Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes, the sounds of college football, the sounds
Speaker 1: we were starving for a year ago in that weird
Speaker 1: muted season. The sounds that are back, along with the
Speaker 1: sites and the smells of full fledged college football returning
Speaker 1: fingers crossed. And this episode is going to be a
Speaker 1: celebration of all of that, all the stuff around the
Speaker 1: games to make this sports so unique and so special,
Speaker 1: so uniquely American. If you have any feel at all
Speaker 1: for the sport, I think you're gonna have a blast.
Speaker 1: Probably no surprise. I had a great time putting it together.
Speaker 1: I met six new friends age eighty two, got too
Speaker 1: reminisce with one very old friend who I first met
Speaker 1: thirty five years ago. Now, look, it's it's a huge sport.
Speaker 1: There were what a thousand worthy guests to help illustrate
Speaker 1: the unique passion surrounding this sport. We had to whittle
Speaker 1: that down. We chose just seven. But you're gonna enjoy
Speaker 1: getting to know all of them. We've got some tremendous
Speaker 1: tailgating legend. Now, they wouldn't always share their recipes, but
Speaker 1: they shared lots of stories. We'll talk to the Ohio
Speaker 1: State susophone player, who's gonna dot the eye at the
Speaker 1: Buckeyes home opener. He's waited a lifetime and then had
Speaker 1: to wait the whole extra year to live his dream.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to the leader of the one fab four Horsemen,
Speaker 1: the tremendous drum majors of the mighty Marching Wildcats of
Speaker 1: b Thune Cookman University, a legendary band. We got the
Speaker 1: mascots covered. They're back this year too, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: hear exactly what it's like to run with Ralphie, the
Speaker 1: beloved Buffalo and Boulder and the hazard they don't warn
Speaker 1: you about beforehand, and what it was like to be
Speaker 1: the ultimate bad boy mascot in college football back in
Speaker 1: the day, back when there were no rules. We're gonna
Speaker 1: start though, two very generous souls who are experts to
Speaker 1: throw on one hell of a party. Jane and Lance
Speaker 1: Foster are creators of the Zebra Tent, which is the
Speaker 1: centerpiece and the epicenter of tailgating the Grove in Oxford, Mississippi.
Speaker 1: We're socializing, eating, and drinking before a football game. Our
Speaker 1: sacred rituals elevated to an art form. Well. The grove
Speaker 1: is ten precious acres of land at the heart of
Speaker 1: the old miss campus with magnolia and elm and oak trees,
Speaker 1: and it comes alive on home football Saturdays with a
Speaker 1: barrage of tense and is probably the epicenter of tailgating.
Speaker 1: So Jane and Lance Foster take us through what makes
Speaker 1: the grove such a special place of what sets it apart,
Speaker 1: Jane from all the other spots on the tailgate landscape.
Speaker 1: I like to describe it like this, the tailgating, other
Speaker 1: than the food is for the ladies. The football game
Speaker 1: is for the men. And in the grove, both of
Speaker 1: those things meant me. You know, you've got your fashion,
Speaker 1: you've got your fancy, but you've got your rough and
Speaker 1: raality football. It is just such a combination of family time,
Speaker 1: girl time, guide time. It's just such a mix and
Speaker 1: that's what makes it so different. Yeah, it feels like
Speaker 1: a celebration. Even though there's an important game that a
Speaker 1: lot of folks might be nervous about. It seems like
Speaker 1: they checked their their worries and cares about that and
Speaker 1: just kind of have a good time and learn to
Speaker 1: separate the party going from the serious business of the
Speaker 1: football game. Right. It's it's just like you just have
Speaker 1: to experience it. I've had people come in and writers
Speaker 1: have described it as like a wedding reception before the
Speaker 1: football game because everything is so fun and fancy, and
Speaker 1: the women are dressed so keyed, and the men really
Speaker 1: are enjoying the women and the you know, it's just
Speaker 1: such a good time to enjoy each other and have
Speaker 1: two good things, fun things going on that everybody enjoys. Well.
Speaker 1: At the heart of all this, with the tense and
Speaker 1: old miss colors red, white, and blue, there is the
Speaker 1: tent that has painted black and white and zebra stripes
Speaker 1: with the decor under your tent as plenty of zebra
Speaker 1: stipes as well, so it stands out. But why zebra
Speaker 1: stripes in the middle of Oxford. Well, I went to
Speaker 1: Mississippi State, So what I went. I attended Mississippi State
Speaker 1: and I'm from Star from Mississippi. So I had never
Speaker 1: been to the grove when I met my husband because
Speaker 1: when I was in college we played each other in Jackson.
Speaker 1: It was such a rivalry. We played on neutral field.
Speaker 1: So when I got there, I was like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: going to calm, but I'm gonna have this tent where
Speaker 1: everybody's welcome and we're gonna just painted zebra stripe, and
Speaker 1: I have a little chip on my shoulder, and I
Speaker 1: got there loved it so much that now when you
Speaker 1: come to the zebra tent, it has red and blue
Speaker 1: stripes all over it too, with fans up and hotty
Speaker 1: tiddy everywhere. So she became a rebel. Yeah, you still
Speaker 1: got that bulldog inner because it's where she went to school,
Speaker 1: which she is a relevant You can love taste scoots,
Speaker 1: you can do it. Oh that's you just upset Mississippi
Speaker 1: Safe fans. But because it is a fierce rivalry down there.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what I've been to both places.
