Can BYU football fans start a new tradition todayfi

That's the hope of some avid Cougar fans and the BYU marketing department. Their combined efforts have produced the "Touchdown Towel." The white towel, which is designed with the 'Y' helmet logo, will be made available to BYU fans for today's game against Tulsa in LaVell Edwards Stadium. More than 3,200 Touchdown Towels will be distributed to fans in the south end zone and thousands more will be available for sale at the stadium for $1.

It all started this summer when Brian Thomas, a 24-year-old BYU student who goes by the name "Blue Crew" on the Daily Herald's CougarBlue Web site, saw pictures of fans of Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers waving their "Terrible Towels."

"I thought we could do something like that at LaVell Edwards Stadium," Thomas said. "Something to set it apart and help improve our home record over the past few years. I threw the idea out to some guys online at CougarBlue.com on the message boards. I came back a few hours later and had hundreds of responses. People were willing to help whatever way they could."

The idea was eventually pitched to the BYU marketing department. Thomas and his cohorts managed to raise more than $1,200 in donations to get the project started.

"We started to hear a little about this group on the CougarBlue Web site, and then it started going to other BYU sites," said BYU Marketing Coordinator Bill Hoops. "We began working with Cougar United, which is our student fan club, and they threw in some of their own money. The BYU Bookstore also got on board and ate some of the cost so we could sell them at the stadium."

Hoops said his department gets a lot of ideas thrown their way, but most prove too difficult or complicated to make a reality. The Touchdown Towels ideas was simple and, with the help of Thomas and his group of supporters, easy to put into play.

"We're just giving our fans what they want," Hoops said. "When ideas come in and we can combine it with the efforts we already have to make it stronger, that's an idea that's going to work."

Thomas said he hopes the Touchdown Towel will help to get the fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium and the team fired up.

"Our goal is to change the environment at the stadium," Thomas said. "We hope it catches on and it's something people will bring to every game in the future. It's cheap and everyone can have one.

"Sometimes it gets awful quiet at the stadium. We want 64,000 fans with towels. If all those people are standing up and waving towels, that's pretty intimidating."

Hoops said the fans will decide if the Touchdown Towels stand the test of time.

"We feel this idea is going to work and we're excited about it," Hoops said. "As far as making it a tradition, that's up to the fans. Traditions that stick around are the ones the fans jump on board with."

Get all your BYU sports news at CougarBlue.com

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C3.