Note to readers--if you don't understand, don't worry.
Hi Ladies,
I went to the game today. I mean, I went to see the band and there were some guys dressed in tight pants running around the field during the interem. I thought I would share what I know of the current band/colorguard.
Pregame is pretty cool. The trombones still do the suicides and they are featured during pregame. The colorguard runs out with a huge CSU flag (about 50 x 30 feet) before the cheerleaders and those tight-pants guys. The bands still forms the "CSU", "RAMS" and now they form ram horns. Overall, I'm impressed.
The band now sits in the center of the student section (it's about time!). It has about 200 members now. The stadium still sucks the noise and hides it from the fans. And there is now a pit. Don't ask me what they do with the xylophones during a parade.
Two years ago, the colorguard was incredible. They had lots of tricks (tosses) and they incorporated a lot with the cheer and poms (the entire group was called "Auxillary"). It was great to see the level of the colorguard, but the cheer and poms were less than our day. The cheer have no men (I don't know why) which means no great stunts, and the poms are not the athletes they were when I tried out. Though they are still better athletes than I am currently.
The halftime shows since then have gone downhill. Last homecoming (2007), They did music from Wicked and some student dressed up as a witch and sang. The whole show smacked of early '90s high school band (not that I would know). This year was worse. There was no marching, no guard drill; it was "CSU Idol." The band played music for two idols to sing to and we were supposed to Text our vote. This was Homecoming. I was thrilled I spent $28.00 on the ticket. The tight-pants guys didn't even win. Lame.
Today's show was better because it was band day. A few HS bands came and the bands just parked and blowed but the guards had drill. No marching. And I haven't seen any tosses for a couple years. The uniforms are better though (doesn't "Jolly Green Giant Grope," "White Pilazzos," and "Gold Poufs" take you back?).
I heard that when Drum Insructor left (don't know if he quit or was let go) Wife left with him. Neither of them are in the Colorado HS band circuit. I'm not big with the alumni band thing. I would rather take my kids to the parade and tailgate with my husband. Let's face it, there isn't a whole lot for alumni Colorguard to do.
Anyway, thought you might like an update.
Oh, and in cold weather they wear these great stocking caps that are white, green and gold and say "CSU BAND" on them. I have asked (begged) repeatedly and no one will sell me one.
No, I don't want to knit one for myself. I want theirs.
Love,
Mama Goose
P.S. Where is Peggy Pompom?
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Those tight-pants guys are always mucking up our field. When are they going to get rid of them?
ReplyDeleteWhat do the unis look like now? What do you suppose they did with all our flood-relief-provided glories? Given the unlikelihood of having the same sized girls every year, I always thought it was kind of a shame we couldn't just keep ours. Not that I'd know what to do with it now, even if the sight of my 30-yr-old butt in spandex were in any way appealing.
I ran into the former flag/drum instructor family a couple years after I came to Orlando, when they surprised me at a cart I was working in MGM. They had a new daughter and D. was talking about leaving CSU. Apparently he had once worked at Disney and was toying with the idea of returning there. Don't know what the upshot of that was, but I'm sorry we lost contact.
Shame to hear that the drill quality has gone down (what? not even the ubiquitous arc behind the band?) along with guard skill level. This happened to my high school band, too...I always feel somewhat let down - as if I had enjoyed some "glory days" that are now over. Those things feed on themselves - i.e. one year guard is really good, gets a lot of attention, gets a lot of recruits the next season...then the leaders graduate or the instructor moves on and if there's nobody motivated enough to take over it falls apart and nobody wants to join because they suck.
I still think your senior year was our best season - great music, performances, new unis, and a Bowl win. Seemed like a good chemistry overall, too. And all the pom cheers we got to make up! I still do the "Ram It Up Your (rival name here)" whenever I listen to my band CD. The next year was good but forgettable - I missed the graduates and the tight-pants guys sucked. I can't even remember what our music was, and I had some...issues with certain members who didn't like my telling them they shouldn't be flirting with ROTC jocks on the sidelines while everyone else was rehearsing.
Alas, I know not the fate of Peggy Pom Pom. I thought you kept her.
The question is, do they still do "dawn's move"? :) Can't you hear the Magnificent Seven theme playing when you read that?
A thought: now that a few of us are back in contact, we should coordinate to make a Homecoming together. Then if we actually wanted to do the alumni band at least we'd know somebody. Maybe we could show the current guard a thing or two about how it should be done, ha ha. :)
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