Vinnie "Whiteout" Girardi Talks To LetsGoDU

(above) DU Sophomore Vinnie Girardi brought the Whiteout to DU

LetsGoDU asked "Whiteout Guru" Vinnie Girardi ('11) five questions about the Student Section Whiteout last week against Colorado College.

1). What's your name, what year are you and where are you from?

My name is Vinnie Girardi, I'm a sophomore at DU and I'm from Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

2). The "Whiteout" was one of the most successful DU student section promotions in recent memory. How did you come up with the idea and what steps did you have to go through to pull it off?

Back in January, I attended the LetsGoDU Pregame Rally (Michigan Tech) at Spanky's, I'm a big fan of LetsGoDU & pitched the "Whiteout" idea to DG.

Earlier in the year I had seen clips on Sports Center, of a blackout at a University of Georgia college football game, and for whatever reason it stayed in my head.

We talked of a number of ways we could get a louder crowd at Magness and I brought up the possibly of doing a "Whiteout" and getting everyone involved. DG thought it was a great idea and told me to pursue it. So I did.

I also found a YouTube video of Penn State's Whiteout. 110,000 fans all dressed in white chanting, "We Are Penn State." It was an awesome display of school spirit.

Once I saw the video I tried to research how often these whiteouts occurred, how successful they were, and what were some of the designs for the shirts.

At this point, it was all just for fun. I didn't really think it was going to happen at least not this year. I tried to get some feedback on the idea of the Whiteout from my friends and I got some mixed reviews. Some said it would be more trouble than it was worth and others told me to pursue it. I ultimately decided to go through with it.

I guess the main factor for me going through with it was that this was my chance to leave my mark at DU, and it would boost school spirit.

Once I committed to the Whiteout, I tried to figure out what my next step would be. I was really unsure of which way to turn, until one of my friends told me about the DU Student Spirit Team. The DU Athletic Department was looking for new ideas to get students to sporting events, so they created the Student Spirit Team to get some new input. It was a good thing I did because it would have been such a difficult project to pursue on my own.

I attended a meeting, presented my idea and they loved it. They ended up adopting it into their list of upcoming events. I was amazed at how quickly it was for everyone to say, "Yes."

I was expecting a much bigger fight, but I guess I had been convincing. The team voted on the designs that I came up with and we were off and running.

Every couple of weeks, I would attend meetings to see what the team had done and to make sure everything was on track.

Originally the idea was to pass out a Whiteout shirt to every person in attendance (6,000) at Magness, but due to the spirit team's budget we were only able to produce shirts for the students. As the budget dwindled, it looked like we would only produce 200 shirts. Though I was upset, it was certainly better than nothing.

In the last few weeks before the game things started to get a little hectic. The team created flyers to post, pompoms to pass out, the D.U. Grilling Society to set up a pregame tailgate and other DU organizations jumped on board.

Trying to get as much free exposure as possible, I asked LetsGoDU to promote the "Whiteout."

The last thing I did was set up a Facebook Event, through the LetsGoDU Facebook Group. After all the promotion was taken care of, I felt like I had covered all my bases. At this point I just hoped and prayed that it worked.

3). As the Colorado College game drew closer, when did you first think, "This is going to be huge?

I knew it was going to be a big game simply because it was Colorado College. If you can't get pumped up for a game against your rival then you just are not a Pioneer.

But to answer your question, I first thought that it was going to be huge when Floyd's Barbershop agreed to sponsor us at the last second. We went from having 200 shirts to 500 in the span of a week and an half. This was a huge boost to the event because it guaranteed all the students could be wearing white.

Once I saw how many people had signed up to come to the game after the first day the event was posted on Facebook, I was brimming with excitement. We had 100 people sign up to go the Whiteout on the first day. Ultimately, 260 people RSVP'd on Facebook and we passed out all 500 shirts.

4). Why do you think the students embraced this idea, when many other good ideas have fallen short?

It's hard to say. I feel very lucky because I know that a lot of things had to fall into place for it happen and they did. I think that one of the reasons that the Whiteout was successful was because in a way it united the students. Wearing one color, they felt like they were a part of the team. It allowed them to be an extension of the team in the stands which created an even bigger home-ice advantage.

I think another reason the students were into it was because they were able to get involved too. They were able to write on their shirt and show their support in their own way which ended up being one of the best parts of the shirts.

I can't really say why other good ideas have fallen short. I was really fortunate to know the right people, and I was able to network my way through this process. I guess why some ideas fall short is because when people have a great idea they just don't know where to go with it at DU. My advice for those who have good idea would be to keep trying. I realize how difficult it is to get things set up, but if you are persistent and keep pursuing your idea, eventually you will be able to get through.

I know it sounds cliche but its the best advice I can give.

5). Finally, what does "Mr. Whiteout" do for an encore?

Haha, I don't really have any plans at the moment. I'm going to enjoy this for a while. Ideally I'd like to do the Whiteout again on a bigger scale, but that is down the road. I do plan on continuing to work with the DU Spirit Team, trying to build off the success of the Whiteout, and hopefully will have something soon.

Thanks again to all the students, Floyd's and DU organizations for all your support and GO DU.