“Colleges and universities all across the country are engrossed in the mission of learning, discovery and engagement … and yet the biggest rallying force among the largest constituent groups (students and alumni) is college football. Whether it is watching the Big Green of Dartmouth College, the Crimson Tide of Alabama, the Red Raiders of Texas Tech, the Lobos of the University of New Mexico, the Bruins of UCLA or the Huskies of the University of Washington folks flock to their football stadiums to cheer on their teams.”
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Colleges and universities all across the country are engrossed in the mission of learning, discovery and engagement … and yet the biggest rallying force among the largest constituent groups (students and alumni) is college football.

Whether it is watching the Big Green of Dartmouth College, the Crimson Tide of Alabama, the Red Raiders of Texas Tech, the Lobos of the University of New Mexico, the Bruins of UCLA or the Huskies of the University of Washington folks flock to their football stadiums to cheer on their teams.

All of those students and alumni bleed their school colors and cheer as loudly as they can at their games.

Walk the halls of PSU and you will see lions everywhere, or the halls of LSU and you will see nothing but tigers … or the halls of Baylor University, where you’ll see lots of bears, oh my.

Students at these campuses wear their college names and their mascots proudly every day.

So, why is it that here at the University of Akron we see so many t-shirts, sweatshirts and ballcaps with the logo of some other college or university?

I see Ohio State (and I keep hearing about how it is the school everyone in Ohio is weaned on, but still …), I see Cincinnati and I sometimes see a Michigan shirt.

More confusing is the number of Miami, Ohio and BGSU logos that I see on our campus.

How can that happen?

Those are our conference rivals.

I have even seen Kent State shirts on campus.

Are you serious?

What would be said to a person wearing a Michigan shirt at Ohio State?

This behavior borders on athletic and institutional sacrilege. This is Roo-town for heaven’s sake. We need to act like it!

We need to develop pride in our brand – in our school.

You should never wear another institution’s colors or mascot or name on our campus, unless you are paying tribute to your dad or mom who went to that other institution before they were enlightened.

And if you are wearing those other schools’ clothes, it should only be a rare occasion like you ran out of quarters to do your laundry -and then wear the shirt inside out on those unfortunate days.

Where is our school pride?

We need to always and proudly, wear our university colors and our name and our mascot, certainly on our campus – but everywhere off campus we can – to show our pride and to support our teams and our school.

So every Friday during our football and basketball seasons and the day before every game, wear our colors and our name – proudly – on our campus and everywhere we go during those days.

Wear your pride day!

Wear the Gold and Blue! So, let’s stack the stadium during every football game.

Fill the field for every soccer game or every softball game.

Jam the JAR for our volleyball games and certainly for all of our upcoming basketball games to support our great MAC championship men’s basketball team and our terrific women’s team!

Let’s rock our Roo-town so loudly that they hear us in that horseshoe in Columbus and wonder what in the world is happening up north!

Join the AK-Rowdies and support your team.

As so famously stated by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys back in the 60s, So be true to your school now/Just like you would to your girl or guy/Be true to your school now/ And let your colors fly/Be true to your school.

Be true to your school, the University of Akron! GO ZIPS!

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