![\"Mission](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/x_post_loving_not_throwing788x937.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTexas Tech has banned the tradition of flinging tortillas onto the field at Jones AT&T Stadium to avoid increased fines and 15-yard penalties \u2014 fearful if one of those penalties cost the Red Raiders a game and a chance to get into the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n
Fans mourned the tradition\u2019s loss on social media.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\t\tJust for loving, not throwing. Credit: Screen capture of X post.<\/p>\n
But what does this mean to people who make tortillas?<\/p>\n
One national tortilla maker had fun with the ban on social\u00a0media\u00a0and a Lubbock-based shop is disappointed after starting to sell specially marked \u201cGameday Tortillas\u201d this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mission Foods, a nationally known tortilla maker, took to X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n @MissionFoodsUS lamented, \u201cTexas Tech this, Texas Tech that, but is anyone asking how we feel?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n To which @TexasTech said, \u201cSorry about that. You good?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n @MissionFoodsUS responded, \u201cWe\u2019ll\u00a0be okay. Just grieving the end of a scared tradition.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\tMauricio Lira during Teams video call<\/p>\n Mauricio Lira, the social media manager for Mission based in Irving, is a Texas Tech graduate and used to work in the university\u2019s communications office.\u00a0The Tech response on X was his favorite.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think that would probably be the most meaningful to me, just because I worked in the office and I worked running the account,\u201d Lira said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n How did Lira get the idea for this comment on Mission\u2019s X account?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a common online trope \u2014 people say, \u2018no one asked how I feel.\u2019 We played into that lighthearted meme,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mission Foods told LubbockLights.com the tortilla crackdown will not likely impact sales.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere were multiple people in the comments saying that they\u2019re going to buy more Mission tortillas,\u201d Lira said.\u00a0<\/p>\n How did we get here?<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been living under a tortilla, here\u2019s what\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n 1980s or 1990s: No one knows for sure when the tradition started.\u00a0Some\u00a0speculated\u00a0a sports announcer said in 1993\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0nothing in\u00a0Lubbock\u00a0but Tech football and a tortilla factory \u2013 prompting an airborne pushback from fans at\u00a0subsequent\u00a0games.\u00a0An Avalanche Journal article\u00a0speculated\u00a0this form of food flinging went back to the 1980s when folks chose to throw tortillas instead of\u00a0drink\u00a0lids.\u00a0<\/p>\n August: The Big 12 Conference votes 15-to-1 \u201csolidify an existing game management policy related to the throwing of items onto the playing surface.\u201d The first two incidents would bring warnings, the third a 15-yard penalty. Kirby Hocutt, Tech Director of Athletics was the one vote, saying tortilla tossing can continue for the opening kickoff.<\/p>\n Last week: Tech and Kansas are both fined $25,000 for incidents during Tech\u2019s 42-17 win Oct. 11 in Lubbock. The Red Raiders also received two 15-yard penalties following tortilla tossing. Also, the Big 12 increased penalties to $100,000<\/a> for things thrown during games.<\/p>\n This week: Hocutt announces the ban. Tech leaders on social media implore fans to follow the ban starting with Saturday\u2019s home game against Oklahoma State, saying it\u2019s not worth a six-figure fine or losing an important game when the Red Raiders are 6-1 and hoping for post-season success.<\/p>\n Local tortilla maker Juan Villa has\u00a0a different perspective.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Villa was attending a Texas Tech football game a few years ago when he discovered the tradition of flinging tortillas during kickoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n One hit him on the head.\u00a0<\/p>\n That inspired him. Villa moved to Lubbock from Roswell to open Villa\u2019s Tortillas shop on 34th Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was great seeing the tortillas flying all around,\u201d Villa said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Villa was proud to see his \u201cGameday Tortillas\u201d airborne at Jones AT&T Stadium sold four to a pack.\u00a0He sold a lot of his Gameday Tortillas to people coming from out of town for a game \u2013 some of them parents coming to see a game with their kids at tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n Villa says\u00a0he\u2019ll\u00a0sell fewer tortillas now but expects his business to be fine, though he\u2019ll\u00a0miss\u00a0the tradition.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Mexico<\/p>\n Tortilla makers in Mexico are\u00a0in trouble.\u00a0\u201cCecilia Ruiz, who makes and sells tortillas in downtown Tijuana, told the El Sol Newspaper her\u00a0sales are down by almost 50 percent as clients such as restaurants and taco stands are placing\u00a0smaller orders,\u201d said an article Thursday on EverythingLubbock.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n Fuel and transportation costs were to blame \u2013 not football.<\/p>\n Lubbock Lights editor Terry Greenberg contributed to this story.<\/p>\n![\"Mauricio](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mauricio_Lira_432x576.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Villas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/villas_tortillas_game_day_1200x1600.jpg\")
Villas Tortillas \u2018Game Day Tortilla\u2019 Credit: Courtesy photo.<\/p>\n
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