Dear AD Hart

[DiamondM]

Mama bear getting riled up here (non-Park Cities, non-big donor mama bear, that is, whose mini Mustang has been coming to pretty much every home basketball and football game since she was 17 days old).

Look, if you know me and my post here since Ponyfans was founded, you know I care a lot about gameday atmosphere, and I have been critical in the past of how timeouts were managed. This year has been a great improvement -- in all aspects.

But the Mini Mustangs do 1 men's basketball game a year, take up 45 seconds of 1 of 8 roughly 3 minute long SCHEDULED tv timeouts, and are no more buzz kill than (1) stupid time out promotions where SMU has coughed up all of a free t shirt or some other crappy prize for the winner, (2) the actual cheer leaders and pom squad, (3) sponsor announcements or ads, and (4) donor recognitions.

I agree that neither the Mini Mustangs, nor any of the other promotional material mentioned above, should ever be used for a timeout CALLED by the opposing team's coach to stop a run. And they weren't trotted out there on a called timeout on Saturday. (In my view, every such called timeout should be immediately followed by the band playing a spirit song, which can then be followed by appropriate PA music if necessary. But FYI, the current person in charge has got it backwards and told the band only to play on scheduled tv timeouts and SMU-called timeouts, and that opposing-team timeouts are reserved for the PA DJ, but whatever). But get over your Mini Mustang hate. Just GET OVER it. I've seen us try the "don't do anything" approach and people always sit down and quiet down before the 3 minutes are up. If you don't want the Mini Mustangs (or any of the other promotion) to be a buzz kill, don't LET IT BE ONE. As soon as the promotion is over, stand up and start yelling before the ball goes back in play.

[SMULaxer]

Mama bear getting riled up here (non-Park Cities, non-big donor mama bear, that is, whose mini Mustang has been coming to pretty much every home basketball and football game since she was 17 days old).

Look, if you know me and my post here since Ponyfans was founded, you know I care a lot about gameday atmosphere, and I have been critical in the past of how timeouts were managed. This year has been a great improvement -- in all aspects.

But the Mini Mustangs do 1 men's basketball game a year, take up 45 seconds of 1 of 8 roughly 3 minute long SCHEDULED tv timeouts, and are no more buzz kill than (1) stupid time out promotions where SMU has coughed up all of a free t shirt or some other crappy prize for the winner, (2) the actual cheer leaders and pom squad, (3) sponsor announcements or ads, and (4) donor recognitions.

I agree that neither the Mini Mustangs, nor any of the other promotional material mentioned above, should ever be used for a timeout CALLED by the opposing team's coach to stop a run. And they weren't trotted out there on a called timeout on Saturday. (In my view, every such called timeout should be immediately followed by the band playing a spirit song, which can then be followed by appropriate PA music if necessary. But FYI, the current person in charge has got it backwards and told the band only to play on scheduled tv timeouts and SMU-called timeouts, and that opposing-team timeouts are reserved for the PA DJ, but whatever). But get over your Mini Mustang hate. Just GET OVER it. I've seen us try the "don't do anything" approach and people always sit down and quiet down before the 3 minutes are up. If you don't want the Mini Mustangs (or any of the other promotion) to be a buzz kill, don't LET IT BE ONE. As soon as the promotion is over, stand up and start yelling before the ball goes back in play.

God bless your support, but the mini mustangs gotta go.

[Pweesey]

I agree that neither the Mini Mustangs, nor any of the other promotional material mentioned above, should ever be used for a timeout CALLED by the opposing team's coach to stop a run.

That would be a great policy and I hope it gets done.

[Digetydog]

Mama bear getting riled up here (non-Park Cities, non-big donor mama bear, that is, whose mini Mustang has been coming to pretty much every home basketball and football game since she was 17 days old).

Look, if you know me and my post here since Ponyfans was founded, you know I care a lot about gameday atmosphere, and I have been critical in the past of how timeouts were managed. This year has been a great improvement -- in all aspects.

But the Mini Mustangs do 1 men's basketball game a year, take up 45 seconds of 1 of 8 roughly 3 minute long SCHEDULED tv timeouts, and are no more buzz kill than (1) stupid time out promotions where SMU has coughed up all of a free t shirt or some other crappy prize for the winner, (2) the actual cheer leaders and pom squad, (3) sponsor announcements or ads, and (4) donor recognitions.

I agree that neither the Mini Mustangs, nor any of the other promotional material mentioned above, should ever be used for a timeout CALLED by the opposing team's coach to stop a run. And they weren't trotted out there on a called timeout on Saturday. (In my view, every such called timeout should be immediately followed by the band playing a spirit song, which can then be followed by appropriate PA music if necessary. But FYI, the current person in charge has got it backwards and told the band only to play on scheduled tv timeouts and SMU-called timeouts, and that opposing-team timeouts are reserved for the PA DJ, but whatever). But get over your Mini Mustang hate. Just GET OVER it. I've seen us try the "don't do anything" approach and people always sit down and quiet down before the 3 minutes are up. If you don't want the Mini Mustangs (or any of the other promotion) to be a buzz kill, don't LET IT BE ONE. As soon as the promotion is over, stand up and start yelling before the ball goes back in play.

Good post. Getting parents to bring their kids early and often is the key to everything.

[hoop]

I have a mini mustang and still think they're a beating

[GiddyUp]

god bless your little mustangs, but they dont belong on the bball court unless its a non-conference game very early in the year.

Thank goodness the kiss cam retired.

[SMU Section F]

Thank goodness the kiss cam retired.

Absolutely. Either my wife or I strategically took a bathroom break at the first media timeout of the second half for years... when there's only a couple hundred people there, your odds are just too "good".

[Pony ^]

I understand it's only 3 minutes of our time, but it makes us feel like we are in middle school.

[Harry0569]

god bless your little mustangs, but they dont belong on the bball court unless its a non-conference game very early in the year.

Thank goodness the kiss cam retired.

You take that back. Kiss cam is the best.