‘Thanks so much for calling and roll along.’

That is what you will hear if you call Brian Delehoy, BGSU’s assistant athletic director of marketing, and reach his voicemail.

Delehoy is hoping that won’t be the only place you hear the phrase ‘roll along,’ which has been introduced as the new slogan of Falcon athletics.

The phrase is derived from the University’s unofficial fight song ‘Ay Ziggy Zoomba.’

‘Roll along’ has been used as a phrase between members of the athletic department for over a year, but it wasn’t until April that Delehoy decided the University needed a phrase that could connect current students and alumni.

Delehoy was at an airport in Houston, clad in an orange BGSU sweatshirt when a pilot spotted him from across a crowded terminal and yelled out to him.

‘He yelled ‘All right, go Falcons, all the way,” Delehoy said. ‘I was kind of caught off guard and yelled back something like ‘Yeah, go BG,’ and that is when I realized we should be saying ‘roll along’ to each other.’

The phrase can be used as a greeting between students, alumni and falcon fans when they encounter each other, Delehoy said.

‘It’s something fans can yell out to each other when they come across each other at a road game, like at Pittsburgh this weekend,’ Delehoy said.

The athletic department has branded the phrase all over Falcon athletic promotions, such as schedule magnets, media guides and posters. The athletic department staff has also changed all of their e-mail signatures to say, ‘roll along’ and their voicemails to end with the phrase, Delehoy said.

Delehoy said he isn’t sure how the phrase will take off but hopes it can become a chant that will one day rival Ohio State’s OH-IO.

‘I’m not sure how it will develop,’ Delehoy said. ”hellip; We may try to make it a chant but there is no specific chant planned yet. We hope it just catches on.’

Not all students think the phrase will catch on and become a chant though, like senior Mark Gardner.

‘It doesn’t roll off your tongue,’ Gardner said. ‘We need a chant that doesn’t have so many syllables.’

Brad Weidman, senior, said the chant is not specific enough to Bowling Green like Ohio State’s OH-IO chant. People unfamiliar with ‘Ay Ziggy Zoomba’ won’t get it, he said.

”BG-SU’ has a better chance of being the chant,’ Weidman said.

Nick Pollack, freshman, said he could see ‘roll along’ becoming a popular catch phrase and he would chant it at games.

‘I could see it being used at football games, especially while the offense is driving down the field,’ Pollack said.

Delehoy said the new phrase is not an attempt at forcing a new tradition but just taking a part of a traditional BGSU song and shortening it for other uses.

‘Being that it’s not new, we just never pulled it out and separated it before,’ Delehoy said. ‘It’s not like we are trying to make a new tradition and shove it down people’s throats.’