UCI Band: Commentary - 12/31/00
Road Trip
Robert C. Carden IV
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December 17, 2000 - Los Angeles. For the first
time in over a decade, the UCI Band got on a bus and went on a road trip
during the regular basketball season. In fact, the last time I can
recall us going on such a trip was back when the Big West allowed bands
and cheerleaders to visit the other schools, and the last such year was
around 1988. Also, for the first time since 1987, the UCI Band
actually attended a preseason away game. Ironically, the day was
December 17, 1987 and the opponent was UCLA. That year, Wayne
Engelstad, who later played in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets, was a
senior center, and that year UCI made it to the Big West finals and was 6
minutes away from making it into the NCAA playoffs.
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| About 23 Band members rode a rooter bus,
sharing it with fellow UCI Basketball fans. The rooters sat at the
front, and the Band sat in the back. We packed the lower part of the
bus with instruments, filling every last square foot. Finally, we
allowed the bus to leave, 15 minutes late. When we arrived at UCLA,
at approximately 5:30, two hours before the game, we unpacked all of our
stuff, and hauled it to the student center. Another seven band
members joined us at that point. There we waited for about 30
minutes until they let us in to get whatever was left of the booster's
food. Then it was time to go to Pauley pavilion. We hauled the
instruments and gear around the pavilion, down a ramp, and up three
flights of stairs. We found ourselves situated at the top of Pauley,
in section 308, right behind one of the baskets, and high enough to almost
touch the ceiling. |
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| The game was close. UCI even led at
the half, 34-30. However, in the second half, UCI fell apart, at
least for the first six minutes but fought back later to close to within
one point. However, it was too little too late as UCLA eventually
won the game by five points. As our fans left, one turned to us and
exclaimed "At least the Band won the game."
In fact, our little band of 30 put out more noise and
sounded tighter and UCLA's larger pep band. One fan wrote on the
Sports Only message board:
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| "I'd
have to say, I was impressed with the amount of UCI fans in the crowd at
Pauley. I was told from friends sitting on the other side of Pauley as
well as on the floor that they could here us yelling. The band did a
phenomenal job, much better than the bruin band. I think I heard 2 songs
from them. Rumor has it we are playing them again next year at
their house. Can some more people join us in painting our faces??? It was
fun to taunt during half time at the concession stands..."
A fellow band member, posting as antbacker,
responded:
"I thought
everybody connected with UCI, from the players to the coaches, fans and
band did themselves proud on Sat. Watching a tape of the game, you could definitely
hear some UCI cheers, even though the TV microphones weren't pointed our
way! And according to the LA Times, we WILL play them @Pauley next
year...though that may change of course. If we do play them, let's finish
the job and actually BEAT them next year."
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| Then I chimed in with the following comment.
"In the many years that I
have been in the Band, Saturday's game was one of the best performances I
have seen us do on a road trip ever. Mark Hamamura (and Eric) was
excellent at being aggressive to get us to play, polite with the other
band to a degree, and on insisting on playing our fight song when our team
came out even with the UCLA band playing with which they
were a bit annoyed. The Band was into the game, supporting the team with
extra zest, and the fans surrounding us were excellent at chiming in and
doing their own cheers.
I heard that our trumpet section sounded full even
though we only had two trumpets (good job Bob and Matt). Overall, I think
our Band had a good sound and mix of instruments, and I think we were also
twice as loud as the UCLA Band, even though they probably were a little
bit bigger than us.
Also, I must comment that at UCLA, they did not play
one CD over the intercom like they do at UCI, i.e. no piped music and all
band. I think we actually played more at UCLA than we usually do at
our own games. Also, I cherish that we were still playing as the UCLA Band
packed up and left.
Mark asked me when it was that the UCI Band last
went off to a non-tournament (as in Big West Tournament) road game. I
paused for a minute and realized that we hadn't gone to one since probably
1988. For that matter, we have not gone to a preseason away game since,
probably, 1985 or even earlier. Now, I think the Band is getting up for
those again. You can bet that we will be at UCLA next year. I would love
to see us make it to road games at USD and Loyola Marymount.
Maybe if all goes well, the Band will have the
ultimate road trip at the end of Winter quarter...NIT???...NCAA???" |
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| JoeG, another long-time supporter responded
to my post:
"Robert,
The Band had their "A" game
on! My brother and I were to the left of the band in section 306A. Boy
did we heckle the UCLA fans -- they were beside themselves. Even after
UCLA had escaped with their lives they felt defeated.
