COLUMN: Social media helping football
#AggieNation
Recent history has shown there is a myriad power in the hash tag.
Even in it’s technological infancy, it has become the symbol of what is important and memorable to anyone. It is a four-lined looking glass into the mood and experience of events and society. It’s happening everywhere — and thanks to recent events Logan, it is far from an exception.
This is ever prevalent in concern to Utah State athletics, particularly the football squad.
Take transfer wide receiver and soon-to-be star Alex Wheat Jr. for instance, who tweeted just Wednesday morning to hundreds for followers, “One more day. All we got. #AggieNation.”
You can even look at senior running back Kerwynn Williams, who tweeted “#gamedayhelmets” to a fan base giddy to experience the new-look Aggies as much as the newly-skilled Aggies.
It doesn’t stop with the players. Senior and super fan Charley Riddle recently flashed a message to Wheat: “@KingWheatXIII Haha since I can’t play football I’ll just [give] every opposing team hell. Gotta get Romney Stadium crazy this year”.
We could go all day with examples of how social media has affected a once quaint and unassuming football program, but the message is there, loud and clear.
Sports fans know it as the buzz – the centripetal momentum fans feel when a certain player takes the court, when a comeback is coming into the play, when fans get the subliminal message that it’s time to start paying attention, because if you blink you could miss something great.
If you were to head down to other college hubs in the state, there probably wouldn’t be much talk about what USU has cooking coming into the season opener this evening. But if you look back, the Spring and Summer of 2012 has done a lot of good for Aggie Nation. A lot of good that may even build a wave of success for a team that once only knew success in “little victories” for years to come.
From unveiling new logos and uniforms to the aforementioned hype via the internet to a near-flawless recruiting game that has seen the Aggies pick up young college football versions of Jimmy Chitwood, there are several reasons why Logan has been in a buzz. It wouldn’t shock me if the webcam the athletics website ran of the new football field and basketball court as they were being remodeled just may have had more hits amongst students than the registrations page, home page and “USU Memes” combined.
That’s how the buzz works. It leaves people wondering what will come next.
It doesn’t just stop at football. Last week the “Twitterverse” was full of links and hashtags in support of our women’s volleyball team who opened the season victorious in front of a crowd of early-arriving student fans. Basketball has been abuzz about a new look and a supercharged roster that could last for several years.
No matter how you swing it, the moral of the story is true — a few years makes an amazing difference.
It’s been a long road from ESPN’s Bottom 10 to near-giant killer, to team experiencing a season of more boom periods and heartbreak than a Greek’s morality to finally a team ready to take over a conference and make a long-standing mark on the college football world. Credit sound recruiting, trust in coaching, a change of look, a change of offense and a classic quarterback starting battle or anything in between.
Whatever you give the glory to, the buzz is here — and for good reason.
#AggieNation. Get on board.
– Steve Schwartzman is a senior studying communication studies. He has had just about every job in sports writing, including blogs, analysis, statistics and fantasy football tips, but he especially loves making bold picks. Send comments to steve.schwartzman@aggiemail.usu.edu.