Why am I stranded in a town full of stoopid people?

I often ask myself the same thing.

Game's already wacky and it's barely started.

I'm still in my pajamas since I gave up and went back to bed and napped through the second half of the BC/NCState game. I suppose I could go find my 2XL Sugar Bowl shirt from 2000 with the comedy & tragedy masks wearing war paint.

I love a night game. I just realized I've never been tailgating, that's a whole other level of religion and tradition.

I've never tailgated, but when I was in Chiefs, we used to play for tailgaters after the games. Never "officially" which mean we took off our uniform jackets and hats, but we'd go from RV to RV and play the fight song and Garnet and Gold and and the War Chant. Scored many a free meal that way.

Of course, the current band director has a massive cob shoved up his ass and doesn't allow such frivolities. Doesn't allow much of anything, actually. Lot of traditions have been lost because of him.

with the comedy & tragedy masks wearing war paint.

The school of theatre logo has that on it with a spear connecting the masks.

Lot of traditions have been lost because of him.

I hate when that happens.

It's part religion part family history all tradition.

very, very true

Around here it's where your parents (or at least one) adn their siblings and maybe their parents went to school, and watched/went to the game.

It's like that all over this state. Dad is a UF grad and Mom is a Bulldog (we lived in Jax for a few years, they went to the game every year and managed to stay married...amazing). Our moving while I was growing up impacted part of that "tribal" mentality.

I was a UF fan but not the way so many that grow up here are. I fostered a love of UNC (while living there), cheered for a number of teams while living in Virginia and then loved many San Diego teams while there. Now that I'm an FSU alum, it makes sense that I cheer for "my team".

It's pretty unlikely that Obama will carry Georgia, but there is a faint chance that the Senate seat will go Democratic. Saxby Chambliss' numbers have been dropping fast since the economic apocalypse started. Chambliss, you may remember, is the one who ran the ad questioning Max Cleland's commitment to national security and pictured him with Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. Cleland lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam.

[link] How to make your own Flying Spagetti Monster headpiece.

Speaking of tailgaiting and football, my sister's playing the anthem at Lambeau tomorrow.

Solo or part of a group, brenda? And either way, very cool.

With the Green Bay Symphony (she subs in for them sometimes).

Barb, I noticed some things had changed with the band. Maybe it was last year, I noticed that after half time there wasn't the section of drummers and others (can't remember exactly) going over to the student games.

Then at the Wake Game there was alarger group but they didn't go over to the student corner.

And I thought the tradition of the tuba players, etc playing right before the game, right by the stands when the band was going back up to the stands had stopped but maybe I just didn't see it last season because they did do that last home game.

Traditions are important in anything. I mean people still talk about when balloons were left off when the spear would go down.

The one thing I really miss is Chief Osceola getting off the horse , at the Seminole head, and working up the crowd before stabbing the spear down. It doesn't happen at all it almost seems that in the importance of tv and all the other stuff that's been forgotten. But the fans talk about it and miss it.

Well, it's been a pretty big erosion and this is considering that I think the current guy has been there for close to fifteen years now-- but there are two main things to keep in mind where he's concerned 1) until he came along, the directors had either been involved in the Marching Chiefs since its inception, had been former Chiefs themselves (like Shellahamer, who'd been my director), or had a healthy respect for the traditions and 2) the current guy has got an ego the size of Sarah Palin's bouffant.

He made it clear he didn't give a rat's ass for traditions-- he was going to put his own imprint on the band, and anyone who objected could just leave. Then, when he wound up with rebellions, his way of dealing was to tighten the disciplinary screws further. What he seems to have forgotten is that band is a completely voluntary activity. We'd practice/perform ten-fifteen hours a day during Gunkie Week prior to the semester starting, then practice/perform fifteen-twenty hours a week during the semester, all for one credit. When I was in, there were 450 members, only about 20% of whom were music majors. We did Chiefs because we loved band, we loved playing and performing, we loved the traditions, we loved being together. I haven't had that sense from them in a long, long time and it's really sad.

The other thing he made exceedingly clear is that he wanted to exert control over the band alumni organization-- trying to make them wear khaki slacks and matching polos for Homecoming and if anyone refused, they wouldn't be allowed to march pregame. (Dude, we're adults-- if I wanna wear my trumpet jersey from '87 I will and if you don't like it, you can bite me.) When the alumni association basically said, "Bite me," he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with them and wasn't going to go out of his way to make alumni feel welcome during Homecoming. Another tradition lost, because that was always one of the most enjoyable things about Homecoming, getting to hang out with the Old Chiefs.

Okay, I'll stop blathering now.