{"id":15227,"date":"2014-09-01T05:02:27","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T05:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baylorproud.wpengine.com\/?p=15227"},"modified":"2014-09-01T05:02:27","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T05:02:27","slug":"mclane-stadium-debuts-in-grand-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2014\/09\/mclane-stadium-debuts-in-grand-style\/","title":{"rendered":"McLane Stadium debuts in grand style"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15232\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/mclanedebut-aug14.jpg\" alt=\"McLane Stadium debut\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/mclanedebut-aug14.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/mclanedebut-aug14-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/mclanedebut-aug14-1024x512.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baylorbears.com\/sports\/m-footbl\/recaps\/083114aac.html\" target=\"_blank\">Baylor football cruised to a 45-0 win over SMU<\/a>\u00a0in Sunday night&#8217;s McLane Stadium opener &#8212; just the second\u00a0shutout Mustangs\u00a0coach June Jones has suffered in his 15+ years as a collegiate head coach. But that wasn&#8217;t even the best part of the night; the highlight, naturally, was the celebration\u00a0surrounding\u00a0the debut of the 10th-ranked Bears&#8217; new home on the Brazos.<\/p>\n<p>Tailgating\u00a0(on campus!), sailgating, the RG3 statue dedication, and of course the new stadium itself&#8230; Add in the win to cap off the day, and #McLaneKickoff\u00a0was a success in practically every way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[FOLLOW THE DAY through <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BaylorProud\" target=\"_blank\">@BaylorProud&#8217;s Twitter feed<\/a>, with photos, videos &amp;\u00a0more.]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BaylorBearmada\/status\/506094109980110848\" target=\"_blank\">Boats packed\u00a0the nearby\u00a0harbor<\/a>\u00a0by mid morning, 10+ hours before kickoff, and that number only grew throughout the day. Fans spent the day tailgating on both sides of the river (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/2014\/08\/sailgaters-to-begin-new-era-for-baylor-and-the-brazos\/\" target=\"_blank\">sailgating<\/a> inbetween), occasionally taking a break to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BaylorProud\/status\/506153059148636161\" target=\"_blank\">find their bricks along the Bear Walk<\/a> or take selfies along the Umphrey Bridge, with the stadium as a grand backdrop. Judging by the number of fans still outside after kickoff (and the lack of empty seats inside the stadium), a good number of Bears without tickets chose to come tailgate and follow the game from the surrounding grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Baylor President Ken Starr, Director of Athletics Ian McCaw and Robert Griffin III himself <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BaylorProud\/status\/506176173421133824\" target=\"_blank\">unveiled the RG3 statue<\/a> in mid-afternoon. Texas Governor Rick Perry and former U.S. President George W. Bush were among the many dignitaries in attendance, with the Governor presenting a Texas flag to Judge Starr and <a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/p\/sYb-RGglj_\/\" target=\"_blank\">President Bush handing the coin toss<\/a>. City officials and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Baylor\/status\/506259242752278528\" target=\"_blank\">McLane Stadium Founders<\/a> were honored at halftime, shortly after RG3 guest-conducted the band and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RGIII\/status\/506259004872744960\" target=\"_blank\">took a selfie with the Baylor Line<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[LINKS: Photos &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/media\/set\/?set=a.10152696272771926.1073742000.61388081925&amp;type=3\" target=\"_blank\">pregame<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baylorbears.com\/view.gal?id=165157\" target=\"_blank\">in-game action<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/media\/set\/?set=a.10152696683726926.1073742001.61388081925&amp;type=1\" target=\"_blank\">an overview of the day<\/a>\u00a0||\u00a0<em>Waco Tribune-Herald<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wacotrib.com\/sports\/baylor\/football\/baylor-game-day-roundup-tailgate-bridge-sways-with-fans-traffic\/article_46b62508-47e0-5439-bfa5-222d846bbe90.html\" target=\"_blank\">story, photos &amp; video from the day<\/a> || <em>USA Today&#8217;s<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/ftw.usatoday.com\/2014\/08\/follow-art-briles-baylor-bear-walk\" target=\"_blank\">time-lapse video follows Briles through the Bear Walk<\/a> || <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/video\/clip?id=11446858\" target=\"_blank\">ESPN highlights<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Whether you were among the 45,000+ who packed the house today or following along from home, today was a special day for all of Baylor Nation. This a home to be proud of, Bears.<\/p>\n<p>Sic \u2019em, Baylor football and McLane Stadium!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baylor football cruised to a 45-0 win over SMU\u00a0in Sunday night&#8217;s McLane Stadium opener &#8212; just the second\u00a0shutout Mustangs\u00a0coach June Jones has suffered in his 15+ years as a collegiate head coach. But that wasn&#8217;t even the best part of the night; the highlight, naturally, was the celebration\u00a0surrounding\u00a0the debut of the 10th-ranked Bears&#8217; new home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11,17,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-athletics","category-photo-galleries","category-vision","category-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}