True Razorback Fans Show Pride in Any Situation
Well, readers, a crazy thing happened to me last week. I became an aunt. I know this sounds as if it has nothing to do with sports, but I promise, I will find a way to relate it to the right topic.
I got to see my niece eight hours after she was born prematurely. My brother took me back to the room where she stayed. As I took picture after picture of his tiny daughter, my brother started singing to her.
He sang the Razorback Fight Song, the same song he’s been singing to his wife’s belly while she was pregnant.
I think that moment really exemplified Razorback pride.
Razorback pride isn’t just something you have during a winning football season. If it is, then you may not have had lots of Razorback pride pouring out of your soul this year.
It’s something you’ve got to have all the time, a feeling that you get every time you watch a game, read about the teams or listen to a press conference.
You know those moments when the Razorbacks let you down in a game – for instance, think of the ULM football game – and someone who isn’t a Hog fan tells you how bad your team is? And right after they do, you think about kicking them but instead you simply say, “Don’t talk to me,” or variations thereupon? That’s a little snippet of Razorback pride.
Another prime example of Razorback pride came last year when my brother and I brought my dad to his first-ever basketball game over Christmas break. The Hogs won the game, and as we walked around the arena to leave, I looked back and noticed my dad was not with us anymore.
He had wandered off to the top of the stairs at one of the sections gates and was looking in as event staff cleaned off the court and the bleachers. He didn’t particularly want to leave, and that was because my dad has an immense sense of Razorback pride. So much that the building alone can instill that within him.
Remember last year when athletic director Jeff Long got up in front of the state – via the television – to tell everyone that he fired Bobby Petrino? That decision took a lot of pride to make. Long had enough pride in his program that he knew he had to get rid of someone that could drain the state of their pride in the Razorbacks.
Of course, the most obvious way to feel this pride is to just be at a game, match or meet where the Razorbacks earn a win after working hard. Getting to sing “It’s Hard to Be Humble” with the rest of the student section and the team gets that feeling knocked into your heart real fast.
This whole topic could sound really cheesy if you don’t understand the feeling I’m describing. If you don’t, go to a game, pay attention – yes, I mean stay off your phone – and get into the sport.
I don’t understand everything I watch, but I sure can figure out a way to be proud of the team, and so can you.
Don’t be a fair-weather fan. Don’t berate the Hogs during play. Get into the game, and find your Razorback pride.
Tamzen Tumlison is a writer for the Arkansas Traveler. Her column appears every other Wednesday. Follow the sports section on Twitter @UATravSports.
