Improving a tradition

[Mjohn1988]

Doug,
I’m going to tell you a few things about myself just so you know that I’m a serious fan who’s big on our football traditions. I’m a 1988 graduate, I’ve been on the turf at KBS in uniform and I haven’t missed a home game in 13 years. I have those 7, yes 7, home dates on my calendar for 2019 and unless something completely unforeseen happens I’ll make it 14 years in a row this year. Those days in Boone are awesome. I believe that winning teams and solid traditions make for the best game day experience and I love our traditions. I think things are getting better but for a while we used way to much music from the PA system. We played music over the band and over the fans. Our game day traditions should be driven by the students and the fans. The band should play more and the fans should cheer louder and the PA system should only be used to support and enhance what the band, the cheerleaders, the students and the fans are doing. I say all this to ask if you would consider changing one of our traditions, that being the Sean Connery, “welcome to the Rock”. Don’t get me wrong, I both respect and like the intro, it has served us well. I also am grateful to the folks who gave it to us. But, I think we can improve on what they started. Over the last couple of seasons it has struck me as odd that a Scottish actor with absolutely no ties to ASU is literally welcoming folks to our football home. So what I’m going to suggest is that we change very little about that welcome, really only that we have App. Folks deliver that line, “welcome to the Rock”. Now I know we tried this before with the Eric Church video and frankly I liked it but I think it had one big flaw. It changed too much. Eric changed how the line was delivered, he paused and then sort of stuttered out the line. That line, “ welcome to the Rock”, is a launching point and it must be delivered in the same rhythm that it been delivered in for years. I’m only suggesting that App. People delivery the line. I’ll give you an example of what I mean. Our very first game this year is Coach Jerry Moore day. This is a day made for this change. So you get with coach Moore and have him record the line, “welcome to the Rock”. You get it just right, in rhythm just like the fans have heard it hundreds of times. The hype video plays but you include little clips of coach Moore and at the end Coach Moore not Sean Conner comes up and delivers the line. What Mountaineer fan wouldn’t love that. Our guy, a real Mountaineer welcoming us all to his home, our home. Now that said you would still have 5 home games to fill with different folks or groups, but I think that would be easy. Week 2 could be AE or I really think that Marching Mountaineers would be a great choice. The whole band recorded from the stadium. I think our fan base could really get behind this. It would be like a fan of the game thing. I’m going to list some additional thoughts on possible “fans” of the game below. Two words of caution, it has to be delivered in rhythm and it should never be sold. We should never see the president of xyz cooperation delivering the welcome line, it has to be about the players, the students and the fans.

Possible fans of the game:

Senior day: the senior football class, easy choice.

Hero’s day: This one gets me fired up. It could be as simply as one of our brave military folks and his or her family. Or we could give it a local flavor and have a group of local first responders and not only let them deliver the line but have them lead the team onto the field. We could also do this with a group of military folks, each with the flag of their service, leading the team out. What would really be cool is to have one of our hero’s deliver the line from the cockpit of their plane or the deck of their ship. Lots of possibilities.

I mentioned the band and I think they could be one of the best of all. You could record the line but what would be really cool would be to have them deliver the line live. And they are a group that could pull it off. Half facing east, half facing west, the time comes and live from the field, “welcome to the Rock”.

Former star players and groups from special teams. You could even use non football, athletes. Let’s say basketball or soccer or wrestling has a great year. Recognize them with the honor of delivering the line. I also think player groups, like the offensive line could work well.

The students, there are a group of students that show up early on Saturday, faces painted, dressed in black and gold. They want that front row, west side, 50 yard line spot. Watch for a couple of games, see who they are, gather them up and let them record the welcome line and then on game day pull them out of the stands, save their seats, and let them lead the team onto the field and then they go back over the wall and into their spot.

More ideas for the students, put out a call for students to come to KBS one night and fill the west side student section. Then have the whole section deliver the line. What would really be awesome is if this could turn into a live thing.

Fans: we give away a grill at the end of the year for the tailgate of the game. How about the winner gets to record and deliver the welcome from their tailgate spot?

I know this is long winded. Thanks for taking the time.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Have you sent this to Doug yet?

