seats and forced us all closer together. The UT game this year, the final game ever to be played in the stadium, is the first time it will come off since the new generation of Baylor football started. The new stadium, though the biggest construction project central-Texas has ever seen, will be even smaller than the Case, and I wonder why? Please, lets fill it up.

The game will be cold, so come prepared for the weather. Bring a jacket, bring a beanie, bring some gloves, but bring an attitude that if the players can be out there fighting through the weather, then so can you.  Come early and tailgate, there will be tons of free food, live music, and good fellowship. Watch the March of the Bears and cheer on the team as they take the field for practice. Freshman: run the Line like you know you should, like you're the only people in college football who get to do something like it, because you are, and show the team the same support that you showed this morning at parade. Upperclassmen, be there for kickoff, but even better be there for the pre-game show. And everybody: stay for the last fight song, the last Baylor Line, and the only Tennessee Waltz. I guarantee you, the parties won't start until after the game is over, you'll have time go get prettied up. Georges will still be open, they'll still have chicken fried steak and they'll still have beer. If you show early enough, getting out of the parking lot isn't an issue, no matter how late you leave.

Last night we handed the torch to the newest freshman class, and now I hand it to you. We are Baylor, and we fight with all our might. Do you?