Go Spret!

The Maryland football game was great. Not because the Terps beat Temple 45-22 but because the Mighty Sound of Maryland performed.

The Mighty Sound of Maryland is the University of Maryland Marching Band, of which my son is a part. We were fortunate enough to be invited by the parents of A-'s roommate to go to the Maryland game over the weekend. This was our first chance to see A- perform a gig in college. Wow, what a difference a year makes. The band is awesome. They also play constantly and are forced to stand the whole game. None of that namby pamby high school stuff where they get to sit down and have the third quarter to go get something to eat.

Because it was 9/11, the halftime show was somewhat subdued and had a distinct American flavor. The Mighty Sound of Maryland performed together with the Temple band.

Thankfully the game was basically a blow-out so I was able to get some pictures of the band performing that I otherwise wouldn't have. The band sits in the student section, mostly vacated by the start of the 4th quarter for a Saturday night of partying. That way we could sneak down from the "view level" where we sat for most of the game to the spot where the band was about half way through the 4th quarter. At first the stadium staff wouldn't let me go down to where the band was even though I pleaded that I just wanted to take a picture of my child. But eventually they lost interest in keeping me out and I was able to go down and get some pictures of A- performing.

Did you ever have one of those moments where the instant you ask a really dumb question the answer occurs to you? That happened to me on Saturday night. At the start of the game, 5 people came running onto the field each carrying a large flag. I watched them sprint down the gridiron. The flags spelled the word "SPRET". I turned to our hosts and hollered out "What does "SPRET" mean?

The question was no sooner off my lips when the obvious answer hit me.
K-