[EastHallApp]

Or just scrap "Welcome to the Rock" entirely. There's nothing special about the line. It's always been cheesy. I don't personally think of it as any tradition at all.

[Mjohn1988]

Have you sent this to Doug yet?

Yes

[ASU85Grad]

Doug,
I’m going to tell you a few things about myself just so you know that I’m a serious fan who’s big on our football traditions. I’m a 1988 graduate, I’ve been on the turf at KBS in uniform and I haven’t missed a home game in 13 years. I have those 7, yes 7, home dates on my calendar for 2019 and unless something completely unforeseen happens I’ll make it 14 years in a row this year. Those days in Boone are awesome. I believe that winning teams and solid traditions make for the best game day experience and I love our traditions. I think things are getting better but for a while we used way to much music from the PA system. We played music over the band and over the fans. Our game day traditions should be driven by the students and the fans. The band should play more and the fans should cheer louder and the PA system should only be used to support and enhance what the band, the cheerleaders, the students and the fans are doing. I say all this to ask if you would consider changing one of our traditions, that being the Sean Connery, “welcome to the Rock”. Don’t get me wrong, I both respect and like the intro, it has served us well. I also am grateful to the folks who gave it to us. But, I think we can improve on what they started. Over the last couple of seasons it has struck me as odd that a Scottish actor with absolutely no ties to ASU is literally welcoming folks to our football home. So what I’m going to suggest is that we change very little about that welcome, really only that we have App. Folks deliver that line, “welcome to the Rock”. Now I know we tried this before with the Eric Church video and frankly I liked it but I think it had one big flaw. It changed too much. Eric changed how the line was delivered, he paused and then sort of stuttered out the line. That line, “ welcome to the Rock”, is a launching point and it must be delivered in the same rhythm that it been delivered in for years. I’m only suggesting that App. People delivery the line. I’ll give you an example of what I mean. Our very first game this year is Coach Jerry Moore day. This is a day made for this change. So you get with coach Moore and have him record the line, “welcome to the Rock”. You get it just right, in rhythm just like the fans have heard it hundreds of times. The hype video plays but you include little clips of coach Moore and at the end Coach Moore not Sean Conner comes up and delivers the line. What Mountaineer fan wouldn’t love that. Our guy, a real Mountaineer welcoming us all to his home, our home. Now that said you would still have 5 home games to fill with different folks or groups, but I think that would be easy. Week 2 could be AE or I really think that Marching Mountaineers would be a great choice. The whole band recorded from the stadium. I think our fan base could really get behind this. It would be like a fan of the game thing. I’m going to list some additional thoughts on possible “fans” of the game below. Two words of caution, it has to be delivered in rhythm and it should never be sold. We should never see the president of xyz cooperation delivering the welcome line, it has to be about the players, the students and the fans.

Possible fans of the game:

Senior day: the senior football class, easy choice.

Hero’s day: This one gets me fired up. It could be as simply as one of our brave military folks and his or her family. Or we could give it a local flavor and have a group of local first responders and not only let them deliver the line but have them lead the team onto the field. We could also do this with a group of military folks, each with the flag of their service, leading the team out. What would really be cool is to have one of our hero’s deliver the line from the cockpit of their plane or the deck of their ship. Lots of possibilities.

I mentioned the band and I think they could be one of the best of all. You could record the line but what would be really cool would be to have them deliver the line live. And they are a group that could pull it off. Half facing east, half facing west, the time comes and live from the field, “welcome to the Rock”.

Former star players and groups from special teams. You could even use non football, athletes. Let’s say basketball or soccer or wrestling has a great year. Recognize them with the honor of delivering the line. I also think player groups, like the offensive line could work well.

The students, there are a group of students that show up early on Saturday, faces painted, dressed in black and gold. They want that front row, west side, 50 yard line spot. Watch for a couple of games, see who they are, gather them up and let them record the welcome line and then on game day pull them out of the stands, save their seats, and let them lead the team onto the field and then they go back over the wall and into their spot.

More ideas for the students, put out a call for students to come to KBS one night and fill the west side student section. Then have the whole section deliver the line. What would really be awesome is if this could turn into a live thing.

