College Sports Traditions: Picking Up Butch, Silent Night, and Hundreds of Others - Hardcover

Beck, Stan; Wilkinson, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810891204 ISBN 13: 9780810891203

Publisher: Scarecrow Press, 2013

Synopsis

Every year since 1961, football and basketball players at Middlebury College in Vermont pick up their wheelchair-bound fan, Butch, and bring him to the stadium sidelines to watch their games. At John Brown University, the volleyball team distributes candy to fans before each match. For years, fans attending a University of Maryland football game rubbed the bronze statue of their terrapin mascot, Testudo. Traditions like these are visible statements of school loyalty, and they are part of why college sports are unforgettable.

College Sports Traditions: Picking Up Butch, Silent Night, and Hundreds of Others details not only the well-known traditions of major universities, but also the obscure customs of smaller schools. Approximately 1,200 traditions are captured, covering almost every college sport. It depicts such traditions as The Ohio State University’s “Script Ohio,” University of Kansas’s “Waving the Wheat,” Linfield College’s “End Zone Couches,” and even a list of traditions that involve streaking. The wide variety of traditions covered in this book are grouped thematically, including:

Before the gameDuring the gameAfter a scoreAfter the game Mascot traditionsPreseason traditionsTraditions probably not university sanctionedRivalriesYells, cheers, and chants
From the crazy and eccentric to the touching and meaningful, these traditions connect fans and athletes across generations. The first of its kind, this comprehensive volume encompasses hundreds of universities and colleges throughout the U.S. Featuring 75 photos that bring many of these events to life, College Sports Traditions will be an entertaining read for every sports fan.

About this title

About the Author

Stan Beck has built a unique reputation as the preeminent expert on college sports traditions, and has been interviewed on the subject by numerous publications and radio broadcasts, including ESPN Radio.

Jack Wilkinson is the author or coauthor of eight books, the most recent of which include Of Mikes and Men: A Lifetime of Braves Baseball (2010) and 100 Things Braves Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die (2011). A three-time Georgia Sportswriter of the Year, Wilkinson has worked for such publications as Newsday, the Miami News, the Chicago Daily News, the New York Daily News, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Associated Press.

Reviews

Anyone who knows college sports is likely familiar with the many traditions surrounding different teams. Most people are only aware of their own alma mater’s traditions, or perhaps some of the more famous ones from larger schools. This book lovingly covers hundreds of traditions from schools of all sizes across the country. The traditions are organized into sections detailing when (before, during, and after games; annual traditions); why (“Traditions Reflecting the Culture of the University,” “Fan-Related/Nickname Traditions”); and miscellaneous reasons (“Mascot Traditions,” “Traditions Probably Not University Sanctioned”). There are also chapters on various venues and rivalries. Recommended for academic libraries, this book would also be a solid choice for the circulating collections of most public libraries. --Rebecca Vnuk

Edition details

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0810891204
• ISBN 13: 9780810891203
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 436