WILDCAT HAND SYMBOL NOW AN OFFICIAL UA LOGO

We have a bit of fun, but important, information to make you aware of to lead off this week's edition. We're excited to announce that the Wildcat hand symbol that we so frequently see being used by student-athletes and fans is now being recognized as an official UA logo. We think it's a great way to show your Arizona pride and can serve as a greeting to other Wildcat fans. Using your right hand only so the person you're addressing sees 'WC' as opposed to 'CW,' you can flash them the hand symbol and say 'Bear Down' and you might receive a 'Go Cats' in response.

The hand symbol is the brain child of former UA swimmers Simon Burnett and Greg Owen. Motivated by the fact that other schools used a hand symbol, the duo was discussing ideas for a hand symbol on their bus ride to the Pac-10 Championships in 2003. Burnett suggested the 'WC' with the right hand and they began implementing it shortly thereafter. It's grown to be a regular occurrence in and around Arizona's events, so we wanted to work it into our set of logos and make it official.

Student Wildcat Club members will be among the first to receive merchandise with the hand symbol. The official SWC t-shirt will have the symbol. In order to get your hands on one, you'll need to become an SWC member, which you can do by clickingHERE.
 

IT'S TIME FOR FOOTBALL

Tomorrow night is the football home opener and this is the most excitement and anticipation we've seen in my five years at Arizona. The team is ranked 22nd in the nation (first time we have been ranked in the preseason poll since 1999) and is loaded with talented student-athletes at every position. These young men have been busting their tails ever since the Fiesta Bowl. They deserve to play in front of a full house of fans who support them. Click HERE to buy your tickets online if you haven't gotten yours yet.

We have a new webpage for football gameday information. Check outArizonaWildcats.com/gameday to find information about stadium policies, tailgating, parking, mobile, the weather and much more.

Last week, we discussed how it pays to be a season ticket holder, mentioned how it's important to attend the game and make sure your ticket was scanned at the gate. The reason being, we're giving away some great prizes to our season ticket holders. At some point in the second half of every home game, we're going to give away a GoPro, a smart TV and a collection of Nike swag to three football season ticket holders. We want to reward our season ticket holders for being there, so make sure all of your tickets are used for each home game.

As another benefit to our football season ticket holders, we're expanding our fan experience promotion. We're still going to use Twitter to give away chances to participate in these unique experiences, but we're also going to give an additional experience to season ticket holders. For tomorrow's game, we have randomly selected season ticket holders to participate in the Wildcat Walk with the team, join the team on the field pregame, run out of the tunnel and join the team in the locker room after the game. After tomorrow, we'll randomly select season ticket holders who attended the previous home game. Be there and win! Click HERE for details.

GETTING TO THE FOOTBALL GAME

Having a home football game on a Thursday night comes with a few challenges as it relates to getting to the game and parking on campus. Classes are in session and it's a regular work day for faculty and staff. We have a couple suggestions for making your journey to the stadium a smooth one.

Make sure to review our parking information page, ArizonaWildcats.com/parking, and form a plan on where you want to park. There are several parking garages on the perimeter of campus. Parking is free in the garages on Tyndall Ave., Main Gate, Park Ave. and Highland if your vehicle has four or more people inside (only $5 per vehicle for less than four). The shuttles from Sun Link are no longer available, but the university is providing a free shuttle to Arizona Stadium for those who park in the Park Ave. garage. More information can be found on the parking information page. Remember to read all posted neighborhood signs to avoid parking in tow zones.

Have you tried the Sun Link streetcar on gameday? Park along the streetcar's 3.9 mile track and hop on at one of the 23 pickup locations. A one-way SunGo pass is $4 and can be purchased at the kiosks at the pickup locations. You can get a SunGo card and only pay $1.50 per person. Get a SunGo card at SunTran.com. There is a Go Tucson mobile app that allows you to pay and use your mobile phone as your pass. Kids five and under can ride the streetcar for free. A Sun Link streetcar map can be found on the parking info page.

Lastly, one more reminder for our fans in Phoenix to ride the Cat Cruiser. It's only $20 per person for a round trip ride to Tucson and back. Spots are still available. Click HERE to reserve.

ONE MORE REASON TO BE AT THE WILDCAT WALK

You've heard us mention how important it is for our fans to join the band, cheerleaders and the team for the Wildcat Walk. The energy and excitement can be a real boost to our team as they enter Arizona Stadium and begin their preparation for the game. This year, we're adding another reason to be there. Thanks to a generous supporter, the cheerleaders will be throwing "Wildcat Walk" t-shirts to the crowd each and every game before the walk starts, so arrive early! Make sure to get to Cherry and University and help welcome Coach Rodriguez and the Wildcats as they walk to Arizona Stadium and be on the lookout so you can get your hands on one of these new t-shirts.
 

RED-BLUE ON SALE THIS SATURDAY

Tickets for the annual McDonald's Red-Blue basketball game go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m. at ArizonaWildcats.com. The support our men's basketball program receives is incredible. Never is it more evident than the interest in the McDonald's Red-Blue game. This exhibition has sold out the last four years. Last year was the quickest sell out (18 minutes). Keep in mind, we had less seats to sell because of the McKale renovation, but we're still expecting strong sales on Saturday. Make sure you're by your computer and ready to purchase at 10 a.m. Save thisLINK for Saturday at 10 a.m.
 

