With the 2013 football season quickly approaching, I’ve had a thought rattling around in my mind for the last few weeks. With the Sun Devils’ successes last year and exciting potential of this season, how do I speak victory without feeding the hype machine? 

Students “welcome” fans of opponents in the House of Heat

          I chose to write this post after the media days because I wanted to see exactly how much “hype” there was amongst the media, our coaches and the players. Luckily for the program and us fans it was a rather uneventful Media Day as far as headlines are concerned. ASU was not picked to finish first in the Pac-12 South by the media, no player or coach made any “Rex Ryan” like projections, and most importantly, Coach Graham and company came away looking like a confident group that is ready to go to work.  

          By this point I’m sure you’re wondering, “How can I be confident and excited for the season and not feed the hype machine?”  

          It’s good to be excited for the season, just like any season. This year the Sun Devil Nation has many reasons to be excited. There have been years where the Devils have not met the high preseason expectations but that all seems like ancient history right? Well 2005, 2008 and 2011 aren’t exactly ancient history. The story of those years: Last year was a great year, this year will be even better.  Months later, the hype machine had come and gone just like a fair weather fan.

          I can hear you now: “But this year will be different, Coach Graham is a different coach than our two previous generals.”

          You are correct.

          And now you, Sun Devil fans, must live by this year’s mantra: Any Challenge.  

          I love that mantra.  Maybe even more than Speaking Victory or All In. It eerily resembles “One at a Time” the slogan of the 1996 Rose Bowl season. But it’s also reminiscent of a more recent credo employed by Jim Harbaugh when he was the head man at  Stanford: “Bow to No Man. Bow To No Program”.  

          The Sun Devil Nation needs to embrace any and every challenge. There is no adversity too great and nothing is impossible.  

          I have developed three easy steps, the “3 S’s” if you will, to help you embrace the excitement that is the 2013 Sun Devil Football season without feeding the hype machine.

Representing the Maroon & Gold on the Road

Speak Victory–

          I know you’ve heard this for over a year now but it rings true now more than ever. Last year Coach Graham showed up and told everyone the 2012 campaign would not be a rebuilding one. He said the team expected to make it to the Pac-12 Championship. Many fans eyes rolled as they thought “we’ve heard this before” too many times.

          Well Graham’s confidence in his team and an accountability to his original statements were real, not hype. In year one under the new staff, the Devils were one play away from being in the Pac-12 Championship.

          This year, Speaking Victory will be paramount. Especially with the considerably tougher schedule in 2013. Be confident in our team but also understand the challenges they face, which leads to Step 2.

Show Up–  

          Every single week the Sun Devil Nation needs to pack Sun Devil Stadium. Sacramento State all the way to the Territorial Cup needs to be a full stadium.

          ASU reported recently they have sold out their allotment of tickets to the Notre Dame game in Dallas. This could be ASU’s largest road crowd of all time. That’s incredible, but pulling 77,000 for every home game (actually 73,000 allotted seats) would be pretty darn incredible as well. You know what would be even more incredible? Step 3.

Stay With It–

The Team and Fans win together

          I’ll be the first to admit the crowds in Tempe have a tendency to be “Halftime Heroes” if you will. But I feel like this is a trend that we can change. Stay the whole game. Stay the whole season.

          I know every one is focused on four of those first five games against some of the best programs in the country. But that’s less than half of our season. Just like the players and coaches prepare for three months full of adversity known as a college football season, so too do the fans. It will take dedication and commitment to taking on Any Challenge.

          If we do these three things we can Speak Victory like DieHard fans and avoid the hype of fair-weather fans. I know it’s hot, I know we’ll be sweaty, but it’s what we live for isn’t it? You can’t just declare you’re the best and have it be so.

          The players and coaches are working hard to do big things, but they need your help. Are you willing to dedicate yourself to take on Any Challenge in order to smell the roses?

          We are one Sun Devil Nation, and we win & lose together. As fans, we have a bigger impact on our team than you might think.

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Check out more photos of fans. Contact DieHard Devil and submit your own cool fan photos.

Bonus: Tweet of the Day

Kevin Vitaro @BadlLuckKev
Got the blackout helmets done today! #SunDevilSwag #GoDevils pic.twitter.com/zpyCK8naJI

This Program and everyone involved with it Speaks Victory!