Pony Up!"P"

Today I participated in the tradition of most colleges and universities across the country, but a tradition that I, being a student of the liberal arts at a football-less school, did not experience.

That's right.  Today, I participated in Homecoming...parade, tailgating, football game, and all.

I went tailgating last year (or "boulevarding" as it's known around SMU), but didn't stick around for the game because it started to rain, and missed the parade because we arrived late.  So really, last year I just stood on the street and ate some food with classmates.  This year was way more homecoming-tastic, including cornhole, an oversized jenga game, fire-grilled ribs, potato salad, and apple cobbler, and of course, the football game itself.  We played against Tulane, and won by something like 20 points.  And I got to see Peruna, the real live pony mascot of the SMU Mustangs, run across the field every time our team got a touchdown....that made me happy.  The only sporting events I ever went to in undergraduates were field hockey games, and we didn't have a live Pioneer to set loose as a mascot, so the big-college football game experience was quite novel and enjoyable for me...even if now I have a horribly embarrassing sunglasses-shaped sunburn to prove it.

Here are some pictures from the day!

Giant Jenga.

My friend Rachel and I on the Boulevard

Peruna, the SMU mascot

Dancing bricks in the parade :-P

My friend Katrina and I in the stands

My friend Miranda and I at the game

Peruna running across the field post-touchdown
(you can click the picture to make it bigger)

"Pony Up!" - the official SMU hand symbol...it's supposed
to be a horse ear, I believe.  Yes, it's weird.  Yes, we all did it.