We’ve got spirit, yes we do…

By Kate Rumore

For over one hundred years my alma mater has participated in a traditional Thanksgiving day football game. The Easton vs. Phillipsburg game is one of the oldest and most heated high school rivalries in the country. In 1993, the game ended in a 7-7 tie leaving a smack-talking void for the players and nearly 20,000 fans that attended the game.

Gatorade has recently approached both schools to challenge them to replay the game for an online documentary— yes, the original game. The first ever Gatorade Replay game will take place on April 19th at Lafayette College’s Fisher Field with the original teams. It’s been over 15 years since the tie. Gatorade is in the early stages of meeting up with players and coaches to recruit and enroll the thirtysomething team members into the 8 weeks of training being offered to get them back into shape.

While the folks at Gatorade haven’t yet fully launched the Replay program, they’ve stressed to the participants that it is as much about the community as it is athletics. With just a few sneak peaks into the early stages, the online community has already established a formidable presence.

How is it all coming together? A Red Rover and a Stateliner, each one of the first contacted by Gatorade, thought it would be a good idea to start Facebook groups for their respective teams. In less than two weeks and before Gatorade even began publicly promoting the program, nearly 500 alumni, players and fans have reconnected.

It begs the question— can the online community resuscitate a 15 year old local community? How far can social networking take it? Could the cheerleaders and marching bands reunite? Twirlers? Dare I say- the homecoming court?

Take a sneak peak at the site that made it’s way into the discussion boards at www.missiong.com/show/Replay. Check back here at Momentum for updates on this social (networking) experiment and share your thoughts and predictions.

Go Rovers!