Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Underwood Alumni Pep Squad
So last weekend was the annual football contest between Old Ivy University and its archnemesis, Northern State University. My grandfather is a proud NSU alumnus and since the two schools are within driving distance of each other, it seemed only right to invite him up here to watch the spectacle and excitement that is Division I-AA football. It was a beautifully cold sunny day and after lunch with my grandfather and his date (who conveniently enough happened to be my grandmother) at the NSU tailgate, we moseyed to the recently renovated stadium to watch the game.
Unfortunately for me, due to the nature of the ticket package my grandfather arranged, I was the only Old Ivy student on the entire NSU side. Consequently, I had to keep my taunts at the other side's incompetence to a minimum or else risk getting beaten up by an Ivy League goon squad. (Yes...they exist.) On the other hand, as long as I avoided discussion of the superiority of my side's passing game then I was able to have some interesting conversations with the people sitting nearby.
The most interesting of these discussions began after I heard two of the white-haired gentlemen in front of me comment on how the school colors for Old Ivy were the same as their high school, but now they had to support another team. Now for those of you keeping track, NSU is located in the same city as Underwood High and, wonder of wonders, has the same school colors. So I took a hunch and asked them if they went to school in the city and when they replied yes, I asked where.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the answer to that question. It seems my hunch was right and both men were Underwood graduates from the 1950s, around the time my grandmother taught there. If she were in the stadium instead of sitting in the car reading she might have been able to answer more of their questions about the old faculty. But I was able to discuss the current state of the school. They were impressed that the school had calculus and statistics classes, but saddened that Latin was no longer being taught. One man commented that he took the College Boards in Latin and that he and his classmates studied several times a week at his teacher's house. Both men participated in the school's music program and were shocked when I informed them that the school's fifth floor, which had been home to the band's practice rooms and the biology labs had been shut down and walled up due to problems with hall walking and student gambling.
"If they had been gambling on the fourth floor, would they have shut that down instead?" one asked. They were glad to hear however that the school's music program, which had been in remission for several years, is steadily coming back. Granted the school band can only play Pomp and Circumstance, but the drumline is respectable and someday they may evolve into a real marching band once they get a few more instruments through alumni donations, etc.
One other thing that all the older football fans commented upon was the relative simplicity of the cheers. And to a degree, I can definitely sympathize. A man can only put up with hearing a squad of cheerleaders lead a rousing "DE-FENSE" cheer so many times before it gets old. In contrast, the high school cheers of the past seem almost unnecessarily complicated. By way of an example consider the following gem provided by the Underwood alumni from their time at the school:
When you're up, you're up.
When you're down, you're down.
When you're up against Underwood
We've got you upside-down.
Stand 'em on their head.
Stand 'em on their feet.
Underwood High School
Can't be beat!
It's a pretty catchy cheer, but I can't imagine a unified mass of several hundred people shouting it coherently at a football game. Perhaps that explains why Underwood's football team at that time perennially lost its annual football game with their archrivals at West City High.
Hopefully, their defeats weren't as convoluted as the game on Saturday which went into double overtime and only ended when Old Ivy blocked NSU's attempt at an extra point following a touchdown. Still, it was an exciting game and a good time was had by all. Except the NSU kickers. They probably will never live it down.
So last weekend was the annual football contest between Old Ivy University and its archnemesis, Northern State University. My grandfather is a proud NSU alumnus and since the two schools are within driving distance of each other, it seemed only right to invite him up here to watch the spectacle and excitement that is Division I-AA football. It was a beautifully cold sunny day and after lunch with my grandfather and his date (who conveniently enough happened to be my grandmother) at the NSU tailgate, we moseyed to the recently renovated stadium to watch the game.
Unfortunately for me, due to the nature of the ticket package my grandfather arranged, I was the only Old Ivy student on the entire NSU side. Consequently, I had to keep my taunts at the other side's incompetence to a minimum or else risk getting beaten up by an Ivy League goon squad. (Yes...they exist.) On the other hand, as long as I avoided discussion of the superiority of my side's passing game then I was able to have some interesting conversations with the people sitting nearby.
The most interesting of these discussions began after I heard two of the white-haired gentlemen in front of me comment on how the school colors for Old Ivy were the same as their high school, but now they had to support another team. Now for those of you keeping track, NSU is located in the same city as Underwood High and, wonder of wonders, has the same school colors. So I took a hunch and asked them if they went to school in the city and when they replied yes, I asked where.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the answer to that question. It seems my hunch was right and both men were Underwood graduates from the 1950s, around the time my grandmother taught there. If she were in the stadium instead of sitting in the car reading she might have been able to answer more of their questions about the old faculty. But I was able to discuss the current state of the school. They were impressed that the school had calculus and statistics classes, but saddened that Latin was no longer being taught. One man commented that he took the College Boards in Latin and that he and his classmates studied several times a week at his teacher's house. Both men participated in the school's music program and were shocked when I informed them that the school's fifth floor, which had been home to the band's practice rooms and the biology labs had been shut down and walled up due to problems with hall walking and student gambling.
"If they had been gambling on the fourth floor, would they have shut that down instead?" one asked. They were glad to hear however that the school's music program, which had been in remission for several years, is steadily coming back. Granted the school band can only play Pomp and Circumstance, but the drumline is respectable and someday they may evolve into a real marching band once they get a few more instruments through alumni donations, etc.
One other thing that all the older football fans commented upon was the relative simplicity of the cheers. And to a degree, I can definitely sympathize. A man can only put up with hearing a squad of cheerleaders lead a rousing "DE-FENSE" cheer so many times before it gets old. In contrast, the high school cheers of the past seem almost unnecessarily complicated. By way of an example consider the following gem provided by the Underwood alumni from their time at the school:
When you're up, you're up.
When you're down, you're down.
When you're up against Underwood
We've got you upside-down.
Stand 'em on their head.
Stand 'em on their feet.
Underwood High School
Can't be beat!
It's a pretty catchy cheer, but I can't imagine a unified mass of several hundred people shouting it coherently at a football game. Perhaps that explains why Underwood's football team at that time perennially lost its annual football game with their archrivals at West City High.
Hopefully, their defeats weren't as convoluted as the game on Saturday which went into double overtime and only ended when Old Ivy blocked NSU's attempt at an extra point following a touchdown. Still, it was an exciting game and a good time was had by all. Except the NSU kickers. They probably will never live it down.
