Spring Break
Aggies coordinate 'watermelon yell' for Wednesday's UT basketball game
By: Jonathan Luu
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: News
As the men's basketball game against the University of Texas approaches, four Texas A&M students, including junior agriculture communications major Chris Shepperd and freshmen industrial engineering major Jose Velez, are coordinating to implement a temporary yell.
The inspiration for the yell came from a discussion on Texags.com, an Aggie fan Web site featuring forums about a "watermelon" quote made by Texas basketball Head Coach Rick Barnes after 2007's game at Reed Arena. Texas A&M won the game, 100-82.
"[Reed Arena] wasn't the loudest place I've ever been," Barnes said in a Longhorn Insider article on MySanAntonio.com.
"[Yells] went out in junior high," he said. "What's next? 'Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon rind. Look at the score board to see who's behind'?"
"I saw people talking about his watermelon quote and asking what we should do about it. So we decided to take his joke and yell it right back at him," Shepperd said. "We were tossing around ideas and hoping that we can create an opportunity to show Barnes just how loud we can be, despite the fact that we started planning things out two days before the game."
The four students decided to meet after exchanging several messages online. They made plans, designed fliers and created a Facebook group to market the yell.
"Everybody knows it is not official unless it is on Facebook. Once we created the Facebook group, everything seemed to spawn from that," Shepperd said. "We also plan to distribute approximately 6,000 fliers prior to the t.u. game and will be releasing a public service announcement on Texas A&M's KANM[-FM] student radio."
Coordinators plan to execute the yell when the game is ending, if A&M is confident in securing a win. If the condition is set, fans are expected to pass back the "horns down" sign prior to the yell.
Fans are hesitant to perform the yell because of the possibility of creating a tradition. However, the yell is intended only for the Wednesday game.
"We are not trying to start any new traditions," Shepperd said. "This is only a one-time thing. I am all about Old Army, but I think this is a unique opportunity to have a little clean fun. What better opponent than t.u.?"
The inspiration for the yell came from a discussion on Texags.com, an Aggie fan Web site featuring forums about a "watermelon" quote made by Texas basketball Head Coach Rick Barnes after 2007's game at Reed Arena. Texas A&M won the game, 100-82.
"[Reed Arena] wasn't the loudest place I've ever been," Barnes said in a Longhorn Insider article on MySanAntonio.com.
"[Yells] went out in junior high," he said. "What's next? 'Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon rind. Look at the score board to see who's behind'?"
"I saw people talking about his watermelon quote and asking what we should do about it. So we decided to take his joke and yell it right back at him," Shepperd said. "We were tossing around ideas and hoping that we can create an opportunity to show Barnes just how loud we can be, despite the fact that we started planning things out two days before the game."
The four students decided to meet after exchanging several messages online. They made plans, designed fliers and created a Facebook group to market the yell.
"Everybody knows it is not official unless it is on Facebook. Once we created the Facebook group, everything seemed to spawn from that," Shepperd said. "We also plan to distribute approximately 6,000 fliers prior to the t.u. game and will be releasing a public service announcement on Texas A&M's KANM[-FM] student radio."
Coordinators plan to execute the yell when the game is ending, if A&M is confident in securing a win. If the condition is set, fans are expected to pass back the "horns down" sign prior to the yell.
Fans are hesitant to perform the yell because of the possibility of creating a tradition. However, the yell is intended only for the Wednesday game.
"We are not trying to start any new traditions," Shepperd said. "This is only a one-time thing. I am all about Old Army, but I think this is a unique opportunity to have a little clean fun. What better opponent than t.u.?"
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