R.I.P. #OrangeNation?

In an attempt to be more social media friendly a few years back, the good folks in the Syracuse University athletic department decided to paint the Twitter hashtag "#OrangeNation" on Ernie Davis Legends Field inside the Carrier Dome.

I am assuming the idea was to get fans, at football games, to see #OrangeNation, then use the hashtag to help interact with each other. Oh. Or use it while viewing Scott Shafer press conferences on Orange All-Access to express, together, how pumped up we all are to storm the damn ACC!

(Though, I do know that some of you have decided to use #OrangeNation to use naughty words during Shafer pressers. But, I understand how it is hard to control yourself from doing that.)

Anyway, it looks like SU's public relations department will need to come up with a new idea to use social media because the NCAA rules committee decided Wednesday: "If we aren't making money off of schools putting hashtags on the field, nobody can make money off of it!"

NCAA: Football Rules Committee has banned hashtags on field for a cleaner field look, doesn’t ban hashtags in stadium.

— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) May 2, 2013

Overall, this is not that big of a deal. However, I do find it hilarious that the rules committee thought this is something they needed to address because college football fans were being hurt by a cluttered-field look.

With that said, RIP #OrangeNation. It was nice not using you.