We've all seen it,
UNC shirts on the campus of NC State, Michigan shirts on the campus of Ohio State, UF shirts on campus at... well, anywhere.
Why is this? Sure, some people are graduate students, thus their wearing of another universities apparel on your campus is justified. But, when you delve into the core of the problem you find one thing to remain true in most cases; that is someone grew up a fan of a "athletically superior" school. Which in itself is not a problem, really. Yet so many people get offended whilst seeing these "off-color" shirts, baseball hats, and hoodies on the wrong campus. Mark it down, i am one of them.
Sure, when i attended UCF we were (and still are) far from a power house in any sport. But, there was nothing you could do to grind my gears more than wearing "that other school's" colors on my campus (by the way their colors don't even go together... talk about tacky!). My (first) senior year at UCF i had a professor (Dr. Richard Lapchick) who stressed the importance of "being loyal to one's own institution." He even went so far as to take away hoodies and ball-caps of those wearing the "wrong colors" and saved them until the end of the semester when he offered them back to the students... i was surprised when one student told him to keep his small collection of Thug University caps; or, i should say University of Miami. Along the way, Dr. Lapchick taught me a lot about sports marketing... more-so, he taught me a lot about being loyal to MY UNIVERSITY. The university, which by definition consists of students and alumni of the great University of Central Florida.
Supporting a university and its athletics programs is a lot more than showing up to football games on Saturday and cheering for your favorite team. It means more than saying "woo hoo Go Gators #1!" To truly be loyal to ones institution one must take pride in his degree (or prospective degree) at every level. This means showing up to every game during your schools 17 game football losing streak (very painful) as well as living a life surrounded by all things "your institution." Take pride in the university you attend(ed) it will mean a lot more to you in the long-run than cheering for the nation's #1 NCAA football team will. When YOUR UNIVERSITY wins the title, will you be on the bandwagon or will you be pulling the bandwagon?
I guarantee if you stick by the university whose definition includes YOUR NAME, you will:
- have networking opportunities otherwise not available
- have a greater sense of self worth as you are PROUD of the degree on your wall
- be much happier when your favorite NCAA team is successful
- consider YOUR UNIVERSITY to be a part of you, rather than you being a part of some university.
- and, last but not least, you WILL be much happier about telling people where you went to school, knowing they only cheer for a schools sports programs.
Finally, if you are in anyway connected with UCF - be it student, alumni, faculty, department head, or any other direct UCF affiliation - you can place orders for printing supplies from EnviroTone Imaging and know that you are not only supporting your fellow PROUD alumni but you will be supporting YOUR UNIVERSITY... UCF.
EnviroTone Imaging is proud to announce that we are now donating 5% of the revenues from all UCF affiliated orders to the UCFAA. Take pride in your degree, i know i do.
