Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Stanford Daily: Bad Fans, Bad Band, Good Stadium

(Note: Not a Cal Football article, but this is a really well-written piece about Stanford and their unfunny band.  It’s also interesting to read the comments at the bottom of the article).

 

By Glenn Truitt

It’s been over a year since I was last on campus, since I wrote for the Daily and since I publicly proclaimed my hatred for the Band. Saturday, I had the opportunity to see my two Alma Maters meet on the football field, an occurrence rare enough to justify the six hour drive to see the game, and an occasion which also coincided with the opening of Stanford’s new stadium. And while you have an AMAZING new stadium — certainly, the class of the Pac-10 — you still have the worst football fans at any major university and a band that remains an embarrassment to your school. At least you’ve finally gotten the cheerleaders right.

What kind of band is so screwed up that it misses an event like Saturday’s? And don’t tell me that it’s not the Band’s fault. You mean, you couldn’t see this coming? It’s an isolated incident? The fact is, the Band has been an increasingly annoying eyesore for years, and now it’s the subject of national ridicule (See the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Indianapolis Star, the San Francisco Chronicle, etc.) Looks like I may have been the rule and not the exception after all, (see my column 3/1/05) to which I’m certain the band will respond that we’re ALL now fascists. Listen, that response is even more tired than the Band’s act. Just stop, you’re only making it worse.

What fills me with joy is the fact that the world’s worst fans and corresponding band, got a chance to see what real fans and a real band look like, right in the middle of their own brand new house. Because, amidst Navy’s sound beating of a stronger, faster and more experienced football team, they also came with louder, more excited fans, a rowdier student section, and a band that doesn’t suck. There it is Stanford, that’s the best look you’re ever going to get.

I overheard one Stanford fan lamenting “We’re stronger and faster than all these guys, how can we possibly be losing?” I’ll tell you something that I learned while still a freshman at Navy: it’s all about “heart.” None of the Navy players will play in the NFL, and none of them were likely recruited by the major conference schools. They go through the same grind as all the midshipmen at Navy, they get no special favors — they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of the Brigade. After graduation, many of them will go to war — a place where their touchdowns and tackles mean nothing. So why do they play? Perhaps for love of the game, for pride in their school, perhaps for the crowd who they know will stay to the end of the game and cheer them, win or lose. For whatever reason they play, they play; and they play hard. They play with HEART. And that’s why I cheer for them. There are very few pure things left in college football, and Navy is one of them.

The Stanford football team has little reason to dig down deep. I’ve seen more excitement at a knitting convention. And at the first sign of adversity, the so-called “fans” filed for the exits like rats on a sinking ship. That’s right, in the THIRD QUARTER of the home opener in a BRAND NEW stadium many cardinal-wearing spectators were already headed home. Better things to do I guess. What’s worse, when it came time to sing Stanford’s alma mater (after Navy sang theirs to a packed house), there wasn’t even an identifiable section of fans for the Stanford team to stand in front of to sing — the student section had long since gone off to their own parties. Embarrassing.

For the men of the Stanford football team, here’s something you might not hear enough from your own crowd: Great game; you played hard; and better luck next week. You guys deserve that great stadium.  As for the “fans” and the Band, you don’t even deserve to be let inside.

Glenn Truitt, Stanford Law School Class of 2005, USNA Class of ‘97 is now a practicing attorney in Los Angeles, and still, even from a distance, hates the Band. He welcomes comments at glennt97@gmail.com.

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