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As a new member of this board I would like to take an opportunity to share a view from an integral part of the Frost Arena experience...the PEP BAND.
As a member of the pep band I thought I should comment on the current cheerleader situation. We are essentially partners with the cheerleaders in leading the entertainment for the games. Over the past few years we have had a good relationship with them. They are right in front of us so we we naturally interact with them. In fact last year when we went to the Elite 8, we rode on a bus together and we even went sight-seeing together. They are a fun group to be around and they take pride in what they do, just like us in the pep band do. They told us there side of the story Saturday night. The stunts they did Friday night were ones that they have done before earlier in the season. Then all of a sudden they were told they can't do it anymore. They essentially told them that they had to resort to high school level cheerleading stuff. They weren't even going to be allowed to do their single lifts they do on the sideline during the game. They took a stand for what happened and sat out the game Saturday night. So the pep band had to take over leading the cheers.
We had a fun time Saturday night. It helped that we had several mini-megaphones in the band this weekend and then a old cheerleader megaphone that we started to use. On a couple occasions we got the "DEFENSE" cheer started and S D S U cheer going so we were happy to fill the void for the cheerleaders. But we in the pep band take pride in being very big Jacks basketball fans. Some people may think we just sit there and are a bunch of band geeks who don't care but probably about half of us are basketball fans. We even look up info on the other team so we can heckle them. We love to get under an opposing players skin. This past weekend we even got a St. Cloud player to acknowledge us and even give us a smile when we were making fun of the fact that he was wearing a pair of shorts underneath his bball shorts. The funny part was that he even checked to see if he was wearing a pair of shorts underneath. A dumb moment on his part, but it made us laugh because we knew that those players can hear us. Sometimes, but very rarely, we can be a little harsh on some players, but for the most part we just like to have fun and see what reactions we can get.
We hope that everyone enjoys hearing us play at the games and hopefully we get the crowd pumped up. I have seen a couple comments on this board about how Frost isn't the same when the pep band isn't there. When we are not at a game, its because it happens to coincide with a school break or a holiday break. Sometimes there is not just enough people to put a band together on times like that, otherwise we are there for every regular season game and postseason game. We do in fact get paid per game night by the HPER, its not great amount but personally, I don't do it for the money, I do if for the great amounts of fun we have playing at the games.
Hopefully we get the chance to play again in Frost Arena this postseason and also go back to St. Joe's or Bakersfield for the Elite 8. We all enjoy playing for you....the FANS of THE WORLD's LARGEST RABBIT DEN!
As a member of the pep band I thought I should comment on the current cheerleader situation. We are essentially partners with the cheerleaders in leading the entertainment for the games. Over the past few years we have had a good relationship with them. They are right in front of us so we we naturally interact with them. In fact last year when we went to the Elite 8, we rode on a bus together and we even went sight-seeing together. They are a fun group to be around and they take pride in what they do, just like us in the pep band do. They told us there side of the story Saturday night. The stunts they did Friday night were ones that they have done before earlier in the season. Then all of a sudden they were told they can't do it anymore. They essentially told them that they had to resort to high school level cheerleading stuff. They weren't even going to be allowed to do their single lifts they do on the sideline during the game. They took a stand for what happened and sat out the game Saturday night. So the pep band had to take over leading the cheers.
We had a fun time Saturday night. It helped that we had several mini-megaphones in the band this weekend and then a old cheerleader megaphone that we started to use. On a couple occasions we got the "DEFENSE" cheer started and S D S U cheer going so we were happy to fill the void for the cheerleaders. But we in the pep band take pride in being very big Jacks basketball fans. Some people may think we just sit there and are a bunch of band geeks who don't care but probably about half of us are basketball fans. We even look up info on the other team so we can heckle them. We love to get under an opposing players skin. This past weekend we even got a St. Cloud player to acknowledge us and even give us a smile when we were making fun of the fact that he was wearing a pair of shorts underneath his bball shorts. The funny part was that he even checked to see if he was wearing a pair of shorts underneath. A dumb moment on his part, but it made us laugh because we knew that those players can hear us. Sometimes, but very rarely, we can be a little harsh on some players, but for the most part we just like to have fun and see what reactions we can get.
We hope that everyone enjoys hearing us play at the games and hopefully we get the crowd pumped up. I have seen a couple comments on this board about how Frost isn't the same when the pep band isn't there. When we are not at a game, its because it happens to coincide with a school break or a holiday break. Sometimes there is not just enough people to put a band together on times like that, otherwise we are there for every regular season game and postseason game. We do in fact get paid per game night by the HPER, its not great amount but personally, I don't do it for the money, I do if for the great amounts of fun we have playing at the games.
Hopefully we get the chance to play again in Frost Arena this postseason and also go back to St. Joe's or Bakersfield for the Elite 8. We all enjoy playing for you....the FANS of THE WORLD's LARGEST RABBIT DEN!
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