Fans: we give away a grill at the end of the year for the tailgate of the game. How about the winner gets to record and deliver the welcome from their tailgate spot?

I know this is long winded. Thanks for taking the time.

I like this idea. The other day I was thinking about this and also thought about former players, but your idea of the band, military, etc..., is really good

[AppGrad78]

Doug,
I’m going to tell you a few things about myself just so you know that I’m a serious fan who’s big on our football traditions. I’m a 1988 graduate, I’ve been on the turf at KBS in uniform and I haven’t missed a home game in 13 years. I have those 7, yes 7, home dates on my calendar for 2019 and unless something completely unforeseen happens I’ll make it 14 years in a row this year. Those days in Boone are awesome. I believe that winning teams and solid traditions make for the best game day experience and I love our traditions. I think things are getting better but for a while we used way to much music from the PA system. We played music over the band and over the fans. Our game day traditions should be driven by the students and the fans. The band should play more and the fans should cheer louder and the PA system should only be used to support and enhance what the band, the cheerleaders, the students and the fans are doing. I say all this to ask if you would consider changing one of our traditions, that being the Sean Connery, “welcome to the Rock”. Don’t get me wrong, I both respect and like the intro, it has served us well. I also am grateful to the folks who gave it to us. But, I think we can improve on what they started. Over the last couple of seasons it has struck me as odd that a Scottish actor with absolutely no ties to ASU is literally welcoming folks to our football home. So what I’m going to suggest is that we change very little about that welcome, really only that we have App. Folks deliver that line, “welcome to the Rock”. Now I know we tried this before with the Eric Church video and frankly I liked it but I think it had one big flaw. It changed too much. Eric changed how the line was delivered, he paused and then sort of stuttered out the line. That line, “ welcome to the Rock”, is a launching point and it must be delivered in the same rhythm that it been delivered in for years. I’m only suggesting that App. People delivery the line. I’ll give you an example of what I mean. Our very first game this year is Coach Jerry Moore day. This is a day made for this change. So you get with coach Moore and have him record the line, “welcome to the Rock”. You get it just right, in rhythm just like the fans have heard it hundreds of times. The hype video plays but you include little clips of coach Moore and at the end Coach Moore not Sean Conner comes up and delivers the line. What Mountaineer fan wouldn’t love that. Our guy, a real Mountaineer welcoming us all to his home, our home. Now that said you would still have 5 home games to fill with different folks or groups, but I think that would be easy. Week 2 could be AE or I really think that Marching Mountaineers would be a great choice. The whole band recorded from the stadium. I think our fan base could really get behind this. It would be like a fan of the game thing. I’m going to list some additional thoughts on possible “fans” of the game below. Two words of caution, it has to be delivered in rhythm and it should never be sold. We should never see the president of xyz cooperation delivering the welcome line, it has to be about the players, the students and the fans.

Possible fans of the game:

Senior day: the senior football class, easy choice.

Hero’s day: This one gets me fired up. It could be as simply as one of our brave military folks and his or her family. Or we could give it a local flavor and have a group of local first responders and not only let them deliver the line but have them lead the team onto the field. We could also do this with a group of military folks, each with the flag of their service, leading the team out. What would really be cool is to have one of our hero’s deliver the line from the cockpit of their plane or the deck of their ship. Lots of possibilities.

I mentioned the band and I think they could be one of the best of all. You could record the line but what would be really cool would be to have them deliver the line live. And they are a group that could pull it off. Half facing east, half facing west, the time comes and live from the field, “welcome to the Rock”.

Former star players and groups from special teams. You could even use non football, athletes. Let’s say basketball or soccer or wrestling has a great year. Recognize them with the honor of delivering the line. I also think player groups, like the offensive line could work well.

The students, there are a group of students that show up early on Saturday, faces painted, dressed in black and gold. They want that front row, west side, 50 yard line spot. Watch for a couple of games, see who they are, gather them up and let them record the welcome line and then on game day pull them out of the stands, save their seats, and let them lead the team onto the field and then they go back over the wall and into their spot.

More ideas for the students, put out a call for students to come to KBS one night and fill the west side student section. Then have the whole section deliver the line. What would really be awesome is if this could turn into a live thing.