Speaker 1: Tailgating Old miss has a clear edge. There's no question
Speaker 1: about that. It is a fabulous place. Now you mentioned
Speaker 1: it's like a wedding reception. I mean food, drink, hospitality,
Speaker 1: the guest list, rank in order of importance, those those
Speaker 1: crucial components to a tail okate, what what what's first? Second,
Speaker 1: third in that group? Okay, we're gonna go with the
Speaker 1: food as number one. Then we're gonna go with the decorations.
Speaker 1: It's number two. Um, then we'll probably go with what
Speaker 1: you're gonna wear men and women because the men look
Speaker 1: good to know they're all they're both tied up and
Speaker 1: they this one in but both ties on as big
Speaker 1: as people might come out. But everybody is really fresh
Speaker 1: and looks looks really nice for the football game. And
Speaker 1: then I would go number four with the party, the drinks,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Well, some tailgates have special food.
Speaker 1: You know, it might be barbecue. Throughout the South, it
Speaker 1: might be and delay at L. S U. Or crawfish
Speaker 1: at Toufe. It might be broughts. They keep it pretty
Speaker 1: simple in the Midwest. You guys, I've seen your tent.
Speaker 1: You have something of everything under there. Well, why is
Speaker 1: it so important to be so comprehensive of the menu. Well,
Speaker 1: one thing we do is every ball game is a
Speaker 1: different thing. So if we're playing L. S U. Then
Speaker 1: we have a lot of swamp food. We have corn
Speaker 1: dogs number one, but we also have you know, we
Speaker 1: have like fried fish. We have shrimp usually ball two
Speaker 1: hundred three hundred pounds of shrimp. I respect that you guys,
Speaker 1: honor the opponent with the themes though you've had. If
Speaker 1: Texas comes in or another sec temp comes in, you're
Speaker 1: not just about old miss. You're you're welcoming the hospit
Speaker 1: mentality is amazing. Talk about the different themes and how
Speaker 1: you come up with that. Um Texas, of course, it's
Speaker 1: like a Southwestern theme, and that's my favorite one. I mean,
Speaker 1: we pull out saddles. Sometimes we have little uh cutouts
Speaker 1: where people can have their face in a cowboy and
Speaker 1: a cow girl, and we do all the hay bells.
Speaker 1: But we'll do like a Mexican fiesta bar for that.
Speaker 1: When when we did the Hawaiian thing, we played Alabama,
Speaker 1: both quarterbacks were from Hawaii. It was extravagant. We had
Speaker 1: palm trees like big like I mean, we went and
Speaker 1: bought the fake palm trees. We it was. We ordered
Speaker 1: I think ten thousand lays and they lit up all
Speaker 1: different type and gave those away to everybody. Um I enjoyed.
Speaker 1: When Cal came, we did Surfing with the Sharks was
Speaker 1: our theme, and we we made it twhere. I mean,
Speaker 1: we had surfboards all of that type of stuff in there,
Speaker 1: and that was a lot of groovy surfer surfing kind
Speaker 1: of and we had a lot of fins up and
Speaker 1: shark things. And Lance said not to mention this because
Speaker 1: people don't like to. But I thought it was so cute.
Speaker 1: Our shark had this big mouth and it coming out
Speaker 1: of the mouth was this chewt up sign that said,
Speaker 1: ain't never lost a party, You're still undefeated. Criss back
Speaker 1: my favorite um We when l s U came, I
Speaker 1: believe it would have been in thirteen. We had live
Speaker 1: fish and we had fish bowls with fish swimming around it.
Speaker 1: Dry we we did a pi row half of pier row.
Speaker 1: We put drys behind it, and we had all the
Speaker 1: bold shrimp in it. So it was it was like
Speaker 1: a cauldron with that, and it was the whole thing.
Speaker 1: We had magnolia leaves hanging from them and hanging moss
Speaker 1: is all that. That one was really very extravagant before
Speaker 1: with that, that was a fun one. I would imagine
Speaker 1: even though it's Austin p one of those opponies talked
Speaker 1: about that doesn't have a lot of tradition with the Rebels,
Speaker 1: I would imagine the build up, the anticipation, the excitele
Speaker 1: for this coming season at the Zebras must be off
Speaker 1: the charts. It is going to really be kind of
Speaker 1: a welcome home for us. It's gonna be we look honestly,
Speaker 1: to be really honest, with you as far as the
Speaker 1: tailgun he goes. When it's a place like that, you
Speaker 1: have time to visit with your guests because it's not
Speaker 1: a mad, crazy crowd. You learned so much about their
Speaker 1: school and their traditions, and we really enjoy those games
Speaker 1: so much. We've made friends. People have sent us like
Speaker 1: concert tickets and paid our way to go see concerts.
Speaker 1: We've been paid. They paid our way to Mardi Gras
Speaker 1: with the hotel. I went to the man because they
Speaker 1: came to the Zebra tent and we're so impressed and
Speaker 1: had so much fun. So honestly, we can't wait to
Speaker 1: host those people. They seem to be really wild. Really,
Speaker 1: they just love it so much. They've heard about it
Speaker 1: for so long. I mean, it's legendary. It's a it's
Speaker 1: a tourist attraction on Saturday morning, says, folks have heard
Speaker 1: about it, and the legends spread all across the landscape.
