So is this movement done with? The off campus one, while admirable, will never attain the same lore ...just curious

With respect, that's a pretty narrow summation of the potential for Student Bonfire. Consider this: would a campus Bonfire today ever attain the same lore as Bonfire through '99? It's foolish to presume that the level of student involvement would ever be as high, and that is what set it apart from any other college tradition.

I'm not saying Student Bonfire is going to gain the fame and notoriety of Bonfire of old overnight, but that fame was built over 90 years. Student Bonfire is in year 9.

Is there anyone in "this movement" except Rick Perry?

Student bonfire has NOTHING to do with A&M...it is simply student-run and the school does not even (for all purposes) acknowledge its existence...as long as A&M keeps doing it, it shall gain little to nothing in the public eye...as a student I remember ESPN doing long pieces on it...pre- and after burn...do not hold your breath for that kind of pub any time soon...

very sad, it was the most unique of all college football traditions...sadly it appears all but dead (the real version of it)

Heck, it seems that 364 days a year, A&M doesn't acknowledge that Aggie Bonfire ever existed.

West, I'd bet you're the kind of person that has closed their mind to the very idea of it just because the administration doesn't recognize it. Sure, it was nice that they paid for half of it for ~50 years, but it's never been about doing it for the suits, rather for the team, the students, and the former students.

Oh, and the 15,000 on site and 15,000 on the road trying to get in (admittedly, a problem that they were stuck on the road) in 2009 would beg to differ with your assessment of "gain[ing] little to nothing in the public eye".

Also, I'm thinking troll...

West Point doesn't sound like understands why we built it pre-99, let alone why current students do it now.

Don't think admin can legally recognize it. As long as current students keep building the "new" tradition of bonfire it came become what it once was. Some of my greatest memories are of the "old" bonfire. Some (alot) say new army is soft,but they are the keepers of the tradition. Support them and show them what it means to all aggies through passion. Most will understand, the rest are prob 2%'s.

Don't know what happened to America that we now quit if something bad happens. If the Marshall plane crash happened today at any but the biggest of football schools football would be done at that university. It is disappointing and should have never gotten to this point.

[This message has been edited by Agnzona (edited 7/16/2011 12:11p).]

my point was not about because it was built "for the suits" as you put it...or because it was paid for...but when it was university-sanctioned, it was THE college football tradition...even better than midnight yell practice.

I never helped build one not profess to fully understand what it took to build one (on or off campus) but the three that I got to witness were some of the neatest memories I have of college (undergrad or graduate) especially watching it from my office window on the 10th floor of the O&M building!

Like it or not, until it is school sanctioned, it will never have any kind of recognition beyond some KBTX coverage and TexAgs.com, it will disappear from the collective college football consciousness in a decade or two...too bad really...like moving to the SEC, I do not think A&M has the cajones to bring it home.

PS; and cool I was accused of being a troll (even though I am honestly interested in the "why" from folks involved in it)

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will never attain the same lore

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Student bonfire has NOTHING to do with A&M

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it shall gain little to nothing in the public eye

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it appears all but dead (the real version of it)

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it will never have any kind of recognition beyond some KBTX coverage and TexAgs.com

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it will disappear from the collective college football consciousness in a decade or two

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When you come on a Bonfire forum and repeatedly hold fast to a superlative, negative, and back-handed opinion of/outlook for the current institution of Bonfire, you're going to raise questions about being a troll. And, bringing up another hot-button issue like the SEC won't help your cause.

It sure as heck ain't as big as it was pre '99, in size or attendence, but Bonfire has lost nothing in the way of what it means to those of us who build it. To me, that's the most important part. I realize that I'm only a sophomore now and that I can't claim to know what it meant to Aggies back then, but I learned a lot in my first year about Aggies and their traditions, and I really believe that to be true.

From what I've learned, Student Bonfire HAS been growing ever since it started in '02 from 200 people then to over 1,500 now. The collapse in '99 hit every single Aggie hard, especially since it was such a well loved tradition, and I expect that because of this, it will take a while to bounce back. If it ever gets back to the full size or back on campus, no one can know. But the only chance we have at that is to keep Student Bonfire going and growing so that the tradition isn't lost or forgotten.

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it will never have any kind of recognition beyond some KBTX coverage and TexAgs.com

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Actually, if memory serves, Burn 2009 was featured on ESPN, granted it wasn't for long, but it was still recognized as a college football tradition.