Who's proud to be a Chippewa?

The student section as it appeared right before the 3rd quarter started.

Am I dissapointed in CMU's lack of school spirit among current undergraduates? Yes, but it was fairly cold out. Nevertheless, I'm utterly dissapointed in this whole thursday-night-in-november-game thing...what a waste of money on CMU's part. Thursday night game + 35 degrees outside = Nobody shows up. I picked up CM Life and was enraged to read that the attendance for last night's game was 12,127. WTF? What a joke, here's the front sideline. Do you see 12,000 people? Neither do I, and the stands on the back sideline (the ones we're on) had wayyyy less. I know I'm showing pictures from later on in the night, but the opening kickoff didn't look much different.

Start of the 3rd quarter

This looks more like the crowd we drag in for the preview show at the end of band camp. Not only was nobody there, but from a marching band perspective, it was much too cold. Coming from a clarinetist, bitter cold temperatures like this kill a clarinet player's hands, because we have to cut the fingers off our gloves, so we can actually play our instrument. (We have the most complex keys) You bump your hand into something and it feels like you took an axe to it. Performing pregame looked ridiculous, with steam bellowing out of the mouth of every Marching Chip as we marched. Another sad note from a perfromer's standpoint, it's nice to have an audience when you do halftime. It's too bad more folks weren't there to hear Moves Like Jagger, and Salute to America's Finest.
And the fact that the game was on ESPN, every quarter was drawn out as far as possible, with a commercial break for every 4 minutes of play or so. Game time was 7:30, and was done at about 11:30; I just wanted to go home and sleep before my 8a.m. friday class.

A night like this is one I would rather forget. I always question/badger/interrogate anyone who says they're not coming back to the Marching Chips next season. Now I see some reasons why. When people say it's time consuming, I then ask them in return "what else are you going to do?" Okay, well I could've done a ton of productive things on a thursday night; instead I was at a football game where the marching band outnumbered the number of normal fans there. It was quite an epiphany I had thursday night, as I parked my car and walked back to my residence hall...For the first time since 2007, I asked myself..."Why am I doing this?"

So that's what it takes to get my 14-year-old perspective back out, a thursday night game in November. I'm glad I don't feel that way at all today. I will be with the marching band all four years (or more) and loving all of it. Plus, I did actually enjoy myself last night, cheering and talking with my clarinet friends. (Whenever someone got injured, me & another guy compared their number to that of someone on the Maple Leafs or Red Wings...e.g. When #28 went down, "Oooooh there goes Rafalski!")
I do have to warn CMU though, while I'll be at the home games, if you keep up this 3-8 style record and pay ESPNU to televise your thursday night games in november, this is what your games will look like. All your students will be at Wayside, Bluegrass, Tallgrass, Main St, the bars in downtown, and keeping warm in the dorms. There's no incentive for them to go if they can't even tailgate...great job Central, you killed your fanbase.

A kickoff in the 4th quarter

It'd be a shame if CMU-Toledo next friday is like this. That's the game where we do our student show, which includes *Forget* You by Cee-Lo Green, and Party Rock Anthem!!! Sure hope there's more than just the bleachers to perform to, because they don't pay much attention.....lol that'd look kind of stupid, a marching band just playing to an empty stadium. IT COULD HAPPEN.