Speaker 1: What I think is great about the grove and in
Speaker 1: particularly your tent, is the hospitality that you are welcoming
Speaker 1: to folks, because there's this idea that SEC football is
Speaker 1: so fierce that fans get to scuffling before, during, and
Speaker 1: after the game and there's no way to break bread earlier,
Speaker 1: because folks are just so mad at each other, right
Speaker 1: and and we you know, we've had some things break
Speaker 1: out around the tent before. They wouldn't dare inside the
Speaker 1: zebra tent. But I had to beat some some young
Speaker 1: boys out of the tent with the metal here one
Speaker 1: time to the police could get there. But they were
Speaker 1: actually watched her. They thought it was funny. Security did
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait a minute. You
Speaker 1: had some visiting fans, some unruly young college sentence you
Speaker 1: had to hit with a chance. I can't blame it
Speaker 1: all on the visitors. It was a combination, and it
Speaker 1: was it was younger college, it was college kids. And
Speaker 1: they got into a huge brawl which just kept growing
Speaker 1: and growing, and then they just kind of they fell
Speaker 1: over into the tent. They knocked the champagne fountain down,
Speaker 1: and all I could do was, I mean, I sent
Speaker 1: people to get the cops. But all I could do
Speaker 1: is fold that metal chair up and start swinging to
Speaker 1: get them back out of the tea. Chris, I wasn't
Speaker 1: in the tent, so I got to hear her side
Speaker 1: of the story, and all of you p d they
Speaker 1: come to our tent. They know us. Well, just listen
Speaker 1: to them tell the story. And one guy's I just
Speaker 1: crossed my arm, Lance, you hadn't handled its beautiful. Don't
Speaker 1: mess with Jane and the Zebra to I'd say what,
Speaker 1: somebody should have spent a week in jail for knocking
Speaker 1: over the champagne because that that is sacrily that. I
Speaker 1: know that Mimosa fountain is is a feature part of
Speaker 1: the beverage table back there. Someone dared knock that over
Speaker 1: that they should get banned for life from the grove.
Speaker 1: We've had some crazy it's happening there, beautiful. We've had
Speaker 1: waiting for proposals, you know, I mean so many great things.
Speaker 1: The most memorable moment to us of people coming in
Speaker 1: we had six New York firemen reach out to us
Speaker 1: and ask if they could have a bachelor party. And
Speaker 1: you talk about fun, Well, I'm imagining, Lance, I'm trying
Speaker 1: to imagine the collision of cultures. Let's say the meeting
Speaker 1: of cultures between New York City firemen and the genteel
Speaker 1: tailgate scene in the Zebras. And how how did that go? Well?
Speaker 1: They they were so enamored with the women, and they
Speaker 1: were so funny. We I mean we planned it ahead
Speaker 1: of time and we it was just just watching them
Speaker 1: watch the women. I mean it was like they had
Speaker 1: never seen women for I can't. I mean they could,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you. It was maybe like what you would
Speaker 1: expect if a man went to Hugh Hefner's house for
Speaker 1: the first time or something. They were very I hope
Speaker 1: they were well behaved despite yes they were. They were great.
Speaker 1: And they wore Yankee pin stripe overalls with no shirts
Speaker 1: and they were, you know, twenty four seven years old.
Speaker 1: Buff could have been on account. Yeah, I mean they were,
Speaker 1: and they mean they truly had an absolute I think
Speaker 1: they were thinking Mississippi and the overalls, and when they
Speaker 1: got there, they were like, I think we wore the
Speaker 1: wrong thing, you know, a little underdressed, a little underdressed
Speaker 1: for the Zebra na. It was so much they were cordious.
Speaker 1: I mean, they had great manners. I don't mean that
Speaker 1: they but I just mean they were so taken with
Speaker 1: the women. They just could not. It was so much
Speaker 1: they didn't. They weren't accustomed to women dressing up like
Speaker 1: that football games, you know, I find that incredibly easy
Speaker 1: you to believe what you just said, but I've just
Speaker 1: said that that's I'm glad they behaved themselves. I'm glad
Speaker 1: they had a great time and they certainly left Fox
Speaker 1: were some some great memories to tell around the fire
Speaker 1: station back in New York City, I'm sure. And we
Speaker 1: do a lot of Make a Wish Kids, and we
Speaker 1: did Tim Tebow's Tim Tebow since his make a Wish
Speaker 1: Kids every year. We that is so rewarding. I mean
Speaker 1: we've also done like um, we had three brothers who
Speaker 1: had a deal where they were going to all SEC
Speaker 1: schools around the nation, and the one brother died before
Speaker 1: they made it to the groves. So the two brothers
Speaker 1: contacted us and so we were able to get them
Speaker 1: on the field. We were able to get them tickets
Speaker 1: in the club house. Surprised them with it. So they
Speaker 1: came to the Zebra tent and they had this last
Speaker 1: you know, hurrah that they didn't get to have with
Speaker 1: the third brother. It was the most I mean, I
Speaker 1: get a little teared up when I think about it
Speaker 1: because it was such an emotional time and they had
Speaker 1: no idea we had planned all this form. You know,
Speaker 1: that's a wonderful surprise. You guys have made great use
Speaker 1: of the platform. You created another fundraising components of what
Speaker 1: you do with the zebra tense. So I I applaud
