Top 10 College Football Traditions - Part 2

Now that you’ve had a taste of the rich and significant history of College Football, these next five traditions are sure to get you going. After sifting through stacks and stacks of college information and analyzing hundreds of millions of college reviews, here is what our panel has decreed as the best traditions in College football:

5. Painting the Helmets Gold - Notre Dame is perhaps the most storied and well-known team in College Football. Because of that, you better believe that the Fighting Irish have their fair share of traditions and rituals. And although most people think that this story is merely mythical - the helmets get a real coat of 24 karat gold before every week’s big game.

4. Howard’s Rock and the Hill - It’s a sight to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. For roughly 40 years, the Clemson Tigers have made their raucous entrance into Memorial Stadium after touching Howard’s Rock and storming down the hill. Symbolizing the players’ intentions to play with everything they’ve got, this awesome arrival never fails to get 83,000 screaming fans to their feet.

3. Dotting the “I” - Ohio State is a perennial powerhouse and competes for a spot in the National Championship Game each and every season. The half-time festivities at Ohio Stadium culminate with the sousaphone player, rambunctiously and fanatically dotting the “I” after the marching band spells out “Ohio” on the field. The display sends 102,000 fans into thunderous and gaudy applause and cheering that lasts the entire second half.

2. Chief Osceola and the Flaming Spear — At Florida State University, they have one of the best pregame traditions in the entire country. Representing the Seminole Tribe, Chief Osceola mounts his faithful steed, Renegade, and plants a flaming spear into the ground at the 50-yard-line. With the players watching from the sideline, Chief Osceola spikes the fiery weapon on the logo at mid-field and then stares the opposing captains down as they make their way to the center of the field for the coin toss.

1. UGA the Bulldog - So it’s not the special affects or fierce animals that get the top spot here today. Instead, it’s the loveable little pooch from the University of Georgia named Uga. The bulldog is the seventh in a long line of real dogs to don the Georgia jersey and represent the school on the sideline of every game. Fans and players alike share a special bond with Uga as he even travels to certain away games in order to cheer on his fellow Bulldogs. After 50 years, the university still gets its dogs from the same lineage and family. Don’t let his cute exterior fool you though - he has a tendency to go after members of the opposing team.

Well, there you have it folks - the Top 10 College Football Traditions. From buffaloes to bulldogs, the search for college info and superiority continues. I hope this list helps you find colleges with deep and intense traditions…and a good party scene also!

Top 10 College Football Traditions - Part 1

With the College football season getting more and more intense every week, we figured that we’d pump you up a little bit more with the top 10 College Football traditions in the nation. Our enormous panel looked at tons of college info and searched for colleges with the richest and deepest history - here is what we’ve come up with:

10. Running through the T - At the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, there is very little that excites students more than the pregame festivities. As kickoff approaches, the Volunteers gather in the tunnel and wait for the marching band to form the famous “T”. Then, all of a sudden, the team floods out of the locker room, through the “T” and onto their sideline - an intimidating site for any visiting squad.

9. The Tiger Walk - Keeping things in the SEC, Auburn University boasts the ninth best tradition in College Football. Roughly two hours prior to kickoff, the Auburn players walk between thousands of screaming fans trying to shake a hand or merely catch a glimpse of their favorite players. As the team makes their way to the stadium, players get emotional and excited as the big match-up approaches. While other teams may try and replicate this tradition, it started here and will die here.

8. The Ramblin’ Wreck — A restored 1930 Model A Ford Sport Coupe leads the team onto the field and has done so at every home game since September 30th, 1961. The vintage car is decked out in GT colors and whenever the engine is fired up, so is the crowd.

7. Midnight Yell - At Texas A&M, the anticipation is too much. Rather than waiting until right before kickoff to get rowdy, Aggie fans, also known as “The Twelfth Man”, gather at Midnight the day before the game to practice their cheering. Thousands of fans pack into the Kyle Field stands and, led by the “Yell Leaders”, they can be heard screaming the War Hymn and mocking their opponent. This tradition doesn’t end at home games either. When on the road, the “Yell Leaders” choose a location to gather and the yelling occurs there.

6. Running of Ralphie - At the University of Colorado at Boulder, they have a pretty intimidating tradition. Imagine being a player on the visitors sideline and seeing a 1,300 pound buffalo running straight at you. It’s not the most pleasant or comforting feeling in the world, I’m sure. It’s a real spectacle to watch - unless the animal runs you over…just ask that guy at the beginning of the clip!

Stay tuned for more! That’s just Part 1 of our 2 part series examining the best traditions in College Football. If athletics are critical in your college search, then this post will help you find colleges that meet your criteria.

With just 10 measly words, Craig Robinson was able to get a crowd of 45,000 people to go crazier than Michael Jackson at a Boy Scouts meeting.

“I’m Craig Robinson, and Michelle Obama is my little sister,” he echoed throughout Denver’s Pepsi Center during the Democratic National Convention in August.

You see, Robinson is the new Head Coach of the Oregon State Beavers men’s basketball team, and a guy who just so happens to be Barack Obama’s brother-in-law; talk about luck.

“Barack is committed to making this American dream a possibility for all Americans,” Robinson exclaimed to Obama supporters who were packed into the arena like sardines.

But he wasn’t there to simply talk politics; he also gave a shout out to his basketball team. “Today, I’m proud to be the coach of the Oregon State men’s basketball team. Go Beavers,” Robinson told the crowd.

As a former two-time Ivy-League player of the year at Princeton, Robinson already knows a little something about leadership and the limelight. After graduating from school, Robinson became a bond trader in Chicago - and a good one at that. And although he was making a lot of money and living comfortably, something was missing, something that he loved. And hey, why would you give up a multi-million dollar job when you can be an assistant coach for a perennial loser?
“I’d much rather be in the gym having practice and talking hoops,” he has said.

I’m not quite sure if there is “practice” at Northwestern, so much as it’s college athletes throwing brick after brick at the rim, but hey, whatever works, right? So even though the Wildcats of Northwestern are about as competitive as girls playing hopscotch, he was able to get back into the game as their assistant coach. After a couple of years and some success, he was offered a head coaching position. It wasn’t Duke or North Carolina or even the Kennesaw State Owls; Robinson got a job back in his old stomping grounds - the nerdy Ivy League. Now, most people identify Brown with geeks and bookworms and not athletic domination, but Robinson turned it around long enough to get another head coaching offer.

And even though the Beavers have been about as good as chocolate-covered-tuna-fish recently, the opportunity in Corvallis, Oregon was just too good to pass up.

“They didn’t win a game [in the Pac-10], and some people would look at that and go, ‘Wow, I’ll be inheriting a real challenge,’” Michelle Obama recently said. “Craig sees it as a real opportunity. His view was: I really can start from scratch; I can build a program because the only place to go is up.”

And so there he was, addressing the convention, addressing the nation and addressing both current and future recruits. A lot of people might get nervous and worry about what people would say or think. Robinson, however, stood up and endorsed his sister and her husband as the change that America so desperately needs. Now that Obama has been officially elected, it just may be because of what Robinson had to say that night - and he certainly has made his mark on American politics.

And while the head coaching job at Oregon State is special, First Brother-In-Law has a nice ring to it too.