0
0
A college football game. The band playing at half-time.
They go together like a helmet and a chinstrap, like a hot dog with mustard, like Wake Forest and The Quad.
What’s a football game without a band marching on the field and performing a few songs at halftime? It’s a break with a terrific tradition, that’s what it is, something we should never stop doing.
Since I first began watching football some 55 years ago and for decades before that, the first half of a football game would be played and then the marching band from either one or both colleges would do their musical and marching performance. These shows are soothing respites after the first half of players smashing into each other with all that physical contact jarring our senses.
The band playing on the field is a universal theme, an American treasure, and a sporting custom that may be as great as all others because it’s fun to watch and reminds us football is a game, after all, and really just entertainment rather than something more serious. It makes a Saturday afternoon better.
I was listening to “American Pie” the other day and picked up on a few lyrics about a band and players being on the field, which goes to show us that it was on the mind of Don McLean, who rolled out his masterpiece way back in 1971. The best traditions are usually the ones that continue so long we can’t even fathom when we didn’t have them.
These are the song’s words about the band and the field.
Now, the halftime air was sweet perfume
While sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance
Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?
Fifty-three years later these remain cryptic words. They make me wonder what football game it was. Not sure what they mean but I do know it’s about a marching band playing music on a field – likely a football field.
And the line about the marching band refusing to yield makes me think of probably the most amazing football game ending of all time when 42 years ago the University of California, down by one point, returned a kickoff with no time left, lateraled six times, and the last player with the ball ran over a member of the Stanford band in the endzone to give Cal the still to this day most miraculous win in college football history because of what happened on that last play. Watch this play one more time:
“The band is on the field,” the announcer yelled. “The band is on the field.”
Why am I telling you all this history now? Because tomorrow night at the Wake Forest season opener you’re going to see a band march on the field at halftime from North Carolina A&T University that puts on a show well worth staying in your seat to watch. There will be high-stepping all over the field. Band leaders will be sporting two-foot-high Fred Flintstone Water Buffalo hats. Drummers will twirl the instruments above their heads and between their legs. You may see them play Aerosmith’s classic song “Dream On.”
This band knows how to get the crowd going by letting go, flying around, and turning up the energy. It has participated in the National Battle of the Bands which is indicative of how serious they are about their performances and don’t hold back.
You’ll like what you see and hear.
A band playing on the football field.
During half-time.
One of the greatest of all sports traditions.
That should never end.
Author Profile
-
Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
Sammy Sportface Has a Vision -- Check It Out
Sammy Sportface -- The Baby Boomer Brotherhood Blog -- Facebook Page
Latest entries
ACCSeptember 7, 2024Pre-Game Pep Talk: Buck Hankmeier Zooms With Sportface
BonusSeptember 6, 2024UVA Studies Declaration of Independence En Route to Wake Clash
BonusSeptember 6, 2024Caitlin Clark Pumps Up My 24/7 Podcaster Posse – But Why?
BonusSeptember 5, 2024Downfall of Men, Rise of Women: WNBA Better Product Than NBA