open letter
Dear ‘Cats:
I love you guys. I do. You should know that. You should know that in the way love works, I’ll support you no matter what you do, whether you win or lose.
The coolest thing about our band is that we love the team, and the team loves us. We know that our extracurricular activity wouldn’t exist without yours. We know that while what we do is important to us and entertaining to some, our real purpose is to support you, to cheer you on, to be there no matter what. And it’s ingrained in each of us, even after we graduate.
For four years I performed in every home game you played, some away games, and a bowl game, even when I was sick as a dog, with bloody blistered feet, with terrible hangovers, with two hours of sleep the night before. I sang the alma mater to you. I took classes with you and worked on speeches with you and mock-tackled you in the halls.
I learned football for you. I watch the NFL draft every year for you. I’ve become a fan of NFL teams I never used to care about, because some of you play for them. The Raiders! I even root for the fuckin’ Raiders sometimes!
So please, please, even though it’s true that I’ll support you no matter what, could you please possibly win an important game once in awhile? Especially if it’s your fifth bowl appearance in school history and you’re playing a team from the MAC in Detroit?
I love you even though you let a lead slip away in the fourth quarter, but I’d love you more if you’d been able to hang onto it, guys. I mean, seriously.
i feel your pain. i must admit, i wasn't a NW'ern football fan until the legendary rose bowl season of ('97?). heck, i wasn't even sure they had a football team. but i grew to love that group, and the teams in subsequent years who pulled off equally stunning wins on their way to equally anemic showings in lesser bowl games. take heart loriebug. they have some of the coolest uniforms in college football. and they play in dyke stadium. and if you don't love fashion and dykes, you are from another planet. janet.
it was actually renamed ryan field in 1997 – a minor scandal and true evidence that pat ryan's money talks louder than anything else. it will always be dyche to us, though.
did you see the “instant classic” nu v. michigan game in 2000? one of the best games ever played, and i was there. rock on.
I would like to offer my condolences to your alma-mater on their shellacking at the hands of an inferior opponent. Although, Bowling green was favored, hmmm. Condolences anyway. On another front, Charlotte was great, and the Hoos won.