Saturday morning, I left my apartment before the sun was up. Kickoff for the football game against Ohio State wasn’t until noon, but I had agreed to an early-morning call time in order to help the Mighty Sound of Maryland carry the Big Ten school flags across the field during the pregame show.
With so many friends and a couple of roommates in the marching band, I knew a lot about the band, so I thought this would be a fun opportunity to see my friends in action. After all, I had long been curious about what could possibly compel so many people to spend countless hours a week rehearsing and performing under grueling conditions and in heavy uniforms. From the intense heat of the first game of the season this year to frigid chill of that crazy snowy game in October 2011, the talent and dedication of the Mighty Sound members consistently impressed me.
Though I had agreed to do it on a whim, this was my chance to help out the marching band and give back to the group that made football games so special, win, lose, or draw.
8 a.m.: I arrived at the football practice field while the band was stretching. The band members were a sea of red shirts and black shorts. After all the flag-holders arrived, we were given harnesses to help us carry the flagpole and our Big Ten flags. I was randomly handed a red bundle. Though I hoped to proudly carry the state flag onto the field, I unrolled the heavy banner to find an unfamiliar leaf and nut. I would carry the Ohio State flag onto the field.
8:30 a.m.: Our training was in no way as thorough as the rest of the band: I knew they had a week before classes start just to get oriented to the pregame routines and the show for the first home game in addition to several practices per week. The 15 of us were taught everything in an hour. We were shown how to hold on to our flagpoles, where to stand on the field and how to exit.
We practiced our entrances and exits while the band reviewed and perfected the pregame show. There were some funny moments when we flagbearers found ourselves nose-to-nose with band members who had been situated too close to the sidelines. My band friends made faces at me when we made eye contact.
9 a.m.: After a few run-throughs, all of us were allowed to take a break. The flagbearers were free to go and told to meet back at the band room at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at 10:15 to get ready. A few of us stayed behind to watch the band run through the halftime show. Though we couldn’t see the formations from the ground, my friend and I appreciated just how good everyone in the band sounded. We giggled with nostalgia at the Pokémon theme and clapped along with the Friends theme.
The sun had come out by this point, and despite the early hour, everyone was in good spirits.
“What a gorgeous day for marching band — and I hear there’s a football game, too!” said Eli Osterloh, the assistant director of athletic bands.
10 a.m.: I’d always wondered how my roommates managed to make it through the day without keeling over from exhaustion or hunger. When we made it back to the band room after the morning rehearsal, I found out how they managed to avoid the hunger problem. The lawn behind the band room was covered with an array of tents and tarps from all the different tailgates. Each section had a tent full of food like donuts, casseroles, fruit salad and burgers provided by the parents for the band members. My friend in the trumpet section kindly helped me get a large brunch, and we sat and ate with the French horns and trombones under a tent with their section banner.
Sitting on a tarp. eating and talking with friends, I immediately understood one of the appeals of the band the camaraderie within the sections was a unique bond, and I could see how having close friends in the group could make the long days seem like nothing at all.
10:30 a.m.: The band room was in chaos as everyone tried to get into uniform at the same time. I was completely perplexed by the series of buttons and zippers. When I got the uniform on, I was surprised at how I looked; I never imagined that I would be wearing one of the red and capes.
Despite the havoc, the band members were all ready in a few minutes with their shakos on and instruments in hand. I admire how they manage to thrive in that sort of frantic environment.
11 a.m.: The flagbearers got to watch the band begin the “truck” across lot 1 to the stadium, each section chanting a different theme as they went. We were lead around the stadium, football fans gaping at us as we went. Some asked why we weren’t marching in rows.
We were taken to the team entrance to Byrd Stadium. I watched the stadium fill up as the first eager fans took their seats. We were given our harnesses and flags, and were soon joined by the band. I greeted my friends one final time before the show started.
The flagbearers watched the different sections do another series of pregame chants, and we came up with our own. It was highly unoriginal, but we enjoyed the spirit of the other sections, and, let’s face it, we were excited, too.
11:30 a.m.: The drum majors signaled it was time to begin the procession onto the field, and the Mighty Sound began to truck a second time. The flags were instructed to follow.
As we went onto the field, I received many compliments on my banner from the Ohio State fan section. Their cheerleaders were a bit confused when they asked what instruments we played and they found out that we weren’t actually in the band.
Though I had seen it countless times before in the student section, the pregame show looked perfect from where I stood. The band sounded great, as they had that morning. When they formed the tunnel for the team’s entrance, the flagbearers were ushered off the field. We rolled up our flags and then were brought back on the field just in time to watch the Terps surge through the band tunnel and into the student section.
12 p.m.: There was a special mood in the stadium in that moment. Everyone in the stadium was just full of so much pride, and it was rolling onto the field in waves. I could feel it as I walked past the student section to the band seats. I understood something else about the band in that moment; it’s an incredible feeling to be a part of something so big that so many people enjoy, and the Mighty Sound of Maryland is an integral part of that gameday experience.
3 p.m.: The game clock was winding down so slowly, it was painful. The student section was mostly empty by this point, but the band kept playing. After all, there was still time on the clock.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that I felt the spirits of the members dropping; probably after the sixth or seventh iteration of the school fight song when Ohio State scored, I could sense many of them had finally accepted that a miraculous comeback was impossible. Still, they were dancing and grooving as they played, even breaking out their halftime songs again. I’d been curious how my band friends managed to deal with such a long and stressful day, but the game flew by as I sat with them.
When the game finally ended, the band packed up its gear from the stands, and began to truck back to the band room. They had been up since before the sun, but they played on throughout the game, even though the score was looking grim. Their dedication was impressive.
I was honored to spend a day with the band, even though my Mighty Sound friends thought I was a bit crazy for doing it. It was a pleasure to be part of a new school tradition as we usher in the Big Ten era, but more than that, I enjoyed getting to see my friends in action up close and learn more about the Mighty Sound of Maryland, the amazing heart of a game day in College Park.
