This is the first of a week-long series of posts sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.
Every year during the summer, I usually run a FanPost (here's the 2009 version) giving you a rundown of who I am and what I'm about, while asking you the reader to give the rest of us some background on who you are and what you're about. I said it last year and I'll say it again, that the success of DTN (and apparently DTN is in the top 20% of the collegiate blogs) is completely dependent on the having a community where we all interact and are capable of having intellingent conversations about Texas Tech.
As for me, you can read previous versions about who I am and why I started DTN from 2007, but the question that EA Sports wants us to ask is when did we become a Texas Tech Red Raider fan. Honestly, I don't think I've ever thought about this question.
My dad is an Aggie and all of his brothers are Aggies. To say that I grew up in an Aggie household would be an understatement. Growing up I went to more than a handful of games at Kyle Field as my dad and his brothers would plan an annual trip to attend a game. I really didn't know any other school for the longest time and growing up, the Red Raiders were never on my radar.
Obviously, I'm a problem child as I decided that I wanted my degree from Texas Tech and I've always been the type of person that where you attend school or where you grow up determines your fandom.
For me, the minute that I decided to attend Texas Tech, it was a done deal.
Red. Raider. For. Life.
College fandom is a bit different. Sure, not everyone goes to college and to be quite honest, I have no problem with other folks choosing to cheer for a university that utilizes the color burnt orange. The reason why I don't have a problem people who have nothing to do with a particular school cheering for that school is that it happens with Texas Tech fans as well, just not as often. And to be honest, I applaud those fans who don't have any real connection with Texas Tech for being fans of this university. It's easy to be a fan of that burnt orange school, especially recently. With a somewhat tumultuous offseason if there's one thing that we've learned about ourselves is that we are resiliant bunch and Texas Tech is a university that can only really rely on themselves and I've always take pride in the thought that what Texas Tech has accomplished over the years is largely dependent on Texas Tech itself.
I'd love to hear how your fandom started in the comments.