Speaker 1: that it's Folks need to know that it's a whole
Speaker 1: lot more than than food, fancy dress and drink before
Speaker 1: a game. I appreciate what you guys, what you guys
Speaker 1: have done. It takes a team, though, right there's no
Speaker 1: way if you feel if folks were to see the
Speaker 1: spread of food and deserves, there's no way two humans
Speaker 1: can do that just in a few days. I know
Speaker 1: you're surrounded by folks who support you and and and
Speaker 1: you know I get a lot of credit that I
Speaker 1: do not deserve. So if there's one statement I ever
Speaker 1: make that they often did cut out, is we have
Speaker 1: the We have an encrea. We have a team that
Speaker 1: could plan an inauguration. We get there at five o'clock
Speaker 1: on Saturday morning. We're there Friday night usual until about
Speaker 1: nine thirty or so. We get there at five a
Speaker 1: clock Saturday morning, and that's when the decorations, everything is
Speaker 1: set up, The decorations are done, then we leave in
Speaker 1: about an hour later. We're back and all the food
Speaker 1: is brought in and then that's where the ladies get
Speaker 1: all the the food styling. It takes two and a
Speaker 1: half hours to put out all the food and styling
Speaker 1: the college game. They finally made it to the grove
Speaker 1: to document that scene in two thousand and fourteen. It
Speaker 1: was my most enjoyable episode in twenty five years of
Speaker 1: hosting the show. Katie Perry as the guest picker did
Speaker 1: it as well as anybody ever has. But Lands and
Speaker 1: Jaine were also a part of that show. They were
Speaker 1: so hospitable and they told me that that fourteen game
Speaker 1: day that was kind of an equation changer for the
Speaker 1: Zebra Tent Chris. Before fourteen Game Day on an SEC weekend,
Speaker 1: we would feed in the neighborhood of five hundred. After that,
Speaker 1: now it's anywhere from twelve hundred to seventeen hundred that
Speaker 1: we feed in, and we've counted before we've had have
Speaker 1: over five thousand come through the tent most SEC games.
Speaker 1: Two look, take pictures, you know, grab a bike. D
Speaker 1: I feel like I should apologize. ESPN has got a
Speaker 1: lot of money. Send us the bill for all the
Speaker 1: extra folks that are showed up since game day. That's
Speaker 1: that's pretty overwhelming. I hope you guys seem to be
Speaker 1: taking it in the right way to think that this
Speaker 1: began with pickup trucks and station wagons driving to a
Speaker 1: stadium and dropping their tailgate and getting out a little
Speaker 1: beer and maybe some tupper worth full of food. Maybe
Speaker 1: eventually they began to grill in a habachi and it's
Speaker 1: grown into this. You guys have been at the top
Speaker 1: of the game for so long. What's left to do? What?
Speaker 1: What can the zebra tempt possibly do next to top
Speaker 1: what you've done? Are the wheels turning now they are
Speaker 1: really thought about it? I mean, we just have you know.
Speaker 1: We we do the Breast Cancer Awareness because we've had
Speaker 1: several of our members who are breast cancer survivors. We
Speaker 1: usually do another charity um different, We've done Palmer Home,
Speaker 1: We've done so we look, we have kind of goals
Speaker 1: that we set with that. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: I don't ever want it to be something where it's
Speaker 1: not fun anymore. You know. We do try to do
Speaker 1: it cuter or better every time, just because we like
Speaker 1: what we do. But I don't ever really want it
Speaker 1: to be competitive, and I don't even want to feel
Speaker 1: like I have to outdo it every time. I'd say
Speaker 1: if the Fosters have it wired, I don't mean just
Speaker 1: party giving, I mean life. Throw yourself into it with
Speaker 1: passion and energy, but never take it so seriously that
Speaker 1: the fun is robbed. They're very modest and talking about
Speaker 1: how inclusive and hospitable they are. But I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: tell you everyone is welcome with the Zebra Tent. If
Speaker 1: you were an Oxford you don't know a lot of people,
Speaker 1: you're new in town, you don't have a social click
Speaker 1: to hang onto, you are welcome to visit the Zebra
Speaker 1: Tent on a football Saturday along with fans of the
Speaker 1: other team in Folks who have just made pilgrimages to
Speaker 1: Oxford to be a part of it. Very grateful for
Speaker 1: their time. Now two thousand miles away from Oxford. Another
Speaker 1: tremendous tailgating scene at Washington Huskies games, or as they
Speaker 1: call it, salegating, or folks take their boats if they're lucky,
Speaker 1: they dock them in Union Bay, maybe drop bankor take
Speaker 1: a raft in and create a tremendous environment inside Husky Stadium.
Speaker 1: Genie Miles is the matriarch of that scene on the
Speaker 1: boat that her late husband Frank bought the Big Dog,
Speaker 1: and gen is filled with great stories and justice. Enthusiastic
Speaker 1: at age eighty two about husky sports as she was
Speaker 1: at age eight when her dad first took her to games. Okay,
Speaker 1: Gennie describe what a college football Saturday aboard the Big
Speaker 1: Dog is like. Well, we get up early at our house.
Speaker 1: The boat is docked at my home, but my son
Speaker 1: and daughter in their spot houses on the boat, and um,
Speaker 1: we take our customers, we take friends, UM and our
Speaker 1: family and m Under normal circumstances, with this particular boat,
Speaker 1: we can take eighty to people. So we have someone Greedim.
