Pyrefyre: Real school spirits and a few ghosts

Every weekend in the fall brings out the college supporters to talk about college football. All those passionate fans that believe their team is the best in the country every year. Fans travel thousands of miles to watch their teams play on the road or in a bowl game. Bowl games are a week long party for the team and the fans. Some fans think the national championship system is flawed but all fans love their teams no matter what happens on the field.

These fans bleed school colors , support their team and school above most everything in their life. You have seen them in the stands when it is freezing and they have no shirt on. Of course, after watching one of these shirt-less fans pour ice water over his head in freezing weather, it appears that some are much closer to spreading their ashes even at a young age.

Universities that have these really rabid sports fans started to let them spread their ashes on the sports fields. While some schools still mistakenly believe that ashes are a health hazard, the University of Florida, a team that has been in the championship game two of the last 3 years is one of the schools that allowed spreading of ashes at the stadium called the swamp. It is no wonder they win so many games. Texas A&M may have the 12th man tradition but Florida has a slew of spirits to help.

Several colleges like Davidson don't allow the spreading of ashes but neither do that use strong arm tactics to stop you. Discretion  is the name of the game. The ashes should be spread by one person without drawing any attention to yourself. Other universities had so many calls for people wanting to spread their ashes on campus they smelled money.

Notre Dame built a mausoleum so they could sell crypts and a place to put your ashes.  Duke and Virginia also have special places set aside for the spreading of ashes. Virginia has a columbarium wall with a vault that can be purchased and used to store 4 urns. At duke, people had been spreading ashes in their garden for a while but now they set a side space  to inter your ashes for a $25,000 donation to the garden's foundation.

If you have the money for interment, that is all you need because they don't ask for a diploma. You may opt to spend the rest of eternity to lie next to all those Ivy League graduates whether you went here or not. Many fans and donors never went to that school but they are strong supporters anyway. Soon, alumni will even want to see their cremated pets spread at their favorite school. Perhaps a special spot next to the mascots resting place.

As cremation becomes more popular, more colleges and universities should install memorial gardens to benefit their alumni and scholarship donors. For years they have put big donors' names on buildings. Why not spread their ashes at a school memorial? As you can see, alumni will pay to have their ashes interred or spread on campus. Many people have fond memories of their college years and would love to have their ashes spread at the school they attended for their education. This time really shaped our life so why not let your body spend eternity there. As more and more people choose this route, school spirit will take on a whole new meaning.