Fans: we give away a grill at the end of the year for the tailgate of the game. How about the winner gets to record and deliver the welcome from their tailgate spot?

I know this is long winded. Thanks for taking the time.

If you haven't sent this, you might want to fix the typos in the most important line of the message:

Instead of: "I’m only suggesting that App. People delivery the line."
Go with: "I’m only suggesting that App people deliver the line."

[APPdiesel]

I like that James Bond delivers our intro. If you remember from the movie they hinted that he could be Bond captured by Americans. I just wish they'd enhance the line and really make it BOOM.

[Rekdiver]

I mentioned this very thing to Doug at the beginning of his 2nd year......

[hotrod2001]

Or just scrap "Welcome to the Rock" entirely. There's nothing special about the line. It's always been cheesy. I don't personally think of it as any tradition at all.

Growing up a racing fan, THIS was always "The Rock" to me. Kind of rubbed me the wrong way whenever KBS adopted the moniker...I mean, it's not even an original term because Southern Miss has called their stadium that going back to the 30s.

[MAD Doctor]

Perfectly fine with “The Rock.”

Regardless of regional connections, I’ll take the Connery clip over this one.

https://youtu.be/YtsvsLFYYSg

[Mjohn1988]

Doug,
I’m going to tell you a few things about myself just so you know that I’m a serious fan who’s big on our football traditions. I’m a 1988 graduate, I’ve been on the turf at KBS in uniform and I haven’t missed a home game in 13 years. I have those 7, yes 7, home dates on my calendar for 2019 and unless something completely unforeseen happens I’ll make it 14 years in a row this year. Those days in Boone are awesome. I believe that winning teams and solid traditions make for the best game day experience and I love our traditions. I think things are getting better but for a while we used way to much music from the PA system. We played music over the band and over the fans. Our game day traditions should be driven by the students and the fans. The band should play more and the fans should cheer louder and the PA system should only be used to support and enhance what the band, the cheerleaders, the students and the fans are doing. I say all this to ask if you would consider changing one of our traditions, that being the Sean Connery, “welcome to the Rock”. Don’t get me wrong, I both respect and like the intro, it has served us well. I also am grateful to the folks who gave it to us. But, I think we can improve on what they started. Over the last couple of seasons it has struck me as odd that a Scottish actor with absolutely no ties to ASU is literally welcoming folks to our football home. So what I’m going to suggest is that we change very little about that welcome, really only that we have App. Folks deliver that line, “welcome to the Rock”. Now I know we tried this before with the Eric Church video and frankly I liked it but I think it had one big flaw. It changed too much. Eric changed how the line was delivered, he paused and then sort of stuttered out the line. That line, “ welcome to the Rock”, is a launching point and it must be delivered in the same rhythm that it been delivered in for years. I’m only suggesting that App. People delivery the line. I’ll give you an example of what I mean. Our very first game this year is Coach Jerry Moore day. This is a day made for this change. So you get with coach Moore and have him record the line, “welcome to the Rock”. You get it just right, in rhythm just like the fans have heard it hundreds of times. The hype video plays but you include little clips of coach Moore and at the end Coach Moore not Sean Conner comes up and delivers the line. What Mountaineer fan wouldn’t love that. Our guy, a real Mountaineer welcoming us all to his home, our home. Now that said you would still have 5 home games to fill with different folks or groups, but I think that would be easy. Week 2 could be AE or I really think that Marching Mountaineers would be a great choice. The whole band recorded from the stadium. I think our fan base could really get behind this. It would be like a fan of the game thing. I’m going to list some additional thoughts on possible “fans” of the game below. Two words of caution, it has to be delivered in rhythm and it should never be sold. We should never see the president of xyz cooperation delivering the welcome line, it has to be about the players, the students and the fans.

Possible fans of the game:

Senior day: the senior football class, easy choice.

Hero’s day: This one gets me fired up. It could be as simply as one of our brave military folks and his or her family. Or we could give it a local flavor and have a group of local first responders and not only let them deliver the line but have them lead the team onto the field. We could also do this with a group of military folks, each with the flag of their service, leading the team out. What would really be cool is to have one of our hero’s deliver the line from the cockpit of their plane or the deck of their ship. Lots of possibilities.

