The 12th Man

If you click on the picture you can get a closer look at the guys in overalls. They wear all white during the games. The 5 of them are elected by the student body and lead the crowd in cheers. In the pic the 2 guys laying down did mini pushups (called pushing) for seriously 20 minutes. Those same 2 guys started off by speed walking (looked like stomping) from end zone to end zone for 20 minutes, then doing the push ups, and then they run toward the crowd trying not to get tackled by the other 3 guys in overalls...they each got smeared to the ground a few times a piece. All of this is done while the band is playing and the crowd is filing into the stadium. The stadium looks empty, but all 3 decks on the student side were filled.

I am kind of mad now that I realize we didn't take more pictures, because the yell practice was unlike anything we have ever experienced, and pretty hard to explain in words. So now I need to bust out my creative skills to keep you from reading another blog as opposed to this one. All of the different corps of cadets are in different groups facing the crowd, and they do pushups and situps and make pyramids the whole yell practice.

I guess you could say that we fit right in with the crowd.

So when the yelling begins, the 5 yell leaders make a hand sign that everyone in the crowd has to immitate and "pass back" until the last row in the third deck gets it. Then everyone puts thier hands on thier knees and does the cheer. Every cheer ends in a "WHOOP!", with your hands in the air like you are holding a pistol. It's so crazy, there are seriously 15 to 20 of these cheers, along with 4 or 5 songs. Some of the cheers are like songs, and some are like chants. In between cheers each yell leader will grab a microphone and talk about the opposing team getting everybody all riled up.

The actual game was insane. Everyone wore maroon, and even the non student side stands up for cheers. The best part is during the fight song when everyone in the stadium has thier arms around each others shoulders, and sways back and forth. The band stops playing during that part while everyone sings the chorus...it gives you goosebumps. Even crazier than all that, every time the other team has the ball no matter what the score or what down it is, the crowd is noisier than anything I can remember being a part of. Then during time outs, that's when the cheers come out. It's funny to watch the opposing team during all of this because most schools only have one or two traditional cheers, and they look at us like "where does all this come from?". Anyways, they call the fans the 12th man because a while back almost all of the players of the team were injured during one game except for 11 guys, and the football coach called a student out of the crowd to put on a football uniform in case they needed him. He never played in that game but the fact he was willing to come out of the crowd to play started the tradition that by entering the student section you are willing to play for the team if called upon. Hopefully that will never happen...cause I'd kill em. Oh, and the mascot is a dog that looks like Lassie...a few cadets take turns taking her to class, and if she barks in class, everyone has to leave no matter what and the class is over. There are a lot of traditions, almost too much it seems, but it is pretty cool to be a part of.

So that was all pretty boring, I'm afraid to read over that again for fear of falling to sleep. I kind of just wanted to see if I could remember everything. If anyone gets the chance to come down here while we are here and you want to see a game, let me know. It is really unlike anything you may ever experience in sports. Tonight we played Mario Party 4 on the nintendo with some friends for like 4 hours, and to think I am a grad student who is serious about school.