Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Arizona Football: Patrick Stewart Wants You At Saturday's Game

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Posted By on Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 4:00 PM

Well, not really.

But that's the message the University of Arizona's athletic department "digital gurus" (as they've been dubbed via the Twitter is conveying in their latest short hype video, "A-Men: Days of Future Glory."

Highlights from the past two seasons — along with some old footage of Tedy Bruschi, the greatest player in UA football history — are enhanced by dialogue straight out of at least one of the X-Men movies. Don't ask me which ones, I don't consider myself enough of a fan to know the difference, other than that I could hear Patrick Stewart as Professor X and, I believe, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

The verbiage doesn't completely fit with what's shown in the video, it's more meant to point out how important the school feels it is that Saturday night's Homecoming showdown with UCLA has everyone and their UA alum mother there. Hence, the video's hashtag, #BeThere.

Relevance aside, it's yet another effort by the UA to engage a younger audience, one that's less likely to gripe about the games being too late or too long. It's also another example of the athletic department's willingness to embrace the digital age and social media, just like athletic director Greg Byrne's move to change his Twitter avatar to a picture of Parks and Recreation moral compass Ron Swanson.



Meanwhile, Arizona State's athletic director is house-shopping for his new gig in Austin, Texas, while the school's president is whining about the AD leaving for a 220 percent pay raise and no budget restraints.

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