I mentioned the band and I think they could be one of the best of all. You could record the line but what would be really cool would be to have them deliver the line live. And they are a group that could pull it off. Half facing east, half facing west, the time comes and live from the field, “welcome to the Rock”.

Former star players and groups from special teams. You could even use non football, athletes. Let’s say basketball or soccer or wrestling has a great year. Recognize them with the honor of delivering the line. I also think player groups, like the offensive line could work well.

The students, there are a group of students that show up early on Saturday, faces painted, dressed in black and gold. They want that front row, west side, 50 yard line spot. Watch for a couple of games, see who they are, gather them up and let them record the welcome line and then on game day pull them out of the stands, save their seats, and let them lead the team onto the field and then they go back over the wall and into their spot.

More ideas for the students, put out a call for students to come to KBS one night and fill the west side student section. Then have the whole section deliver the line. What would really be awesome is if this could turn into a live thing.

Fans: we give away a grill at the end of the year for the tailgate of the game. How about the winner gets to record and deliver the welcome from their tailgate spot?

I know this is long winded. Thanks for taking the time.

If you haven't sent this, you might want to fix the typos in the most important line of the message:

Instead of: "I’m only suggesting that App. People delivery the line."
Go with: "I’m only suggesting that App people deliver the line."

Yep, should have had someone else read it. I can read right over my own mistakes. I know what I was saying. Sorry guys.

[scatman77]

Doug,
I’m going to tell you a few things about myself just so you know that I’m a serious fan who’s big on our football traditions. I’m a 1988 graduate, I’ve been on the turf at KBS in uniform and I haven’t missed a home game in 13 years. I have those 7, yes 7, home dates on my calendar for 2019 and unless something completely unforeseen happens I’ll make it 14 years in a row this year. Those days in Boone are awesome. I believe that winning teams and solid traditions make for the best game day experience and I love our traditions. I think things are getting better but for a while we used way to much music from the PA system. We played music over the band and over the fans. Our game day traditions should be driven by the students and the fans. The band should play more and the fans should cheer louder and the PA system should only be used to support and enhance what the band, the cheerleaders, the students and the fans are doing. I say all this to ask if you would consider changing one of our traditions, that being the Sean Connery, “welcome to the Rock”. Don’t get me wrong, I both respect and like the intro, it has served us well. I also am grateful to the folks who gave it to us. But, I think we can improve on what they started. Over the last couple of seasons it has struck me as odd that a Scottish actor with absolutely no ties to ASU is literally welcoming folks to our football home. So what I’m going to suggest is that we change very little about that welcome, really only that we have App. Folks deliver that line, “welcome to the Rock”. Now I know we tried this before with the Eric Church video and frankly I liked it but I think it had one big flaw. It changed too much. Eric changed how the line was delivered, he paused and then sort of stuttered out the line. That line, “ welcome to the Rock”, is a launching point and it must be delivered in the same rhythm that it been delivered in for years. I’m only suggesting that App. People delivery the line. I’ll give you an example of what I mean. Our very first game this year is Coach Jerry Moore day. This is a day made for this change. So you get with coach Moore and have him record the line, “welcome to the Rock”. You get it just right, in rhythm just like the fans have heard it hundreds of times. The hype video plays but you include little clips of coach Moore and at the end Coach Moore not Sean Conner comes up and delivers the line. What Mountaineer fan wouldn’t love that. Our guy, a real Mountaineer welcoming us all to his home, our home. Now that said you would still have 5 home games to fill with different folks or groups, but I think that would be easy. Week 2 could be AE or I really think that Marching Mountaineers would be a great choice. The whole band recorded from the stadium. I think our fan base could really get behind this. It would be like a fan of the game thing. I’m going to list some additional thoughts on possible “fans” of the game below. Two words of caution, it has to be delivered in rhythm and it should never be sold. We should never see the president of xyz cooperation delivering the welcome line, it has to be about the players, the students and the fans.

Possible fans of the game:

Senior day: the senior football class, easy choice.

