Do we change the Lighting of the Tower custom?

L

l00p

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Barring special events and top conference or national wins by other teams we light it after every football win or a win over the Aggies, right? Now that they are not part of the equation, should we tweak it a bit and now do the same for any victory over a Sooner team? They are really our real rival anyway (not meant to be a debate point taking away from main point) so why not?

That way we keep the tower lit more often than just not doing so v. aggy.

Dumb idea? Sound idea? Could this have legs? Could it know how to use them? It never begs, it knows how to choose them.
 
First off, the Tower is lit a lot more often than it was when I was a student at UT ('73 graduate). Second, I have never considered aggy a bigger rival than ou or the football game with aggy a bigger game than the one with ou so I have always thought it was wrong to light the entire Tower orange with a football victory over aggy and not when we beat ou.

So, I think it should be lit completely when we beat ou and also when we win a Thanksgiving Day football game.

The reason I think it should still be lit with a Thanksgiving Day victory is because, in my opinion, the lighting of the Tower after a victory over aggy which started back in the 30's had a lot to do with lighting the Tower all orange for Thanksgiving and not just because we beat aggy.
 
Are we going to play every Turkey Day? If so I hope against a good team or a team that, well, matters. Do we want it v. a patsy?

I know the line is divided over true rival and what that means but if we no longer play the Ags, why not OU?

And yes, I am sure that it is lit a whole lot more than back then and it takes away from some of the special affect it may have on some. I see this. But times have changed and I feel we should not light more or less but the same amount. Just change the criteria of win over ag to win over sooner.

I further wonder if the Athletic Department has given this any thought?
 
On July 1, I hope they light the Tower in full orange with a big one on it. Flanking the big one at the bottom on both sides should be the top half of a circle like this: m1m, with a bigger one in the middle as one last goodbye to A&M "salute."
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I sure wish I knew how to photoshop a picture of the Tower like that with perhaps also an A&M logo too.










































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Besides, we need another Texas Independence Day holiday to celebrate. Free at last, we will have slipped the surly bonds of Aggy weirdness from our conference.
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I believe the real reason the tower is all orange when we beat A&M in football is because the top is (was) lit for certain holidays, Thanksgiving being one of them. So if the game was on Thanksgiving and we won, there would be no difference in the tower's orange glow, hence lighting the bottom part as well.
Then when the game fell on a Friday or Saturday, the all-orange tower had become traditional, so it continued.
I would expect that if we play anyone else on Thanksgiving Day that the all-orange lighting would continue for that reason, but that may be incorrect. It appears the tower is no longer lit for religious holidays, maybe all holidays, I am not sure. If they light it for Christmas, they would have to light it for every other religious observance, so they stopped. Not sure about other holidays like Thanksgiving.
Anyone know the official lighting policy these days?
 
I don’t know about the tower but I didn’t want the splendid ZZ Top reference to go unappreciated here. Well done.


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Accurate, here is the information about the lighting policy. I was wrong about them lighting it for any victory over the Aggies. It's just football where the entire tower is lit compared to other victories with just the top lit.

UT Tower lighting configurations

Dionysus, I was wondering if peoples vision was obscured from some Cheap Sunglasses or maybe vision bad from a visit to La Grange.
 
What is the "rule" for the Tower after beating atm at football? For years "in my day" they lit the Tower on Sunday so returning students could see it. But not in 2011. We went to Austin and were disappointed.
 
I remember when they use to light up the drum orange after basketball wins instead of the Tower. I always wondered why they stopped doing that? I mean if they weren't going to light the Tower, why not keep lighting up the Drum?

All the baseball team ever got was if they won it all. Probably had to do with Women's sports. If you light it up for some, then you got to light it up for everybody.
 
The Erwin Center is still lit burnt orange at night, just very night. Not after wins.

I Ike lighting the full tower on for Thanksgiving day wins. I see why some would want to move it to RRS but that means NONE of the fans that ever attend the game would enjoy it since the game is never played at home.

And, I moved back to Austin a year go, graduated in 1990, and the tower is lit up AlLL the time compared to I was in school. They light it up for all kinds of achievements by students and faculty on campus. There are plenty of opportunities to see the tower lit. And, a part of me also doesn't want to give OU the credit that we care that much.
 
Whether you hate the Aggies or liked the UT-TAMU rivalry, any special celebration attributed to a victory over them should not be assigned to any other team now that TAMU has left the conference. Just let them go along with any continuing tie or reference. Please, just let it go!
 
What ever they do with the lighting is fine. After 3 years here in Austin, I am moving back to Dallas in June and won't see it anyway, unless they light it up when I'm in town for games.
 
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