This was written in 2000 in the University Daily and was just reposted. I was at Tech in 2000 and had to post this here - I feel this way in every sense!!
What being a Red Raider is all about
By Brandon Formby
October 16, 2000
Red Raider: n. 1. a student, athlete, administrator, faculty or staff member associated, formerly or currently, with Texas Tech University. 2. One prone to wearing scarlet and black and Double-T's; also one prone to getting their guns up.
This is probably the best definition of a Red Raider in it's most general, literal sense of the term. But have you ever wondered what it really means to be a Red Raider?
It's a bit more than someone who attends class or works on the campus of Tech. It's about more than formulating a campus master plan or studying for English 1301. It goes beyond, way beyond, walking beneath these archways and red-tiled roofs day in and day out.
Being a Red Raider is walking beneath these archways and red-tiled roofs day in and day out, and feeling blessed that God, for one reason or another, saw it fit to bring you to this 2,000-acre heaven on Earth. It's about knowing that tortillas were made to go through the air, not go with queso. It's about being upset when it's rainy because the Saddle Tramps couldn't wrap Will Rogers.
To be a Red Raider is to listen to Aggies and Longhorns talk **** about Lubbock and how Tech isn't a real school or a real threat, while knowing in the deepest recesses of your soul that had you gone to their schools, you would either be an arrogant ***-kisser or a brain-washed freak who has a strange fetish for Collies. And to know they could never understand the beauty of that Seal, the pride of holding your guns up, or even the serenity of a cool West Texas night in the summer.
To go to Tech is to be strong enough to choose your own path- to celebrate the spirit of independence that brought this campus to life more than 75 years ago. It is to wish something bigger and larger for your life. It is to strive for excellence, for honor, for unity.
To be a Red Raider you constantly have to feel like you are having to prove to others that your school is worth something, your student body can accomplish things and your athletic teams have not peaked, with undying vigilance, because you know you don't really have to explain anything to anyone.
You are a Red Raider if "Grandioso" blankets your heart in a warmth you have yet to find words to describe, if your hometown is more than seven hours away, but you don't care because it's well worth the drive, and if the shin splints on the way to class don't really bother you because - well, damn, because you are taking classes on the most beautiful college campus known to man.
It's about standing in the student section and cursing the offensive line, all the while praying on the inside that our boys would play like you know they can. It's about believing Marsha Sharp truly is a god and wanting the Lady Raiders to go all the way this year like they did in 1993.
Tech is about more than drinking, more than studying, more than making friends. It's about planting roots in dry West Texas soil and reaping the benefits. It's about spirit and tradition and evolution and change. It's about having big dreams and working to bring them down from the sky to place them here on Earth. It's about Carol of Lights and Memorial Circle and the Masked Rider. It's about refining yourself and reaching your hand up into the big, sprawling sky to go for what you want. It's about going to class the Monday after the university's biggest football defeat in history and not feeling ashamed to be a part of this school.
Tech is different for each of us. That is its beauty. Yet its eternal wonder is that somehow, it is also the same for each of us.
And above all this, being a Red Raider is more than just being a student, athlete, administrator, faculty or staff member associated, formerly or currently, with Texas Tech University. It's knowing that Texas Tech University is the best-kept secret in the Lone Star State.
