The experience of running the Baylor Line is unlike anything else.

You surge forward in a sea of gold, exploding into the beautiful McLane Stadium with the other 3,000 members of your class. Everyone is shoving, sprinting and tearing their way across the field to form a tunnel for the conquering heroes that make up the Baylor football team.

This freshman tradition is unique to Baylor and has been around for decades. Some universities, such as Vanderbilt, allow their freshmen onto the field before the first home game of the year. In Waco, Texas, however, the Baylor Line can be counted on at every single home game, win or lose, rain or shine, day or night.

Sure, you may have to wait in line for more than two hours in the unforgiving Texas sun next to thousands of other sweaty freshmen. Sure, you may not understand or even like football at all, but when one of your classmates raises their right hand in a claw and the entire floor of the stadium erupts into a chorus of “sic’em Bears,” it’s hard to imagine wanting to be anywhere else. Running the Line is one of the best parts of being a freshman at Baylor.

Bailey Brammer, Phoenix freshman