What are the Best Traditions in College Football?

C2Ag93

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Jul 25, 2021
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Thanks for the background info.

What about the arm linking swaying the whole stadium does before games? If you mentioned it I must have missed it.
No prob. Hope it was interesting at least to some extent. Maybe if not "interesting," hopefully it simply added context that the vast majority of the "oddities" at least have root in the school's military ties.

To be honest, the sway you're referring to doesn't have a "direct linkage" to some military tradition or specific event, as the other traditions do. But it started in "Ol' Army days" and makes sense in context. The Aggie War Hymn was written 1918, and the part of the song is known as "Sawing Varsity's Horns Off". (Fun fact that even some Aggies don't even realize - while the words are original, the tune is a military ballad remake of a barbershop quartet song known as "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby." But I digress...)

At that point in the Aggie War Hymn, you put your arms on each others shoulders and sway side to side during that part singing "saw varsity's horns off" ("varsity" is an old school reference to a football team, and this context, the Longhorn's team). To be honest, I never connected this until your question prompted me to do some internet research, but the motion is said to mimic a saw.

So while I cannot say the action is something specifically a school with a military academy background would come up with, other than perhaps the camaraderie it shows, it definitely isn't just something "random."

 
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NoNC4Tubs

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Seeing the chicken slam into the pressbox window at jerdin-hair-dye is still in my Top 5...:ROFLMAO:
 

Windsortide

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1. Rammer Jammer
2. Million Dollar Band
3. Boomer Schooner
4. Ralphie’s Run
5. Dotting the I OSU
6. USCw stabbing of the sword
 

utjughead

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Although there are lots of them that I love about our own program, I'll only mention one from the homer perspective, and that is Rammer Jammer...remember when we used to play it before the game instead of only after a win, lol.

For a few that it pains me to acknowledge about our rivals, but you can't deny they are cool and add to the experience...Auburn and the eagle flight, Tennessee's band playing the opposing team's fight song before the game, and LSU with the announcement that it is Saturday night in Death Valley come to mind and I've personally experienced.

Lastly, I'll say Chief Osceola and the pregame chant at FSU, Virginia Tech and Enter Sandman, and since we play them this year, Wisconsin and Jump Around...
Correct - UT band has held a long tradition of playing the opponent’s fight song just before kick off. Not sure I have ever seen that elsewhere.

A UT tradition that is not as obvious as others is the band playing The Tennessee Waltz at the conclusion of home games - not as well known since most fans, UT or otherwise, have headed home before then.

I recall Kentucky’s band doing something similar with its rendition of My Old Kentucky Home for games played in Lexington.

Coach Bryant era fans on here might remember UT’s tradition of a having a Tennessee Walking Horse encircle Shields-Watkins Field (Neyland) just before kickoff. This was a tradition in the 60’s and 70’s, but discontinued in the early 80’s.
 
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