Wednesday night was a point in history for Mississippi State University. There, on the Drill Field, the student body gathered together to hail the new “commander-in-chief.” No, we are not talking about President Bush, but someone far more important to MSU. We heard someone who will lead us into a new era of glory and pride for our university. Sylvester Croom.
Croom is definitely into bringing in the new era of MSU. You could plainly see that from the crowd of students on the Drill Field. As you can see from the picture on page 2, the Drill Field looked a little different from the usual crowd during class changes in the morning. Namely, we were all dressed in maroon and white.
This ended up being one of the major points of Croom’s pep talk. Not only did he encourage students to show up for The Drill dressed in their maroon and white t-shirts, he also encouraged the same practice for the ball games.
As most people know, it has been common in the past to see people at football games dressed as if they were going on a date. For the casual observer, it seemed that the games were the fashion events of the season.
This is a practice that Croom wishes to do away with. He has offered to give free maroon MSU t-shirts to every student who comes to a game. He also expects the students to wear them to every game, including the game that they get the shirt.
On the surface, it does not seem that important. Why not dress up during a game? Why make everyone dress the same? After all, does this university not pride itself on diversity?
Think about this. When you look at that picture of The Drill, what really catches your eye? Obviously, it was the uniformity of color. And what did it make you think of?
The feeling that The Drill generated can be summarized in one word: unity. The student body looked truly united in support for both our athletics and for our university. And, since we looked united, it is not too far a step to make to be united.
This is the major thing that Croom wants. MSU is a huge university, and it is admittedly hard to unify the thousands of people in one voice. Croom has found a way to do it.
What will this unity do for us? Many people remember 1999 and 2000. Those were the glory years. The football team went to the Peach Bowl, and the crowds filled the stands with Bulldog support. That was unity.
Some may say that we got that unity from the success of the football team. We are saying that the unity and support can actually cause football glory. What better way to show our support than to paint the stands maroon and white?
When other people see that, they will know that the Bulldogs are in the house. They will know that we are Bulldogs. And they will talk about that. Last semester, basketball fans began to all wear the same T-shirts. And the basketball season was extremely good. The unified crowd of Bulldogs had something to root for.
If it can work for basketball, we should hold football to the same standards of playing and school spirit.
And if you’re still wondering what the use is in wearing maroon to the games, remember this: T-shirts are something the SEC can’t control.
The Reflector editorial board is made up of opinion editor Angela Adair, news editor Elizabeth Crisp, assistant news editor Jessica Bowers, sports editor Craig Peters, entertainment editor Dustin Barnes, managing editor Pam McTeer and editor in chief Josh Foreman.