Speaker 1: They go down the hill and go to the dock
Speaker 1: and and we get going. We serve them coffee and
Speaker 1: a little um continental breakfast kind of thing. Because we
Speaker 1: have to start out early, we're normally the first ones
Speaker 1: on the dock, and it's a treat for lots of
Speaker 1: the people. They've never been to a husky game, let
Speaker 1: alone on my boat. So we beat the traffic. It's perfect,
Speaker 1: lots of fun and everybody enjoys it immensely. It's a
Speaker 1: full day. However, you're committed. When you're on that boat
Speaker 1: and you come back, you'll have to uber home if
Speaker 1: you don't want to come back with us, because we
Speaker 1: we get there early and we stay late. So that's
Speaker 1: how it goes, and it's it's awesome and I personally
Speaker 1: just love it. I can tell it in your voice.
Speaker 1: So you're sailing along, you leave Mercer Island, you get
Speaker 1: the Cascade Mountains over to the you're right, there's Mountaineer.
Speaker 1: The Olympic Mountains are across, and you make your way
Speaker 1: into Union Bay and Husky Stadium is totally unique. It's
Speaker 1: right there on the water. So then it's kind of
Speaker 1: a you're not you're not alone, there's you're surrounded by
Speaker 1: I'm sure plenty of friends and fellow voters on those saturdays, right,
Speaker 1: there's lots of voters there. I don't know how many,
Speaker 1: but probably a hundred and semi would guests, and they
Speaker 1: raft out. We have to be lucky to be the
Speaker 1: first ones on the on the dock and people will
Speaker 1: drive over and meet us um and we then before
Speaker 1: the game starts, we have the I Love My band
Speaker 1: comes down and entertains our folks. They get on the
Speaker 1: back deck and they play a lot of the songs
Speaker 1: to fight songs and the music and everybody sings and
Speaker 1: carries on and it's great fun. I absolutely love it.
Speaker 1: Somebody had invited me to do something this fall and
Speaker 1: I said, I can't do that. I go to this
Speaker 1: Musky season when loser draw, I just think it's a
Speaker 1: it's a wonderful pastime on Saturday. I love the game.
Speaker 1: I understand the game, and I'm not one of these
Speaker 1: ladies that sits there and doesn't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: And um, I just we all just love it with
Speaker 1: the kids. Um one of my grandsons that lives next door,
Speaker 1: he came as an infant, and you know, we just
Speaker 1: don't leave anybody home. We all go and um that
Speaker 1: it's just fun to be together, fun to be in
Speaker 1: that atmosphere, and um less to be able to do
Speaker 1: that and share with other people. I'm sure as much
Speaker 1: as you've appreciated it, season is going to feel even
Speaker 1: more special because, like so many other traditions, it didn't
Speaker 1: exist last year. There were some very quiet Saturdays around stadiums.
Speaker 1: The games went on, but none of the none of
Speaker 1: those surrounding things and make the sports so great. So
Speaker 1: how are you feeling knowing that you didn't get a
Speaker 1: chance to do it last year. Well, I'm really excited
Speaker 1: about the season, and I a little bit nervous. I
Speaker 1: just hope that this pandemic doesn't interfere with us again.
Speaker 1: I suppose we'll have to wear masks. I don't know
Speaker 1: that they'll will have to find out if they limit
Speaker 1: the number of people. Every state's different. I fully intend
Speaker 1: to that the kids bring, we bring the boat, and
Speaker 1: we bring people with us. We probably won't bring as
Speaker 1: many people as my guests, and we have people that
Speaker 1: are timid about going to the going out and going
Speaker 1: to the games. But I wouldn't miss it. I've had
Speaker 1: my vaccinations, I'm careful. I'll have all that disaffect on
Speaker 1: all over. The boat will be hopefully we'll be just fine.
Speaker 1: That's great. I think that it'll be a celebratory all
Speaker 1: over the country, but especially place lately. It will be
Speaker 1: and I can't wait for that. The Husky fans are
Speaker 1: so loyal. So you were able to enjoy a national
Speaker 1: championship season there. I'm sure there were some big parties
Speaker 1: on the Big Dog, and then then you had the
Speaker 1: the opposite end of the spectrum. You had a season
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight where they didn't win a
Speaker 1: single game. But but rain or shine, win or lose,
Speaker 1: you guys seem to show up every every Saturday. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't miss it because you don't just support the
Speaker 1: team and the you know, the players and the athletic department.
Speaker 1: When they win, you support them all the time. And um,
Speaker 1: I want them. They need to feel that and know that.
Speaker 1: And the voice that we've had given scholarships too, they
Speaker 1: know that and appreciate that too. One time, I vividly
Speaker 1: remember it was I think we played the Cougars and
Speaker 1: it was the last game of the season and it
Speaker 1: snow ode and we were one of three boats on
Speaker 1: the dock, and um, I didn't think about the dock.
Speaker 1: We were covered with ice. When we departed to go
Speaker 1: to the game. I was in my ski outfit. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was just it was so cold, and I think
Speaker 1: we had a sixty ft boat. Then oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Um we had guests day, were night with us two
Speaker 1: other couples, and we even had ice on the inside
Speaker 1: of the windows. But we're tough huskies, great slate storm
Speaker 1: We're there. We always have. We always have the opponents
Speaker 1: on the boat. It doesn't somebody's capite rivals. Yes, they
Speaker 1: do come on the boat. I I can't. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're dear friends. I can't not let them them. But oh,
Speaker 1: I like it. I like it when we reigned supreme
Speaker 1: and we win. I'm not I don't like to lose.