VOLLEYBALL HOSTING FIRST HOME MATCH

The wait to see your 2015 Arizona volleyball team in action is over. Volleyball, which is currently ranked 16th, opens up their home season with the Arizona Invitational this Friday, Sept. 4. The Cats face off with South Dakota for their first match of the weekend at 6 p.m. The Invitational wraps up Saturday, Sept. 5 with the Cats taking on Florida A&M at 10 a.m. and then a tough match against Cal State Northridge at 7 p.m. Tickets start at just $8 when purchased in advance. We hope to see you at the McKale Center cheering on Coach Rubio and a talented Arizona volleyball team this weekend! Click HERE to buy your tickets today.
 

VOLLEYBALL RANKED AS ONE OF TOP 25 PROGRAMS OF ALL TIME

We were alerted to a pretty neat story last week about our volleyball program. As a part of its preseason coverage, PrepVolleyball.com, which is widely considered the top news source for volleyball in America, ranked the Top 25 Division I volleyball programs of all time, a list that we are very proud to be on. The publication ranked Arizona 16th, citing the 18 seasons Arizona has finished in the Top 25, including last year. This ranking is a credit to the work that head coach Dave Rubio and the members of his staff have put in during his 23-plus years as the head coach at Arizona. Although we have always had high quality volleyball at Arizona, Dave has taken things to a new level. He took over a program that won four total tournament games in its history and equaled that total within his first three years.

In all, volleyball has been to 26 NCAA Tournaments, including five of the last six, and 17 total under Rubio. Arizona has been to seven Sweet 16s, four Elite 8s and advanced to the 2001 Final Four. Arizona finished in the top five in five seasons, including a high of No. 4 in 2001.

Kudos to our volleyball program and congrats on the recognition.

A READER NOTE ON SALUTING THE FLAG BY VETERANS

One of the things we enjoy most during our various home events is recognizing any veterans that may be in attendance. We greatly appreciate the service and sacrifice they're either making or have made so we can enjoy our freedom. With that in mind, one of our readers, Darrel Thayne, asked us to pass along the information below to the many veterans attending our sporting events as a reminder on the policies for veterans, in and out of uniform, when saluting the flag:

I have run a personal campaign to have veterans not in uniform salute during the national anthem, during raising or lowering or when the flag passes. Those in uniform have always saluted during those occasions.

What a great sight it is to see those who have served our country stand out in a crowd with this action.

Prior to 1988, veterans not in uniform stood at attention and placed the hand over the heart. A change was included in the Defense Authorization Act of 2009, which President Bush signed on October 14, 2008.

Reference for this change is:

Section 301(b)(1) of title 36 United States code which reads in part;
(A) individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note.
(B) members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform.

Paragraph C has guidance for individuals who are non-military and non-veterans but who could be in uniform such as police and fire fighters whether they are in or out of uniform but the above is the gist of what I would like to see.

A separate paragraph states that if an individual can hear the music but cannot see the flag they will act in the manner as if they could see the flag.

One of the best sources for this information is military.com.

The sight of thousands of veterans saluting at a sports event might help to instill a little more love for this great country.

Thanks for sending this note Darrel and we look forward to seeing a number of veterans, both in uniform and out of uniform, enjoying Arizona Athletics this year.

TWITTER GIVEAWAY

Congrats to Ty (@beardownblitz) for being selected as this week's winner of the #ByrneTwitterGiveaway. A member of the athletics department staff will DM you with more information on how to secure your prize so make sure you're following @AZAthletics.

Here is this week's Twitter giveaway message:

#BearDown, Arizona
#BearDown, Red and Blue
Go, Go, Wildcats Go;
Arizona, #BearDown
@Greg_Byrne #ByrneTwitterGiveaway

Each week, we'll provide a phrase accompanied by the twitter handle @Greg_Byrne and the hashtag #ByrneTwitterGiveaway for Wildcat Wednesday subscribers to tweet. We'll select the winner(s) at random and announce in the following edition of Wildcat Wednesday. We hope you'll have some fun with this and participate each week. As long as we're seeing a lot of participation, we'll keep the giveaways going throughout the year.

COMPLIANCE CORNER

Some fans mistakenly believe that if a student-athlete is not paid for an autograph, then it is permissible to sell it. That is not true! The sale of the autographed item is prohibited and can cause the student-athlete to lose their collegiate eligibility.

The easiest way to comply with NCAA rules regarding autographs is to not allow our current student-athletes to sign autographs at any time. However, that would be unfair to the true University of Arizona fans who treasure an autographed item because of its connection to the program, rather than its monetary value. We ask our student-athletes to try and personalize each item and also to limit signing to no more than two items per fan.

If you receive an autographed item it is with the mutual understanding that the item received will never be sold or traded for anything of value as long as any autograph on that item represents a student-athlete currently competing for the University of Arizona. Your cooperation in protecting the eligibility of our student-athletes is greatly appreciated!

ARIZONA NUGGETS

Volleyball's Kalei Mau earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors after posting 31 digs versus SMU, which is tied for the fifth most in school history and third most in a four-set match … Soccer ranks first in the Pac-12 with 10 goals scored behind Gabi Stoian, who is tied for the league's top spot with three goals.

WEAR THE COLORS – SHARE THE PHOTOS

Thank you for wearing the colors and sharing your Arizona pride! If your photo submission did not make this week's edition of the Wildcat Wednesday, please check our "Wildcat Wednesday" album at facebook.com/ArizonaAthletics.

NOTE: Please submit photos for Wildcat Wednesday with an original email touofaad@arizona.edu using the subject line 'Wildcat Wednesday photo.' Also, please ensure all submissions are clear and properly lit. We also ask that you identify everyone in the photo so we can highlight them accordingly.