“Wow, they’re awesome, aren’t they?”, said the woman down a row and over one seat.
“Yeah, they really do sound good.” , said the kid right in front of me.
“We’ve been playing the same songs for YEARS! It’s so refreshing to hear something progressive and innovative. I went to college at an all black school and it was just like that. The band was always so much fun.”
I couldn’t agree more with the sentiments of the attractive and gregarious woman that was interacting regularly with everyone around her. She was talking about the highlight of the night- the Pine Bluff marching band. They blew everyone away with their powerful performance at halftime. Their instruments were louder, their drum beats were felt in your chest, and the show put on by the dance crew was choreographic perfection. As much as I hate to say it, everything they brought to the showdown was head and shoulders above what was trotted out by Northside. The NSH band wasn’t bad at all, but they were just overshadowed and outclassed by a far more progressive unit from Pine Bluff.
The air was clean, crisp, and filled with something palpable, but indescribable. It was Friday night football, and it was grand. Unfortunately, my Alma Mater came out on the losing end, but the game was good to the end. Pine Bluff had made the trek to Northside to face our Grizzlies in a Friday night grudge match.
Donning red and white, supporting Fort Smith’s finest, Karen and I sat with her co-worker, and Scott joined us through the first quarter. It was a good time until the end when we came up short on a hail mary pass in the end zone. I hate disappointment.
Sixty yards to go with fifty-seven seconds remaining should have been a cake walk. I say should have been because for some reason, the Northside coach was reluctant to call a much-needed timeout when they failed to get a first down on the third play of the drive. We were only down six because the PB kicker had missed his valuable extra point.
“He’s savin’ ‘em. You know, for the next game.”, Said the same woman that was as enamored as I was about the Pine Bluff band, but not so much about the coaching on our side of the field. The coach had three timeouts to burn, yet didn’t call one until twelve seconds remained in the painful exercise in futility.
Nearly half of that precious minute was chewed up with overweight referees bumbling with the placement of the ball, and players scrambling because they couldn’t get a clear call from the sideline. These types of things are learned and adjustments made as the season progresses, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the small errors in a High School football game. I have to continually remind myself that this isn’t the NFL we’re watching.
“Yeah, they really do sound good.” , said the kid right in front of me.
“We’ve been playing the same songs for YEARS! It’s so refreshing to hear something progressive and innovative. I went to college at an all black school and it was just like that. The band was always so much fun.”
I couldn’t agree more with the sentiments of the attractive and gregarious woman that was interacting regularly with everyone around her. She was talking about the highlight of the night- the Pine Bluff marching band. They blew everyone away with their powerful performance at halftime. Their instruments were louder, their drum beats were felt in your chest, and the show put on by the dance crew was choreographic perfection. As much as I hate to say it, everything they brought to the showdown was head and shoulders above what was trotted out by Northside. The NSH band wasn’t bad at all, but they were just overshadowed and outclassed by a far more progressive unit from Pine Bluff.
The air was clean, crisp, and filled with something palpable, but indescribable. It was Friday night football, and it was grand. Unfortunately, my Alma Mater came out on the losing end, but the game was good to the end. Pine Bluff had made the trek to Northside to face our Grizzlies in a Friday night grudge match.
Donning red and white, supporting Fort Smith’s finest, Karen and I sat with her co-worker, and Scott joined us through the first quarter. It was a good time until the end when we came up short on a hail mary pass in the end zone. I hate disappointment.
Sixty yards to go with fifty-seven seconds remaining should have been a cake walk. I say should have been because for some reason, the Northside coach was reluctant to call a much-needed timeout when they failed to get a first down on the third play of the drive. We were only down six because the PB kicker had missed his valuable extra point.
“He’s savin’ ‘em. You know, for the next game.”, Said the same woman that was as enamored as I was about the Pine Bluff band, but not so much about the coaching on our side of the field. The coach had three timeouts to burn, yet didn’t call one until twelve seconds remained in the painful exercise in futility.
Nearly half of that precious minute was chewed up with overweight referees bumbling with the placement of the ball, and players scrambling because they couldn’t get a clear call from the sideline. These types of things are learned and adjustments made as the season progresses, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the small errors in a High School football game. I have to continually remind myself that this isn’t the NFL we’re watching.
K and I will be at all the other home games for NHS, and I’m hoping the end results in all of them will be victories. I know I won’t see a better band than I did last night, so it’s up to the football team not to disappoint.
6 comments:
oh such memories! i miss those days! and believe me, i know exactly what you mean about the bands! i often tell people if i could find a church that was just right for me, it would probably be an all black southern baptist congregation. to me, i could care less if i were the only white person; trust me, it would not be the first, nor the last time! i have however felt the same jubilant atmosphere in the church we currently call "ours". the church of columbus. we dance and sing in the aisles, and we hoop and holler. there are just as many blacks as there are whites or mexicans. inter-racial couples, military, you name it, our church provides it. which is why i guess it drew me towards them. we have been members now for over a year, and i have truly been bleesed with an awesome church family! i know this post was not about religion but when you spoke of the band and the feeling you felt, it reminded me of the first time we visited our church. i love that feeling; of feeling so alive, the music almost forces you to stand up and dance! i cant wait for tomorrow when i feel that once again, as i do every sunday morning. nothing matters in the world at that moment...i am one with the beat of the drums and the voices of the choir....go NHS!
has k's family been affected by the hurricanes???
No, they are all fine. Nothing more than rain. Gustav drenched us here with wind and rain for two days straight. It was pretty bizarre, but no real damage other than Gram's pool looking like hell. I'll remedy that today, though. Feel free to write whatever you want on here, Mandroni. I won't stop ya. CZ
One of my favorite things of going to a football game is watching the marching band!! I just love them!! My love for bands developed back in Happy Valley after four years of watching the greatest...THE only...THE BLUE BAND!! ;-)
Our band at NSH is good but Pine Bluff just blew me away :-) Like Chris said, you could feel the drum beats in your chest!
Can't wait for more Friday nights!! :-)
Oh and Mandi...thanks for asking about my family in Puerto Rico. They really have not been affected by the storms. They've just gotten a lot of rain lately...
:-)
I was thinking that Puerto Rico hadn't been in the news
Now, if your family lived in Cuba or Turks and Caicos, then you might have a reason to worry.
If you got a real bad jones for a good marching band. I would recommend coming up to Little Rock to watch Arkansas Pine Bluff play a football game. That band can go, but they are humbled by Grambling and Southern's bands.
As far as Penn State goes, has Joe Paterno died yet?
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