Speaker 1: I'm sensing that. I'm sensing you're very competitive. When you're
Speaker 1: passionate and you want, you want the uski Is to
Speaker 1: have a huge season. Oh we do, we really do.
Speaker 1: We have a new coach. We we miss coach Pete,
Speaker 1: but um, we have a nice new coach. And um,
Speaker 1: I hope that he does really really well. He has
Speaker 1: all kinds of enthusiasm and and um, it's changed. I've
Speaker 1: watched how the game the um, how it's changed. We
Speaker 1: used to always beat Oregon. Now it's a challenge to
Speaker 1: beat Oregon. And and I'm always, um eager for that
Speaker 1: game to come. I don't I used to go to
Speaker 1: all those games down in Oregon. Not anymore. They don't
Speaker 1: like us very much, but you know what, I don't
Speaker 1: like them very much anyways. The rivalry. The people outside
Speaker 1: the Northwest don't fully appreciate how how salty it gets
Speaker 1: between those two schools. You're write about that it does,
Speaker 1: and it does what w s U two, Although it's
Speaker 1: more friendly, yeah to say that. One of the beautiful
Speaker 1: things about college football the traditions that spanned generations in
Speaker 1: the Miles family. You're about what is it four or
Speaker 1: five generations now that have have been a part of
Speaker 1: this and supported the Huskies. Okay, we're five generations right.
Speaker 1: My husband went to school there, got a master's degree,
Speaker 1: My kids got master's degrees from there, and I've gone
Speaker 1: I'm ad two. I've gone to those games since I
Speaker 1: was about eight and my dad used to take me
Speaker 1: and I loved it. I absolutely loved it. The early
Speaker 1: Lord that the Lord before they actually built the docks,
Speaker 1: I guess Husky Citium being built around the nineteen twenties.
Speaker 1: People actually used to pull up these small boats, hide
Speaker 1: him in the grass, and then go to the games.
Speaker 1: Right before they had a fancy dock there. When I
Speaker 1: was a little girl, we didn't get to go by boat.
Speaker 1: But when I married Frank, you bet we went by boat.
Speaker 1: And I can't tell you how many We've entertained, probably
Speaker 1: thousands of people, and we have lots of tickets and um,
Speaker 1: everybody has a good time. We have a dance on
Speaker 1: the way home and we have a disco ball and
Speaker 1: um we like and uh we like to um. What's
Speaker 1: that song? We are family anyway, we danced to that
Speaker 1: and they can hear us all over the lake, you know,
Speaker 1: voices and noise carries over water nicely. So we'll celebrate.
Speaker 1: Believe me, it's fun. My grandson's will dance with Grandma
Speaker 1: and I go get them if they're not available, and
Speaker 1: they come and we we dance and all our friends
Speaker 1: on the back deck. It's fun. It's really it's it's
Speaker 1: a good day. But I'll tell you by the end
Speaker 1: of that day and we go up to the house,
Speaker 1: I'm exhausted. I love seeing all the people. I love
Speaker 1: cheering at the game and being with everyone, and it's
Speaker 1: just probably one of my favorite things in my life,
Speaker 1: to be very honest with you, besides loving my family.
Speaker 1: But then I have them all with me when we
Speaker 1: do this, so it's pretty special. I know, I know
Speaker 1: you realize how lucky you are. I tell you why.
Speaker 1: I feel the same way in the football Saturday it's exhilarady.
Speaker 1: I'm exhausted by the end of the day too, So
Speaker 1: there's no shame in giving everything you've got on a
Speaker 1: Saturday to entertain those folks. How great is Genie Miles,
Speaker 1: She's a treasure. I vow to get back there and
Speaker 1: tailgate once again on the boats at a Husky game.
Speaker 1: I had a great experience there after College game Day
Speaker 1: one time in the pass. Also vowed by the way
Speaker 1: to get back to the grove and the Zebra ten.
Speaker 1: Now to the marching bands the soundtrack of a college
Speaker 1: football game that wasn't there a year ago, no fight songs,
Speaker 1: no pageantry. And I've always had massive respect for bands,
Speaker 1: the energy, the commitment they put in, how competitive it
Speaker 1: is within a band in between bands. But my appreciation
Speaker 1: grew even deeper when they weren't there a year ago.
Speaker 1: I expect that might even get a little bit emotional
Speaker 1: calling a game when I hear one of those familiar
Speaker 1: fight songs, belt it out loudly. Now, the band of
Speaker 1: a Thune Cookman is always near the top of the list,
Speaker 1: especially in the very competitive HBCU band division. Dona b
Speaker 1: Wells has been a director of bands there since ninety seven,
Speaker 1: since before the current band members were born, and he
Speaker 1: has built a wonderful legacy of valuable visible part of
Speaker 1: Bethune Cookman's identity. I got a chance to talk to
Speaker 1: Kevin Gohan's one of the senior drum majors of Bethun Cookman,
Speaker 1: and you can't hear in his voice how pumped up,
Speaker 1: how passionate he is about the coming season. But then
Speaker 1: Cookman often mentioned as the top or certainly one of
Speaker 1: the top elite HBCU bands. It's a small private school,
Speaker 1: the enrollments under three thousand, the band is enormous. You've
Speaker 1: got more than three folks on the field at once.
