Texas Longhorns - Traditions

Traditions

The University of Texas is a tradition-rich school, and many of those traditions are associated with athletics events, especially football. Some Longhorn traditions include:

• Bevo – the school mascot, a live Texas longhorn steer present for football games and other special events. It is a common misconception that the mascot's name came from Texas students altering a 13-0 branding a group of Aggies gave the steer. In actuality, Bevo was received his name several months before the Aggies could vandalize the steer in a Texas alumni magazine. His name came from the slang term for a steer that is destined to become food, beeve, and in a common practice for the 00's and 10's, an "O" was added at the end, similar to Groucho or Harpo Marx.
• Big Bertha – Claimed by the University to be the world's largest drum, however Purdue University makes a similar claim about their drum.
• "The Eyes of Texas" – the school song, traditionally led by the Orange Jackets on the football field, sung to the tune of I've Been Working on the Railroad
• Hook 'em Horns – the school hand signal, was introduced at a pep rally in 1955. Sports Illustrated featured the Hook 'em Horns symbol in front of a Texas pennant on the cover of their September 10, 1973 issue (pictured).
• "Texas Fight" – the school fight song
• Texas – Fight! cheer – one side of the stadium yells "Texas!" and then the other side yells "Fight" – this is usually repeated several times
• Script Texas – half-time routine by the Longhorn Band
• Smokey the Cannon – fired in celebration on game day at the moment of kickoff and after Texas scores
• The University of Texas Longhorn Band, nicknamed The Showband of the Southwest
• The World's Largest Texas Flag is unfurled before football games and at pep rallies.
• Lighting the Tower (also known as the Main Building) in orange for various types of sporting victories. After National Championship victories, windows are lighted in the main building to display a large number "1".
• Read the rest – Students from primarily Texas A&M University usually taunt Texas students by threatening to "saw off" the horns of Bevo, citing the Bible verse Psalms 75:10, "I shall cut off the horns of the wicked." As it turns out, that's not the entire verse, and as a response, Texas students tell Aggies to "read the rest." The rest of the verse is "but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up." This appears on shirts, usually with "Hook 'Em" written underneath. Their other primary rivals, the Oklahoma Sooners, generally prefer to show their disdain by inverting the "Hook 'Em" hand sign or Longhorn logo. This gesture has become more common among fans of other teams as well, especially in the Big 12, when they play against Texas.