Hero’s day: This one gets me fired up. It could be as simply as one of our brave military folks and his or her family. Or we could give it a local flavor and have a group of local first responders and not only let them deliver the line but have them lead the team onto the field. We could also do this with a group of military folks, each with the flag of their service, leading the team out. What would really be cool is to have one of our hero’s deliver the line from the cockpit of their plane or the deck of their ship. Lots of possibilities.

I mentioned the band and I think they could be one of the best of all. You could record the line but what would be really cool would be to have them deliver the line live. And they are a group that could pull it off. Half facing east, half facing west, the time comes and live from the field, “welcome to the Rock”.

Former star players and groups from special teams. You could even use non football, athletes. Let’s say basketball or soccer or wrestling has a great year. Recognize them with the honor of delivering the line. I also think player groups, like the offensive line could work well.

The students, there are a group of students that show up early on Saturday, faces painted, dressed in black and gold. They want that front row, west side, 50 yard line spot. Watch for a couple of games, see who they are, gather them up and let them record the welcome line and then on game day pull them out of the stands, save their seats, and let them lead the team onto the field and then they go back over the wall and into their spot.

More ideas for the students, put out a call for students to come to KBS one night and fill the west side student section. Then have the whole section deliver the line. What would really be awesome is if this could turn into a live thing.

Fans: we give away a grill at the end of the year for the tailgate of the game. How about the winner gets to record and deliver the welcome from their tailgate spot?

I know this is long winded. Thanks for taking the time.

Regarding your Hero's Day selection, I present this man for approval. He was a rather quiet fellow while playing for the Apps but I think he'd be a great choice:

https://rotc.appstate.edu/distinguished ... class-1978

[Mjohn1988]

Looks like a good one to me. Tell Doug.

[ApexASU]

Aside from the welcome to the rock intro (don’t care for it one way or the other) you have to listen to what the students want in music to get them or keep them energized. The same old 70’s songs we hear year after year after year have run their course. Either the band comes up with better tunes or they don’t. Appreciate the band students who put their talents out for us on game day but it is past time to modernize the experience. Just my opinion.

[Mjohn1988]

Don’t know if you have been to any “big time”football stadiums but they don’t tend to use a bunch of trendy music. They have traditions that the fans know and participate in. I’m not saying you can’t use any trendy music but it should not override the traditions. Been to Clemson and UGA. The traditions are so ingrained that it looks like the students and fans are following a script and it’s awesome.

[ericsaid]

Or just scrap "Welcome to the Rock" entirely. There's nothing special about the line. It's always been cheesy. I don't personally think of it as any tradition at all.

Growing up a racing fan, THIS was always "The Rock" to me. Kind of rubbed me the wrong way whenever KBS adopted the moniker...I mean, it's not even an original term because Southern Miss has called their stadium that going back to the 30s.

App's campus is literallly built on rock that was formed and deformed by tectonic plate movement. Southern Miss has been underwater for much of Earth's history and is in a region made up of sedimentary rock which isn't really rock at all.

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

I just want to establish some traditions that remain constant and not change season after season.

[sixtoes9134]

I love everything about our game day atmosphere and wouldn't change a darn thing. Been going to games since 1984.

[SpeedkingATL]

