McLane Stadium opens one month from today

After two years of planning and construction, we are now one month -- one month!! -- from the opening of McLane Stadium. The Bears will host SMU on Aug. 31 (6:30 p.m., FS1), but the game itself is just part of the opening weekend celebration.

Fans will get their first opportunity to set foot inside McLane Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 28, as part of the free Traditions Rally and Community Celebration. Doors open to all guests at 5:30 p.m., an excellent chance for Bear fans to tour the stadium. A season-opening pep rally begins at 7:30, followed by a free concert by former American Idol winner Phillip Phillips and finally by a fireworks show.

[LINKS: See a live view of McLane Stadium || Videos: turf installation, locker room tour, loge box tour]

The next night, McLane Stadium will host a high school football game between Aledo and Cedar Park (7:30 p.m.). The contest will give Baylor gameday staff a trial run before Sunday's opener, and offers fans a chance to see football played at McLane Stadium for the first time.

On Sunday, Touchdown Alley will open at 3 p.m., and the Robert Griffin III statue on the nearby South Plaza will be dedicated in a short ceremony at 3:15. The first Bear Walk (formerly March of the Bears) at McLane Stadium follows, starting at 4:00 near the Baylor Alumni Network Tailgate tent across from Touchdown Alley.

Fans attending the game will want to arrive early -- to learn the new traffic patterns, to explore the new tailgating environment, to see the RG3 statue dedication, to find their stadium bricks, and to explore the stadium before kickoff.

To help Bear fans adjust to everything that's new at McLane Stadium, two new websites will launch in the next week: BaylorBears.com/gameday, with information on parking, tailgating, stadium policies, etc., and baylor.edu/students/gameday, which will feature information specific to the student gameday experience. (Bookmark those sites now for use all season.)

Sic 'em, Baylor Nation!

[Still looking for tickets to the opener (or any other game)? A limited number of single-game tickets will go on sale August 6 at 8:30 a.m.]

ESPN rolls cameras as Baylor alums' 12-year-old son's dream comes true

If you follow @BaylorProud on Twitter, you saw the photo above back in the spring, when the Baylor baseball team and Chi Omega teamed up to help make a wish come true for 12-year-old Jace Andrews.

Jace, the son of Baylor alumni John (BS '92) and Julie (BA '93) Andrews and brother of incoming freshman Justin, was born with eight congenital heart defects. He's already had three open-heart surgeries, and he's not out of the woods yet. His lifelong fight inspired the Make-A-Wish Foundation to take up his case and help make life a little better for the Houston-area native.

In April, Jace got to tailgate with Chi Omega and then throw out the first pitch at a Baylor baseball game; ChiO also raised money to help fund their new friend's wish. ESPN picks up the story as Jace learns that's just the beginning:



Three thoughts after watching that video:
1) What a story. Wow.
2) I probably should have warned you to have Kleenex ready.
3) How about that shirt Jace is wearing while being interviewed?

Sic 'em, Jace!

Baylor Line Camp sets participation record for 8th straight year

Another summer of Baylor Line Camps is nearly over, and with more than 2,000 expected participants, this year's group of incoming students was bigger than ever. [See photos from this year's Line Camps.]

Of course, that's become a regular occurrence for the program. Since the program began in 2003, attendance has grown every year but one; things really took off starting in 2007, when Line Camp moved to the Baylor campus (early camps were held at outside retreat facilities). Participation more than doubled its previous high that year, then doubled again by 2009, and this year's camp has almost twice as many students as that one!

[VIDEO: Students answer: Why go to Line Camp? || Are you glad you came? || What was the best part? || Line Camp 2013 recap || Journey to Independence]

So what is Baylor Line Camp? At its core, it is an extended orientation program that invites students to experience Baylor while building relationships. Traditional Orientation takes care of the practical needs of new students, such as registering for classes and providing an overview of Baylor's academic and social offerings in just two days.

Line Camp goes deeper, providing students the opportunity to engage in conversation around topics such as strengths, friendship, calling and community while also introducing Baylor's many rich traditions (including our roots in Independence, Texas, where students get their Line jerseys in a moving ceremony) over a five-day period.

Sic 'em, Line Campers!

What killed the dinosaurs? Baylor geology researcher part of new study

We've all heard that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs. A new study says that's almost right -- but not the complete story.

The research, conducted by an international team that included Baylor geology professor Daniel Peppe, says that the asteroid strike was part of a "perfect storm" of events that proved to be the dinos' undoing.

Specifically, the scientists say that fossil records indicate the dinosaurs' food chain had already been weakened by changes in the climate and environment such as increased volcanic activity, changing sea levels and varying temperatures. The asteroid was the straw that broke the raptor's back, so to speak; had it struck at a different time, dinosaurs might have had a better chance of survival.

[HEAR Dr. Peppe explain the study to Waco's NPR affiliate, KWBU]

"There have been debates within the scientific community as to the cause of the extinction of dinosaurs," says Dr. Peppe, assistant professor of geology in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences. "Our study synthesized a huge body of literature on the different explanations. Our findings suggest that other factors such as sea level, changes in temperature and lack of species diversity made dinosaurs susceptible to extinction, but were not the cause. The asteroid strike ultimately decimated the dinosaur population and caused their extinction."

The study, published in the August 2014 issue of the journal Biological Reviews, was immediately covered by media outlets ranging from National Geographic, Nature and Smithsonian to TIME, Forbes and the BBC.

Sic 'em, Dr. Peppe!

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