Time to prove if they're legit

7-0. Seven to Nothing. Ouch.
I didn't see the Leafs game on Saturday night, I was actually playing in 2 different ensembles at CMU's Band-O-Rama, one of which was the marching band...of course, what did I miss? All I needed to see was the score when I got home, and it tells the whole story. The Leafs once again couldn't beat Boston, even though their record is far superior to Boston's right now. Kessel got no points against his old team, and Seguin got a hat trick...same old story as the last two seasons, Toronto just can't figure out how to beat Boston, whether it's a curse or not, it sure is damn annoying...
Toronto currently sits with a record of 9-4-1, and 2nd in the Eastern conference. Kessel still leads the league in goals and points, so you could say that the loss is merely a small ding in the armor. I would love to say so, I mean there's good reason to, you started Scrivens and watched a horror show in net because of it. (Though I am proud of his performance last Thursday against the Blue Jackets, where he picked up his first NHL win)
But James Reimer is out, and who knows when he'll be back...plus, now Connolly is out, so Toronto's taking a hit here. Is this the end of their great start? Can the Leafs purge through this tight spot right now and keep up the good work? We're all at the edge of our seats waiting to find out. This game against the Panthers will likely give us some answers.

Goodbye to Andy Rooney

Andy Rooney died Friday at 92 years old, just one month after his final spot on 60 Minutes. Though it was sad to see him sign off from television for a final time, it’s certainly devastating to know he has now officially left the face of the earth. A man with such unique remarks and topics for his portion of the show, I will never forget the inspiration that was Andy Rooney.

I don’t think I ever saw the connection between Andy Rooney and I until he was about to retire. I’ve always reveled in the opinions/careers of older men such as Rooney, Regis Philbin, Larry King, and I’ll even go as far to say my Grandpa, and his witty humor. Watching Andy Rooney’s portion of 60 Minutes, I felt sympathetic for the guy, but always got a kick out of it. His 2-3 minute spot would feature him complaining about something, and he never ran out of stuff to talk/complain about. I would sit at the kitchen table and impersonate his old, high-pitched voice, but yet have decent respect towards him. Whether it was girl-scout cookies, or the newspaper, Rooney was talking about it, even if the relevance of the topic didn’t even factor in. (There was even an episode where he highlighted a nasty email he received from a viewer of his show)

Here’s where I realize I can compare myself to Rooney. I had a You-tube show in high school that I called The Jinjo Show. (If you must, go check it out) It revolved around me occasionally answering questions from viewers, complaining about the Maple Leafs, and having a main topic that I complained about. I feel like if The Jinjo Show had ever made it to television in some way, shape or form, it would look like Andy Rooney’s spot on 60 minutes. I feel like I will basically be Andy Rooney when I’m 70+. I think I can live with that, actually if that’s what might happen, I look forward to it.

Standing up for my subculture

The images of Northern Illinois' football team running through a Toledo pre-game show have me disgusted beyond belief. The fact that Jamaal Bass is only recieving a one-game suspension is ridiculous. I'm waiting for the article where it talks about the marching band member with the broken nose, suing Bass and winning. I've never been more pissed off at a football team than I am now. Not only did NIU show hardly any class when they came up to CMU on Oct. 1, now they blatantly run through a marching band.
I know that most people are saying that the "poor little marching band" is defenseless, and all the band members beg to differ from that...well, I beg to differ those who beg to differ. Besides a tuba, trombone, tenor sax, falto, etc; how does any band kid stand a chance against a charging 300 lb. football player? NIU running through the band is like stomping on flowers, you damage instruments, noses, legs...it's just something you don't do. It's certainly not the Cal vs. Stanford game, I mean the game hasn't even started. Is the game on the line? No...Plus, of all things, NIU was IN Toledo, on Rocket turf. I would understand the mindset of the NIU players if Toledo's band come to perform on the road and took too long, but IT'S NOT YOUR HOME FIELD!!! Come on NIU, have some class next time you head into an opposing team's stadium. There's a reason it says "GUEST" on the scoreboard, I certainly hope the University of Toledo's athletics department doesn't invite NIU back to play in the Glass Bowl any time soon. Michael Wilbon on PTI even said "What kind of tough guy are you to hit a guy in the band?" Tony Kornheiser's reaction to that made me sick....
And so there you have the rant of a fellow marching bander. Maybe this has to do with the fact that I'm in the process of joining Kappa Kappa Psi!!! I feel quite proud, and can't wait to become a full-fledged brother.