Speaker 1: That's a huge percentage of the student body. And we
Speaker 1: described the Marching Wildcats kind of the role they played
Speaker 1: in campus life at Bethune. Cookman Man, Uh, It's it's
Speaker 1: kind of weird because like, coming from high school, people
Speaker 1: respected my high school band. I came from Carroll City,
Speaker 1: by the way, guards Yes, sir, so people respected the band,
Speaker 1: but there was always like, yeah, you're the band, but
Speaker 1: you're not the football team and so forth. That's almost
Speaker 1: flipped on its head here. And I'm not disrespecting a
Speaker 1: football team. I love those guys, my cousins of football
Speaker 1: player as a matter of fact. For Cookman, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like it's flipped on his head, and it's just
Speaker 1: mind blowing because I never thought I would have seen it.
Speaker 1: So it's it's banned up here, football team down there,
Speaker 1: if you're being honest, Yeah, it's it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, Like I never would have thought because
Speaker 1: you know, you know the stereotypes and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, But you walk around now as a drum major,
Speaker 1: one of four drum majors for the coming season. So
Speaker 1: you are a leader in the band. You put in
Speaker 1: your time, You've been through a rigorous tryout process that
Speaker 1: we'll get to. What does that make you one of
Speaker 1: the campus rock stars as one of the drum majors
Speaker 1: of the Marching Wildcats. I wouldn't say all of that.
Speaker 1: I don't really feed into any of that, unfortunately, because
Speaker 1: you know some people would be like, well, you do
Speaker 1: all this, you do all this. I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: even think about that. I just think about doing my job.
Speaker 1: I'm so lazy focused on on making sure that I
Speaker 1: can make the band staff jobs easier for those people
Speaker 1: that have never seen it. And I would encourage you
Speaker 1: to go to YouTube and check out the Marching Wildcats
Speaker 1: because unbelievable videos on there what what what is a
Speaker 1: drum majors on the field now at halftime, So it
Speaker 1: all starts with attention and we're the ones that blow
Speaker 1: the whistle and called tension. At that point Mr Wells
Speaker 1: job is essentially over until it comes to him, uh
Speaker 1: conducting the concert number most For the most part, the
Speaker 1: show is in our hands. So we give whistle commands
Speaker 1: pertaining to you know, uh, tempos for these various songs,
Speaker 1: because we're not playing everything at the same tempo. Be
Speaker 1: mind you and um, you know. Starts with attention, then
Speaker 1: we go on into our entrance typically which if you've
Speaker 1: never seen the Thune Cookman drum major entrance, Man oh man,
Speaker 1: this robbery. Every year, every squad brings something different and
Speaker 1: it's so it's just so beautiful. But you know, besides
Speaker 1: all of that, when you got part musical, it's part leadership.
Speaker 1: Like you said, you guys got the whistles, and it's
Speaker 1: all so really athletic. It's really physical, is what you
Speaker 1: guys are doing is not just marching around in place.
Speaker 1: I mean, take take folks through the sort of the
Speaker 1: athletic part of it. So we spend almost the entire
Speaker 1: summer just working on ourselves working on our our our
Speaker 1: physical performance. But it's not always oriented towards or center
Speaker 1: towards our physical our physical prowess. It's also covering our
Speaker 1: leadership skills as well, because that's a that's a huge aspect.
Speaker 1: You're coming in as um at the earliest, a sophomore
Speaker 1: in this leadership position and you're you're basically leading three
Speaker 1: plus people of various classes and in age groups and
Speaker 1: so on and so forth, so you have to be
Speaker 1: prepared for just about anything. Anything could really happen there.
Speaker 1: There there are good times and there are bad times
Speaker 1: throughout this band program, but we we have to leave
Speaker 1: them in order to show the crowd that, you know,
Speaker 1: forget all of that. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: we're marching wildcats. It's just a matter of putting all
Speaker 1: that discipline and and effort into a few condensed hours
Speaker 1: and our product is just unmatched. It's beautiful. Describe the
Speaker 1: drum major's uniform on game day fancy, oh yes, man,
Speaker 1: beautiful uniforms. Uh. If I'm not mistaken, they were designed
Speaker 1: by Mr Wilson self. And um, this isn't just for
Speaker 1: the drum major uniforms. This is across the entire band
Speaker 1: there there of course you see like film cooking university,
Speaker 1: but there are also little tidbits of when back when
Speaker 1: we were at college, so it pays homage to what
Speaker 1: came before us. It's just a beautiful thing to see
Speaker 1: when we're all walking up just menacing. It just looks menacing.
Speaker 1: I get this from my grandfather because he's like, man,
Speaker 1: every time y'all get on that field, you'll look like
Speaker 1: a look like an army. Uh. I love it. Now,
Speaker 1: what is the anticipation like for one given all that
Speaker 1: how hyped or people to to get back in the
Speaker 1: field and and do what you came there to do. Man.