Doug,
I’m going to tell you a few things about myself just so you know that I’m a serious fan who’s big on our football traditions. I’m a 1988 graduate, I’ve been on the turf at KBS in uniform and I haven’t missed a home game in 13 years. I have those 7, yes 7, home dates on my calendar for 2019 and unless something completely unforeseen happens I’ll make it 14 years in a row this year. Those days in Boone are awesome. I believe that winning teams and solid traditions make for the best game day experience and I love our traditions. I think things are getting better but for a while we used way to much music from the PA system. We played music over the band and over the fans. Our game day traditions should be driven by the students and the fans. The band should play more and the fans should cheer louder and the PA system should only be used to support and enhance what the band, the cheerleaders, the students and the fans are doing. I say all this to ask if you would consider changing one of our traditions, that being the Sean Connery, “welcome to the Rock”. Don’t get me wrong, I both respect and like the intro, it has served us well. I also am grateful to the folks who gave it to us. But, I think we can improve on what they started. Over the last couple of seasons it has struck me as odd that a Scottish actor with absolutely no ties to ASU is literally welcoming folks to our football home. So what I’m going to suggest is that we change very little about that welcome, really only that we have App. Folks deliver that line, “welcome to the Rock”. Now I know we tried this before with the Eric Church video and frankly I liked it but I think it had one big flaw. It changed too much. Eric changed how the line was delivered, he paused and then sort of stuttered out the line. That line, “ welcome to the Rock”, is a launching point and it must be delivered in the same rhythm that it been delivered in for years. I’m only suggesting that App. People delivery the line. I’ll give you an example of what I mean. Our very first game this year is Coach Jerry Moore day. This is a day made for this change. So you get with coach Moore and have him record the line, “welcome to the Rock”. You get it just right, in rhythm just like the fans have heard it hundreds of times. The hype video plays but you include little clips of coach Moore and at the end Coach Moore not Sean Conner comes up and delivers the line. What Mountaineer fan wouldn’t love that. Our guy, a real Mountaineer welcoming us all to his home, our home. Now that said you would still have 5 home games to fill with different folks or groups, but I think that would be easy. Week 2 could be AE or I really think that Marching Mountaineers would be a great choice. The whole band recorded from the stadium. I think our fan base could really get behind this. It would be like a fan of the game thing. I’m going to list some additional thoughts on possible “fans” of the game below. Two words of caution, it has to be delivered in rhythm and it should never be sold. We should never see the president of xyz cooperation delivering the welcome line, it has to be about the players, the students and the fans.

Possible fans of the game:

Senior day: the senior football class, easy choice.

Hero’s day: This one gets me fired up. It could be as simply as one of our brave military folks and his or her family. Or we could give it a local flavor and have a group of local first responders and not only let them deliver the line but have them lead the team onto the field. We could also do this with a group of military folks, each with the flag of their service, leading the team out. What would really be cool is to have one of our hero’s deliver the line from the cockpit of their plane or the deck of their ship. Lots of possibilities.

I mentioned the band and I think they could be one of the best of all. You could record the line but what would be really cool would be to have them deliver the line live. And they are a group that could pull it off. Half facing east, half facing west, the time comes and live from the field, “welcome to the Rock”.

Former star players and groups from special teams. You could even use non football, athletes. Let’s say basketball or soccer or wrestling has a great year. Recognize them with the honor of delivering the line. I also think player groups, like the offensive line could work well.

The students, there are a group of students that show up early on Saturday, faces painted, dressed in black and gold. They want that front row, west side, 50 yard line spot. Watch for a couple of games, see who they are, gather them up and let them record the welcome line and then on game day pull them out of the stands, save their seats, and let them lead the team onto the field and then they go back over the wall and into their spot.

More ideas for the students, put out a call for students to come to KBS one night and fill the west side student section. Then have the whole section deliver the line. What would really be awesome is if this could turn into a live thing.

Fans: we give away a grill at the end of the year for the tailgate of the game. How about the winner gets to record and deliver the welcome from their tailgate spot?

I know this is long winded. Thanks for taking the time.

Regarding your Hero's Day selection, I present this man for approval. He was a rather quiet fellow while playing for the Apps but I think he'd be a great choice:

https://rotc.appstate.edu/distinguished ... class-1978

I totally agree with you on that one Smitty!!

[Yosef84]

I like the "Welcome to the Rock" greeting just fine but I do think that it is past time for this line to be delivered by App connected people. I like Sean Connery....nothing against him at all, but he has zero connection to the university. We can have some "celebrity" alums (Yes Eric Church, Luke Combs, etc.) and some great athletes/coaches from the past (Coach Moore, Armanti Edwards, Richie Williams, Dexter Coakley, Kevin Richardson....VERY long list of possibilities) and promote the heck out of it! Maybe even have them there live when possible...showing some clips of their contributions during pre-game. It would be a great way to make it a real Appalachian celebration and honor some of our past athletes, coaches and alums.

I like the nickname "The Rock" for KBS but when I was in school, that term just referred to Blowing Rock and going to The Rock generally meant a beer run.