I was at the new softball stadium this past Saturday for the doubleheader. Both games were really good and the Apps ended the series with a walk-off grand slam. Yay!

During the series, someone in the temp bleachers would often start an “App….State” chant. Rad. Never goes out of style and there’s a fun origin story that I’m a part of (not a joke). But after three or four of these chants, there would be too much Bama in him and he’d end with “Rollllllllllll Neers!” Boo, eyeroll, rage.

The famous Alabama Crimson Tide change has been repurposed by several universities in recent years.

Roll Wave. Roll Humps. Roll Neers. It’s easy, it’s awful and I hate every time I hear it.

I know. “OK boomer, blah blah.” I’ll still be rooting for the Apps in five years. What Triangle team will you be extolling the virtues of every March? Yes, I believe there’s a correlation of “Roll Neers” to exchanging one’s black and gold for a shade of blue or red every winter.

My argument against this accursed saying is as follows.

If Auburn won six football national championships in 12 seasons like Alabama did, it would be “Roll Damn Neers.” And it’s not App State.

Heck, App State isn’t the only school with a mascot that ends in “-neers.” One of them is just over the Tennessee border in Johnson City.

I also agree with 1998 alum Brad Farrington during the really-dumb 2024 tunnel controversy where Sheri Everts actually wanted to put “Roll Neers” in a tunnel.

“Co-opting the University of Alabama’s popular cheer and potentially branding it upon a storied campus landmark of tradition is the same as painting the tunnel Carolina Blue or replacing Yosef with a black and gold ram.”

Farrington continued, “‘Roll ‘neers’ is far from distinctive as it is – at best, lazy, and, at worst, deeply envious of another university’s traditions.”

I mean, are we really wanting to continue using a slogan Sheri Everts wholeheartedly endorsed?

Me writing this won’t change the minds of young people and older people trying to grasp the straws of youth. But I believe we can overcome the stranglehold “Roll Neers” has.

BTW, we need to play the below song after every App State sporting event following Hi Hi Yikas. Baseball use to do it under Pollard, then it fell off.