Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by the Collegian or its editorial board. This is a response to another letter to the editor, read the original letter here. 

Response to letter from Alumni Rachel Hubel,

As a former alumni, and former Colorado State football player, I find your open letter to Tony Frank incredibly short-sighted and selfish. As someone who was on the sideline or playing for 5 years, and assisting the football team for a year after that with Coach McElwain, the atmosphere that the new on-campus stadium brings is electric.

Having only been to campus twice since I graduated in 2012, I noticed a greater sense from the student body and the community for Ram pride, something that was missing during the Fairchild era of football. I saw signs up all over campus and all over town announcing the game on Saturday. I was blown away by the flocks of students, alumni, and townsfolk walking to campus to take part of the newest traditions Colorado State has to offer. I can say, that to a man, every single football alumni that I met felt the same sense of pride and wonderment that I did – and we all wished that we could have taken part in it as a player again.

Your letter reminds me about the early concerns that an on campus stadium would represent a parking nightmare (it wasn’t), and that local businesses would be overwhelmed (they weren’t). As someone who has been to multiple football games at multiple campuses with on-campus stadiums, I can tell you one thing: parking is always an issue. Tailgates are usually spread out around the campus. And each university has the same problem with parking passes: how much do we charge, who gets closer to the stadium, etc.

Let me ask you a question: is anybody preventing you from going into the other lots? Do they ask you for your ID and prevent you from going into another lot if you aren’t ‘one of us?’ If you want to play ladderball with certain alumni, or cornhole, or throw a football, or speak to different alumni in different lots, I have a very novel idea for you: walk. Organize yourself and your friends/alumni, plan out your tailgate, and agree on when/where to meet.

The school is providing a great atmosphere for new games, a wonderful biergarden in the Lory Courtyard, free concerts on the Lory lawn, plenty of sponsored tailgates, access to a world-class stadium (the New Belgium beer porch is AMAZING), and a great team to watch. Our campus is beautiful and parking lots are spread out (PS, all parking maps at every campus is difficult). Complaining about parking is like a child who gets a shiny new toy but complains that it isn’t the right color, you have a great new thing that you didn’t have yesterday, appreciate what you have.

Instead of complaining about cost of parking, or how spread out the parking lots are (they are spread out because the lots were built before a campus stadium), use your voice in an open letter forum not to call for a broad, unspecific ideal, why not go to a board of governors meeting and address your specific concerns, or use your open letter to call for a specific fix to the problem? Otherwise, you just sound like all the people who put up the Save Our Hughes signs – someone who is complaining just to complain.

Tyler McDermott

Encouraged Former Student-Athlete

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