Where to, SMU?

[Rayburn]

Stay with me here I have a point to make...

I'm sure some of you saw the ESPN documentary about the 1971 Marshall University football team that was killed in a plane crash. The story was one of a football program rising from the ashes to reach great heights of success.

People tend to forget that in 1970 Wichita State lost a number of its players and head coach in a plane crash as well.

The difference? Marshall is the winningest program of the 1990s; Wichita State gave up football around the late 1980s.

At SMU we haven't lost lives but our program did get the axe for two years and we are still struggling our way out of the effects of it.

I must say, until Ford Stadium, I truly believed the days of Mustang football were numbered but by building that marvelous ediface, the administration has committed the university to football.

Attendance at games is horrible but that is nothing new. In the brief period when I was in the SMU athletic administration in the early to mid-1970s we were drawing about 13,000 people to the Cotton Bowl (and Texas Stadium) on game days. God, how I cringed at seeing those Mustang fans rattle like a handfull of bbs in a lead pot. We had some marquee value in those days: Wayne Morris, Oscar Roan, Louie Kelcher.

Much of getting us back into some kind of competitive shape is up to the administration and the $$$$$ boys who call the shots (and if you ask me, they'd better start getting some better advice on how to do it).

But, other than going to the games and yell yourself hoarse (that's important) the average SMU fan can make some contributions to the program:

Advertise. Wear your heart on your sleeve. I go to high school football games every week and when I do I'm wearing something that says SMU Mustangs. I talk SMU, past present and future to the people I meet and mingle with (I sit in the press boxes).

Listen, little things like that are important because it has a psychological effect on fans, the populace and potential recruits. It is a form of advertising, it reminds people that SMU is still out there. it is a way of having a voice or, as the SID at Kansas, Jay Simon, used to say it's the silent cheer.

You have to do that, you have to have SMU caps and jackets, decals and the name SMU out there in that sea of Texas and Texas A&M stuff. Frankly, once you get past all that orange and maroon it's pretty equal territory (and crimson and blue looks so much better than all of it).

Let me just put it in terms you older Ponies can understand: RUSS POTTS!

Web sites like this one are invaluable because it helps SMU fans network and coordinate efforts.

Your voice on radio sports talk shows is needed as well. if nothing else it forces the hosts to be up on their Mustang coverage least some fan catch them looking stupid.

But money is the bottom line. If you have a buck or two, send it to the SMU athletic department.

[Charleston Pony]

Words of wisdom, indeed. Sounds as if you were there in the athletic dept at the time I was earning my degree. While football attendance was woeful, we did have great support for bball in those days.

I must say I'm always wearing my SMU gear around town, and have met several Mustangs here in Charleston as a result. Have also run across other former SWC foes. We have a small group that gathers at the local sports bar to catch the Ponies on KSTR or FOX-SW. I agree wholeheartedly...a little more school spirit is what we need. Long live the FIFTEEN HUNDRED! (That's what a good friend of mine, a die-hard Mustang who passed away earlier this year, always called our TRUE fan base)

[ponytalk]

I guess people like me, Rayburn, and CP have got to keep on doing what we are doing. Maybe it will pay off. There is a small group of us who talk SMU and wear the logo. Rayburn, nice post.

[Guest]

Well said - rayburn....well said!!!!

[MustangMom]

Great post Rayburn!! I wish more people could read your comments!!

I wear SMU colors and have a Ponyfans.com shirt!!

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Go Mustangs!!
-MustangMom

[This message has been edited by MustangMom (edited 11-16-2000).]