It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year....

It is finally here: COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!! And with that comes the most awesome experience of a lifetime: The Ohio State University Marching Band Last night, tryouts were culminated with the announcement of the 2010 edition of the Ohio State University Marching Band. Due to the Thursday night game, this announcement coincided almost simultaneously with the rehearsal of the Alumni Band. Usually, the old timers rehearse on Monday, which is the final evening of candidate days...but since we're selling out and playing Thursday night in a game that is not televised nationally, the normal tryout week was turned on its ear, hence the Sunday-Monday tryouts. But I digress...

I won't speak for everyone, but Make the Band night is when my nostalgia kicks in. Tryouts, which suck more than anything on the planet, are done, and all the fun begins. The crazy stories (which, for legal purposes, I will not share) start wafting to my brain (Unum Beeum Rowum). To be clear, I don't pine for more time in the "black" uniforms. I had my 5 years and I would never choose to live that again. But there are times that I would like to live "just one more time" that the Red Blob does not provide. There are things I am NOT sad I do not have to go through again, also, like tryouts, rehearsal, 2-a-days, University "events," high school band shows during away games, home-stays, and sitting on a plane for 3 hours while student staff tries to load it OR sitting in an airport for 14 hours while the airline tries to figure out how to fix the plane. These reasons, and more, are why I do not have hopes of someday gaining a 6th year of eligibility.

The number one thing I want to do one more time I sit in AA deck, all by myself, before the sun comes up, staring at the 22 1/2 yard line, warming up.
There is truly something special and amazing about a packed house, but the magical feeling in the stadium on gameday, when no one is in it, cannot be replicated. There is no noise. You do not notice the weather, hot/cold/wet/dry can't remember any of it. It is just you, the seats, the magic, the history, the tradition, the ghosts of Buckeyes past...it is truly majestic, there is simply no other way to put it.

Along those same lines, event number 2 would be lining up to march over to St. John for Skull Session. It's no longer a completely empty stadium; the red coats and leaders of Block O are there getting ready for their days, but it's still like a secret little club inside the stadium, and outside the stadium the show has already started. The only thing I can equate it to is the feeling someone in show business must have before they take the stage: you can hear the crowd, but you can't exactly see them and they can't see you. Then, the awesome sound of Fight the Team echoing through the empty stadium, with the Red Coats going nuts....ah crap, I'm getting goosebumps and the cryball just THINKING ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!! Then the long march begins, the push shove, just the sound of the voices and drums. Then, the band emerges from the tunnel...and it's GAMEDAY. The crowd, already excited because it's Gameday in Columbus, Ohio, doubles their enthusiasm. The Band Siting can mean only one thing: the team won't be far behind and it's almost MAGIC TIME. I-6 gives the signal, the drums stop, and 225 voices break into "We Don't Give a Damn." Fan-friggin-tastic. Next, the excitement mounts, as the band prepares to enter Skull Session to the jubilation of thousands of fans, many of which came JUST TO SEE THE BAND. Sure, the team comes now, but that didn't start until 2001...Skull Session began long before that. Skull Session belongs to the band (but stop the damn commercials and play more music...just sayin). Then, of course, A-H Rows are outside marching like champs, while I-X are inside screwing around, but then the entrance is made... The place goes crazy, we battle to stay in step, on our feet, and in line (there are times that you would not believe how difficult this is, especially on a rainy day when everyone in front of you has wet shoes...St. John has a slippery ramp...). Now it feels real, no more inspection, no more rehearsal, no more "run it again on a count," it's just go time. IT'S ACTUALLY GAMEDAY!!!!!!!!! Sure, there are parts of Skull Session that are less than desirable... Moments we'd much sooner not live at all, let alone RELIVE. But overall, it's an amazing time and the start of the adrenaline rush that is: GAMEDAY AT OHIO STATE. And soft & slow?? What causes the bigger rush: playing it, or looking for that one person near the front row that is 100% clueless as to what's about to happen? Or perhaps it's Carwile's obnoxious reaction? Either way, it's pretty sweet, right?

Alright, next I have to say I wanna run down that ramp one last time. There is nothing that will boil your blood quite like waiting to be released down that ramp. There is quite a mixture of emotions: excitement, bliss, happiness, fear, anxiety...I think you could quite possibly run the gamut of human emotion. Then the ramp cadence starts and you feel that INSANE rush...and you hope to God you don't fall down, because you will be trampled to death if you do...Sure Alumni Band does ramp, but we stand outside until it's time to go, then you run like hell. There is no row cheers, no I Wanna Go Back, no TWO MINUTES!, none of that.

Now, the two other things I would like to do one more time, I will not talk about in public. But trust me when I say, they're warranted...SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! So what part of TBDBITL do you most want to do JUST ONE MORE TIME???