Marching Band Rant

I can't come up with a better title, but I do want to post, so here goes. I got back to my room about an hour ago, and I immediately took a couple puffs of my inhaler (asthma is a fun disease, I'll tell ya...) and collapsed on my bed. Why? Because I just went through one of the most physically demanding experiences of my life. If you don't mind me projecting my problems for a while, I'll tell you about my night. I left at 4:50 to go to the Dome, and the walk took about 10 minutes. I got there and put on my uniform, and a few minutes later, the drumline walked back up the hill from the Dome and all the way to the student center, which is about 5 minutes away at that speed. That may not seem so bad, but keep in mind that I was carrying a bass drum the whole time. Them things is heavy (actually, it's only about 10 or 15 pounds, but it puts all that weight on your back). We then warmed up for about 20 minutes and got in line for the parade. Once that got going, the real fun began. We marched from the student center back up another hill, which took about 5 minutes because we were going so slow, and then we marched over to the quad. We marched all the way around it, and then...we marched all the way around it a second time. Now, I'll once again remind you that I was carrying a bass drum the whole time, and the drumline has to play the songs and the cadence, so we never get a break. Therefore, by the time we were done going around the quad the second time, we had been playing non-stop for about 15 minutes. After that, we marched from the quad down to the Carrier Dome, which took another 5 minutes or so. By the time we got there, most of us had such bad finger cramps that we couldn't release our grip on the mallets. The girl next to me (have I mentioned I'm SU's only male bass drummer?) actually had to have someone else pry her fingers off because she couldn't move them herself. That's scary. Luckily, we got to put the drums down and sit for about 15 minutes, and then we once again had to pick them up and go into the Dome for the pep rally. After standing and listening to some guy talk for awhile, we ran...RAN over to the audience area to play (if you've never seen the SUMB perform, we start our pregame show by running onto the field. We had a vote to decide whether we should do this for the pep rally instead of marching over, and the idiots actually decided to run. Can you say "band geeks," children?) Then, we had to stand there...again...and play. This lasted about 20 minutes, although we got to put the drums down in between songs. When the pep rally finally ended, it was 7:55, and the fireworks were scheduled to start at 8. We all wanted to see them, of course, but we still had to run through our halftime show. This took another 15 minutes, and we could actually hear the fireworks going off as we played. When we finally got finished, the fireworks were still going on. I mentioned before that I'm a fireworks fanatic, and I had to see them, so I ran up the stairs to the equipment room (with my bass drum on), put the drum away, then ran down to the exit. As I said before, you have to go up a hill to get from the Dome to the quad, and I ran up the hill, through the alley between the Dome and the gym, and all the way to another alley between the gym and the physics building (or something). I was gasping for breath by this time (I think I mentioned before that I have a bit of what you might call a "weight problem"), but I managed to get over to the quad to see the last 3 minutes of the display, so I consider that a victory. The grand finale alone lasted a good 80 seconds or so, and it was really awesome. Unfortunately, I still had to get home. I started walking very slowly in that general direction, and a couple guys came up to me and tried to get my attention, but I didn't recognize them. Then, one of them said, "hey Chris, I didn't know you were in marching band. What do you play (I was still wearing my uniform at the time)?" I still didn't know who these people were, but I just said, "bass drum." Then one of them said, "drums are cool." I noticed they were going in a different direction, so I said, "hey, I've gotta go this way now, so I'll see you later," while trying to figure out how they knew my name. I'll come back to them in a bit, but I need to talk about my next fun adventure. I was still really tired and a little short of oxygen, but I wanted to get home so I could take my uniform off. Unfortunately, in order to do this, I had to climb "the never-ending stairs." Once again, you probably aren't familiar with Syracuse, but I live in Day Hall, which is one of two residence halls at the top of Mt. Olympus, the highest spot on campus. To get up there on foot, you have to climb about 100 stairs (I counted them last week), and they're not little ones either. They're big wooden ones that are about 8 inches apart, so you have to take huge steps (I also should mention that I'm only 5'7". That makes stairs a bit more difficult). By the time I got to the top, I was literally gasping for breath, and then I suddenly remembered where I had seen those two other guys before. They had actually been part of the big group I went with to see Jim Breuer at the beginning of the month, and I think they actually live on my floor. I still don't remember their names, but at least I know why they recognized me (I may be wrong about this, though). I was still really tired at this point, but I managed to get back to Day and climb up ANOTHER flight of stairs to the second floor, where I subsequently went to my room, and I already described that part. So, now I'm sitting at the computer typing. I think that one's pretty self-explanatory. I still have to wash my socks and memorize the closer for our halftime show, so my day isn't done yet. I just needed to describe my little ordeal, because I'm amazed I survived. I really need to get in shape. Anyway, that's about it for today's edition of SIT. I may post more, but I don't think there's a lot of other stuff to talk about. One more thing: I don't know if everyone's local area will have it, but the football game between Syracuse and Boston College will be on regional ESPN stations tomorrow, and you should really watch it. It may be the last time SU and BC ever play each other, since Boston is leaving the Big East next year. You probably don't care about this, but if you're watching the game and they show the band, you may be able to see me. They usually show us on and off during halftime. I'm the fourth bass drum from the top (small to big), and I already mentioned that I'm the only male bass drummer, but that may be hard to determine on TV. I understand if you don't care, but I just thought I'd point that out. If you do get the game, you can at least see the band when a team kicks extra points or field goals on our side. We're right behind the endzone. Remember, the game starts at noon, so check your local listings and see if ESPN is going to be showing it. It's the biggest game of the year so far, and other than our game against Notre Dame in December, it's probably the biggest home game of the entire season. Well, now that I've typed way too much again, I think I'll go. I have socks to wash. Remember: ESPN, 12:00 p.m. Not everyone will get it in their area, but if you do, be sure to watch. Later.