FanPost

My 2014 Meet the Bears Experience

Yes, I know there was an open thread for Meet the Bears, but I wanted to take a moment to really talk about my experience today and why I'm so proud to be a Baylor fan.

The scrimmage (or practice really) was actually super cool to watch. The turnout was incredible and I had a hard time maneuvering through the crowd. The team itself clicked really well, and it was fun to see some new guys emerge. I can confirm that LaQuan McGowan is the biggest beast of a human being I have ever seen. Other than that, there's not much to talk about here unless I wanted to go into specific details on each individual player, but that's not the point of this post, so I'll just say this: we gon' be turnt this season.

The lines for autographs from Petty/Briles were INSANELY long. I don't think I can stress that enough. There had to have been well over a thousand people there, and I was not very high up in either line. Briles was so casual and very simple to talk to. After I nervously said "Hey, Coach!", he looked at me and smiled. "Well, hi. You a student here?" I told him no, not yet, but I will be very soon, and he was super supportive to talk to and asked about what I was thinking of majoring in and what not. I swear, I could've told him my life story and he would sit there and listen to every word. He gladly took a picture with me and signed my DCTF magazine and Baylor poster. Coach just beamed positive energy. Keep in mind, this is probably 60-90 minutes after the whole line started. I guarantee you 9/10 coaches in college football would not give you that sort of attention. Yes, you might get a "Thanks for coming" and nothing else from Coach X or Coach Y, but Briles is truly one of a kind. You can tell he cares about his fans, each and every one of them. Some people wanted their babies kissed, bam, done. He also wore long black sleeves, and it was really hot today, but what's new?

I'll admit, I had my friend hold me a spot in the Petty line, which was FAR longer than Briles' at the start, while I stood waiting to meet TGCAB. And I cut in line. Oops. Anyway, when we finally got up to the table, Bryce too was just super easy to talk to and actually gave us the time of day just as Briles had. He wasn't faking the positivity beaming from his face. I guess Bryce has always had that sort of people-pleaser mentality, but it showed today. He was so happy to see everyone out there, and was especially nice to the littler kids who thought just meeting the Baylor Bears quarterback was the coolest thing ever. I saw a little boy, probably about 6 or 7, get a little plastic football autographed by Bryce. His dad was standing directly across in the Briles line, and this little kid gave Bryce a hug, and ecstatically ran over to his father screaming "DAD! MR. PETTY SIGNED MY BALL! MR. PETTY SIGNED MY BALL!" It was the cutest thing ever.

I proceeded to carry small conversations with a bunch of players. Spencer Drango and I talked about his facial hair, which is awesome by the way. Dude's got some sick chops. I joked with Orion Stewart regarding the pronunciation of his first name, and he was walking out of the facility when I talked to him, so it was super cool that he just sort of stood and joked around with me for a couple minutes. And for your own good, people, CALL HIM ORION. OR-EYE-ON. He made it very clear to me he does not like the other pronunciation, but was very silly about it.

All in all, I drove home from Waco with a smile on my face. Where else in college football can you find a program like this? A quarterback who doesn't go out and party every weekend, but instead takes pleasure in being a good guy to look up to. A coach who cares about some random high school senior, and what he wants to major in at Baylor. A defensive standout who is willing to leave an event ten minutes late just to have a fun conversation with one fan out of thousands.

Baylor is awesome. We're blessed. That's all I'm gonna say. Sic 'em.

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