Pep band members cheer on the men's and women's basketball teams at the MAAC tournament in Albany. (Renee Borghesi/The Mirror)
This is the second of two blog entries written by pep band members during their trip to Albany over spring break for the MAAC tournament.
When we set up for activities fair at Fairfield, we set out a list of reasons to join the band. The last one reads, “Nobody heckles better than the band. Nobody.”
Of course, there are always the schools that start chanting, “WHERE IS WALDO” at us. Umm… “THAT’S A NEW ONE.”
We are a creative and spirited bunch. There are some great jeers that come from us. Every game a cheerleader, nearby fan, or player on the court will turn around and give us a smile and a laugh at the one-liners that come from the band. Some might be obnoxious, but they make us laugh and are all in good fun.
We are usually the ones to start off the cheers, too. Anyone who has come to a basketball game has probably heard the loudest cheering coming from the band. The last men’s and women’s game of the tournament consisted of nonstop cheering that sounded something like:
D-D-D…DEFENSE!
HERE WE GO FAIRFIELD, HERE WE GO
DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE
LET’S GO STAGS!
Did you talk to a band member after the tournament? Probably not; few of us had voices left. We actually had to pass out cough drops by the last day because we had yelled so much.
Our Stag spirit doesn’t stop inside the arena. A sea of “Waldos” and red band jackets took over the streets of Albany. I personally made a few friends with cheerleaders from Iona and other schools by making the Stag sign when they passed us.
Stag band members exert incredible energy, pride, and commitment. We follow our teams through the good and not-so-good parts of the season, but we are so much more than a group of people playing instruments at the basketball tournament. We are a circle of friends that can spend 24 hours a day with each other for five straight days.
“I always wish the tournament wasn’t the last set of games/performances for band because it is such an amazing bonding experience, but by the same token it’s one of the best possible ways to end the year,” Elise Wilkinson ’10 said.
By the end of the tournament, we had made some new friends and got to know old ones better, and we could pack up our instrument cases knowing we did our part to support Fairfield and our incredible basketball teams.
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