Skanks and football
Britney Drumm
Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: Opinions
There is nothing quite like a home football game at Texas Tech.
They have to be the most enjoyable events I can attend here, chock-full of camaraderie with fellow Red Raiders and entertaining traditions. There's also a certain fluidity to Tech football, where new things can come up randomly within a season and sweep through the student section as if we've been doing them for years.
Older traditions, like The Matador Song, where the trumpets joyfully sound off a pseudo-call to arms, gives me goose bumps every time I hear it. I'm particularly fond of the enthusiastic jumping issued in unison with the now awesomely black-clad drumline. It's an odd tradition to hold onto, but it really is this uniform energy shared simultaneously by the entire student body.
Every season, there are old customs that I return to and continue to love (like the slow- fast-reverse marathon wave sessions) and new changes that I come to adore (like Michael Crabtree replacing Dwayne Slay as the football player I would perhaps like to bear children for, but I digress...). Yet inevitably, we then have those irritating little Tech quirks that get under my skin, to the point where I have trouble focusing on the actual game itself and instead fantasize about violent outrages in my head.
And no, I'm not insinuating our apparent unsportsmanlike fandom.
I actually, begrudgingly, have to defend it a little bit, only because that is who we are. We are not the compliant Aggies, who will hiss at you like a snake if they want to display their common dislike. I'm not condoning the fact that we turn our own fight song into outspoken profanity, but that is - for better or worse - who we are.
Playing sportsmanship commercials before the game and having outcries of protest from the powers-that-be doesn't make a mostly inebriated Red Raider fan base think deeper about their moral ethics at a sporting event.
It will, in fact, make us more defiant about it. We are Raiders; chanting offensive mantras, degrading opposing players for no other reason than their names, or even carrying a ripped down goal post across the stadium to slam it into a maroon-shaded section is just what we do - whether you perpetuate it or become irate by the people who do.
They have to be the most enjoyable events I can attend here, chock-full of camaraderie with fellow Red Raiders and entertaining traditions. There's also a certain fluidity to Tech football, where new things can come up randomly within a season and sweep through the student section as if we've been doing them for years.
Older traditions, like The Matador Song, where the trumpets joyfully sound off a pseudo-call to arms, gives me goose bumps every time I hear it. I'm particularly fond of the enthusiastic jumping issued in unison with the now awesomely black-clad drumline. It's an odd tradition to hold onto, but it really is this uniform energy shared simultaneously by the entire student body.
Every season, there are old customs that I return to and continue to love (like the slow- fast-reverse marathon wave sessions) and new changes that I come to adore (like Michael Crabtree replacing Dwayne Slay as the football player I would perhaps like to bear children for, but I digress...). Yet inevitably, we then have those irritating little Tech quirks that get under my skin, to the point where I have trouble focusing on the actual game itself and instead fantasize about violent outrages in my head.
And no, I'm not insinuating our apparent unsportsmanlike fandom.
I actually, begrudgingly, have to defend it a little bit, only because that is who we are. We are not the compliant Aggies, who will hiss at you like a snake if they want to display their common dislike. I'm not condoning the fact that we turn our own fight song into outspoken profanity, but that is - for better or worse - who we are.
Playing sportsmanship commercials before the game and having outcries of protest from the powers-that-be doesn't make a mostly inebriated Red Raider fan base think deeper about their moral ethics at a sporting event.
It will, in fact, make us more defiant about it. We are Raiders; chanting offensive mantras, degrading opposing players for no other reason than their names, or even carrying a ripped down goal post across the stadium to slam it into a maroon-shaded section is just what we do - whether you perpetuate it or become irate by the people who do.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 19
sad
posted 10/02/07 @ 10:24 PM CST
I have to say I agree with criticizing poor taste in dress code. But in your own words, "that's just who we are", the girls that followed pirates were actually a little skanky, so why expect girls that follow the Tech "pirates" to be any different? (Be sure you hear the sarasm). (Continued…)
A
posted 10/02/07 @ 10:35 PM CST
Amen. Miniskirt (or cut-off shorts for that matter) + boots = a disgrace.
Trust me, no cowgirl would ride a horse in an Abercrombie mini skirt that shows her nether regions. (Continued…)
mark.williamson
Mark Williamson
posted 10/02/07 @ 10:50 PM CST
Well, I may not condone activities that surround the origins of the term 'skank'. But, when it comes to the way people dress, as long as it's legal, why assume anything? As far as the fact that certain styles are worn to games, it may be because it is a way girls dress regularly, as in whether or not they're going to sports events. (Continued…)
Stephanie Hines
posted 10/03/07 @ 9:09 AM CST
I really do not care how any of the young ladies dress. If they want to look ridiculously out of place so be it. I do, however, as a Tech Alum, despise the changing of the words in the fight song. (Continued…)
John Q Footballfan
posted 10/03/07 @ 10:36 AM CST
Britney,
Go away.
Please transfer to another university.
Red Raider Rick
posted 10/03/07 @ 11:35 AM CST
I guess you have never witnessed the dress code in the SEC. Check out an Ole Miss crowd sometime. I find it makes for a pretty attractive setting. Nothing sparkles like a Texas Tech coed in October. (Continued…)
Jennifer
posted 10/03/07 @ 4:37 PM CST
Britney, thank you. This is how I feel too. These girls have no respect for themselves and I'm happy you let them have it. Keep up the good writing. (Continued…)
Meredith
posted 10/03/07 @ 5:51 PM CST
Shame on you, Britney. This is one of the most misogynistic articles I have ever read in the DT. And from another women? Wow. I would prefer not to even go into the implications of one woman calling another a "skank" simply based on dress. (Continued…)
William Mattiford, Jr
posted 10/03/07 @ 8:07 PM CST
Very funny writing, and unfortunately, very accurate. Some will hate reading the truth, but your job as a columnist is to tackle the truth. Keep up the good work. (Continued…)
stacy
posted 10/04/07 @ 9:23 PM CST
haha, i LOVE this...i often wondered the same thing, i always wear my school colors to the game, and i dont understand why these skanks wouldn't!! you are right britney, thats just red raider fans, making fun of the other teams' last names. (Continued…)
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