Oh, man. How do I even begin to describe the beauty that unfolded yesterday?
If you're a Twitter user, you're probably familiar with the sequence of events leading to thousands of cactus emojis being sent out by Red Raider Nation on Tuesday.
Yes, thousands.
It all started when the Matador Club, a nonprofit NIL collective for Texas Tech athletes, announced a groundbreaking program where every player on the football team received a 1-year, $25,000 NIL deal.
It's hard to imagine a program like this would upset anyone, but TCU Recruiting Coordinator and Offensive Analyst, Bryan Carrington, sent out a perplexing thread of tweets bashing the announcement and throwing shade at West Texas.
You can read the thread here:
Carrington criticized Lubbock in the process, claiming the program isn't what it seems because players will struggle to build their brand in a desert, followed by a cactus emoji.
Now, I couldn't tell you if he realized just how far and deep the Texas Tech fanbase runs on social media, but he is definitely aware now. His assertions were immediately flooded with hundreds of replies from fired-up Red Raiders coming to their program's defense.
The following day, the storm began.
Texas Tech fans all around the country repurposed the cactus emoji from a negative connotation to a symbol of West Texas strength and pride.
Cacti were included in bios, name titles, and hashtags. Twitter began to crash and lag for many who experienced its takeover by the thousands of Tech faithful. In fact, the cactus emoji movement even made an appearance as the No.10 trending topic in the U.S. with more than 20,000 tweets.
Even coaches joined in the fun...
And, from the Bachelorette contestant himself:
The football team unanimously embraced the cactus movement.
One of my favorites...
Best of all, former Red Raider athletes joined the movement.
A Red Raider legend...
The official Texas Tech football account and other school-affiliated accounts jumped in.
Another clever tweet:
We have the best subscribers on the planet.
This doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what unfolded yesterday. If you don't have Twitter, I highly recommend downloading it and seeing it for yourself.
It's truly remarkable how one of the most vigorously loyal fanbases in the nation united in support of their university.
No West Texan tolerates disrespect shown to a place they know and love. These past 48 hours will go down in Texas Tech history. The passion for this city and this school is overflowing!
I love our community, our fanbase, and our culture. Lubbock is home. Wreck 'em!
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