The UCI band was clearly superior -- The
Horns were crisp and the percussions on target. It was obvious to all that
UCI played about 3/4 of the songs -- it seemed like there was at least 30%
missing from the UCLA band at all times
I was reading a little about Belmont U and
they are no pushover. However, if UCI's head is into this game they should
defeat the Bruins of Belmont by double-digits!
How about the Band make it up the UCR game
-- the UCI will need the assist, as UCR is a good team and the trip to UCR
is a short one."
I closed out the discussion with this comment: |
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> The Band had their "A" game
on! My brother and I were to the left of the band in section 306A. Boy did we
heckle the UCLA fans -- they were beside themselves. Even after UCLA had
escaped with their lives they felt defeated.
The team and the Band were really up for
this game.
> The UCI band was clearly superior --
The Horns were crisp and the percussions on target. It was obvious to all that
UCI played about 3/4 of the songs -- it seemed like there was at least 30%
missing from the UCLA band at all times
I think the UCLA Band is a class run by
faculty and it shows. We are also a class (with lots of community members,
alumni, and graduate students) with a former student (band member) running
things. The Band is getting more and more into basketball and we take pride in
becoming a factor in the game.
> I was reading a little about Belmont U
and they are no pushover. However, if UCI's head is into this game they should
defeat the Bruins of Belmont by double-digits!
I agree completely. This is a game we can
easily lose. Hopefully, this year's team will play more consistently and beat
them by at least 10 (which is pretty much what Sagarin is predicting).
> How about the Band make it up the UCR
game -- the UCI will need the assist, as UCR is a good team and the trip to
UCR is a short one.
You will see tonight that the Band will
probably have maybe 20 people, if that many. It is winter break and most Band
members have gone home. The UCR game is on the 23rd, two days before
Christmas, and even though I would have liked to see us go, we simply don't
have enough interest this year to make such a trip this close to Christmas. It
is going to be a tough game for our team, one which we can definitely lose if
we don't have our heads on straight.
It was a good experience, overall, one which made the band
members who went hungry for more such experiences. It is helpful, of
course, that our team is making it all worthwhile by getting better and better
with each year. I was especially heartened with the initiative and
innovation that our band showed at the UCLA game.
Things the Great Bands Do
As happy as I am with our progress, I still think we can
improve. The main thing that is missing right now is that we don't have a
lot of timely music. Imagine, if after the California game, as our
fans were streaming out onto the court, the Band were to play Celebration
instead of having it played over the intercom. Consider a timely round of Three
Blind Mice when the referees make a particularly bad call. I would
like to see us play We Will Rock You and/or We Are The Champions
at the appropriate time before or after the game. Also, during the
Christmas season games, it would be nice if we had some Christmas tunes
rehearsed and ready to play.
Along the same lines, it would be nice if Athletics would let
us play all the time and rarely play music over the intercom. I do like
the little ditties they play during the game, like the Jerry, Jerry, Jerry
thing. However, they need to learn to trust us like the UCLA Athletics
department trusts the UCLA Band. And please, don't tell me that the Big
Time programs play lots of CD music...isn't UCLA big time?
| Perhaps a lot of current treatment is
payback for what transpired in the early 90s. We use to play every
timeout, and we use to play the Star Spangled Banner before every
game. We were respected and honored because for a while, like most
of the mid to late 80s, we were considered the best band in the Big
West. However, around the time depicted in the picture on the right,
the Band was slow to react to timeouts, and often missed them because of
indecision. Also, it was a common sight to see band members talking
to one another during the game and doing homework as the game was
played. Most of the band had no interest in the game.
This did not go unnoticed. The Athletic Director
actually considered disbanding the UCI Band and hiring a high school band
to play in its place. Eventually, they started playing CD music in
an attempt to keep the games lively. |
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1990/91 Band - The Uninspired
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| So here we are. Once again, we have to
win over the Athletic Department and convince them that we can do the
job. Maybe the UCLA game will be remembered. People even
applauded us after we played. Let us keep up the good work.
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Robert C. Carden IV.
Copyright © 1998-2006 Wonder Mountain. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 24, 2006.
