About a zillion years ago I went to my last MSU/UM football game (Michigan State v. Michigan and NOT some Mississippi school). I was in the band.
On game days, we had an 11:30 am rehearsal (for a 1p game) that lasted about 40 minutes. It was on Landon Field next to the music building. Our rehearsal would draw 5,000 fans give or take. Actually, the day ran like a clock, winding back from "kick-off" as our pre-game had to be over, the field cleared, etc. before the main event. Everything was time to the minute.
We would rest for a bit after and then march to the stadium, past the school's mascot statue of the Spartan and over to the tunnel entrance,
Just before we entered the stadium, through the tunnel on the north end of the field, past the opposing locker rooms and their shut doors, tension and very big people in a little space, we paused and would sing the Alma Mater so our football team could hear.
The drum major lead it. At the time, it was a fellow with the improbably name of Clarence Dingfelder - I'm not kidding. He took a lot of guff for having that name and was a pretty good guy about it. At the end, with not a dry eye in the band and in the surrounding audience, Clarence would blow his whistle and simply say "form up". And we would and in 4 across fashion go all the way through the tunnel to the field entrance and get a glimpse of 75-100,000 fans going crazy and you got nervous real fast.
I bring you this little trip down memory lane because now, nearly half a century removed from a Saturday morning in that little shared apartment house (just like the one in The Graduate movie of the same time), rushing around, waiting for parents to arrive for the game, the six of us, Danny, Tom and 3 "I forgets", girlfriends coming over to cook, the sorority house across the street sending over doughnuts to the "bandies", walking to the rehearsal with family, people applauding on the street at the mere sight of the band uniform, smiles everywhere and such a good feeling of bon vivant as to take my breath and fill my memory so many years later.
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