Speaker 1: So so just going back to a second. Last year
Speaker 1: was my first year as a drum major, and I
Speaker 1: was I was more than prepared after after sacrificing a
Speaker 1: lot of my time just trying to get in the
Speaker 1: position that I'm in. So when I finally got here
Speaker 1: last year and and turns out we're not having a season,
Speaker 1: it was a little bit of a bummer. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie, but and honestly, it just it just made
Speaker 1: me a little more hungry for this year, this upcoming
Speaker 1: year to do the best that I can those are
Speaker 1: some very quiet saturdays. You say a little bit of
Speaker 1: a bummer, you kind of. I think you're underselling it. It
Speaker 1: It was probably pretty devastating for folks not to be
Speaker 1: able to be out there. Oh yes, oh no, it
Speaker 1: definitely hurt. It definitely hurt. But you know, minor, minor
Speaker 1: setback for a major comeback, you know. And and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of talk about us moving into the SWAT
Speaker 1: Conference and what is BC you gonna do in the
Speaker 1: Swag and all honesty, all those swack schools better be
Speaker 1: afraid because we're coming from them. You're talking about the
Speaker 1: marching Wildcats, not the football team. Oh yeah, well, I
Speaker 1: mean football team too, football team too. We stand behind them.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's no divide their football team band, all
Speaker 1: of that. We're coming for them. I like it. I
Speaker 1: like the competitive nature. Mr Wells is always talking about
Speaker 1: performing like we're the best because that's where we are
Speaker 1: and and and not trying to be boastful or have
Speaker 1: a cocky nature about it. But that all starts with
Speaker 1: the work. Um, just putting in that work so that
Speaker 1: the performance aspect becomes easy. You shouldn't be thinking about
Speaker 1: what move is next in the dance routine, or or
Speaker 1: where should I be marching next in the formation or
Speaker 1: anything like that. When we're actually performing at this point,
Speaker 1: it should be it should be engraved into your mind
Speaker 1: well enough until the point where it's just second nature,
Speaker 1: you know. So when it comes to him saying need
Speaker 1: to perform like we're the best, but act like we're
Speaker 1: the best, and that that goes where everything just effort
Speaker 1: during practice, putting everything you have onto that field at
Speaker 1: each moment. Don't slack up at all, so that when
Speaker 1: that performance comes, it's over for whoever bands tries to
Speaker 1: step against us. Ever since I got here, Like from
Speaker 1: the moment I stepped in the band room for the
Speaker 1: freshman meeting, I told him I wanted to be a horseman.
Speaker 1: So for for me making all those sacrifices as I
Speaker 1: alluded to before, uh, working out, trying to gain waight um,
Speaker 1: just doing stuff that was out of the realm of
Speaker 1: comfortability so that that that uncomfortable can become comfortable. And
Speaker 1: finally being in the position where I worked for I
Speaker 1: prayed for all of that. But when I got that
Speaker 1: call and I was shump up for Jore, I was
Speaker 1: jumping for Jore. Yeah, it's a lifelong dream, right, you
Speaker 1: get to live. Man. It's crazy because I was I
Speaker 1: was sitting over here thinking about how my grandfather and
Speaker 1: my mother attended to school and uh, just and neither
Speaker 1: of them were in the band, but they knew how
Speaker 1: how hard the band worked while they were here. And
Speaker 1: my grandfather used to take me to cooking and games
Speaker 1: every now and then because you know, we stayed in Miami. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I remember just watching the drum majors and just
Speaker 1: being fascinated by them, never thinking that I would be
Speaker 1: in that position, but here I am. It's crazy how
Speaker 1: things going back around full circle. And then my grandfather, Man,
Speaker 1: my grandfather is so proud, just just so proud. All right.
Speaker 1: Take us through the emotions, the hype as it builds
Speaker 1: towards that showdown with family and they're famous band, which
Speaker 1: is an annual event or homecoming night at Bethune Cooking,
Speaker 1: which is another massive thing where you know all the
Speaker 1: alums who know their bands, they know their routines. They're
Speaker 1: all watching very carefully. What are the emotions like going
Speaker 1: into huge events like that? Man? How exhilarating, man, How
Speaker 1: exhilarating because it's just watching the alumni, and I think
Speaker 1: it goes for any band program at any any school
Speaker 1: just watching the alumni show support for you, and they've
Speaker 1: been a lot of them have been in the same
Speaker 1: position as you. You know, going back to see them
Speaker 1: come back and be like, hey, you're doing a good
Speaker 1: job means that you're carrying on that legacy, that legacy
Speaker 1: that that begins back from Dotted with. It's just um man,
Speaker 1: it's just a mind blowing thing. So it goes back
Speaker 1: to even when I was talking about not disappointed Mr Wells,
Speaker 1: another factor of that is not disappointed the alumni either.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that I'm doing the best
Speaker 1: with every march, I step, whatevery, whatevery, uh dance move
Speaker 1: with every with every entrance. You know, you gotta check
Speaker 1: out the videos of the Marching Wildcats and their drum
Speaker 1: majors on YouTube. They are amazing. Wishing Kevin the best
Speaker 1: for his senior season. Now, the numbers are down a
Speaker 1: bit in the band because of COVID, and Director Welles
Speaker 1: told me he's got his fingers crossed that despite a
Speaker 1: spike in cases down in Florida won't get so bad
Speaker 1: and the band will be able to perform at football
Speaker 1: games all season long. He's just hopeful. Another band that
Speaker 1: I've always admired as the Ohio State Marching Band. I've
Speaker 1: seen firsthand their dedication, the practices of the rehearsals, musicians
Speaker 1: practicing on their own for the practices what he Hay
Speaker 1: has called them the s damn band in the land,
Speaker 1: and it's stuck. My buddy Kirk cerb Street has always
Speaker 1: told me that the band of the football team are
Speaker 1: held an equal esteem in Ohio State at the top
Speaker 1: of the pecking order, or the susophone players. Susophone is
Speaker 1: basically a tuba modified from marching and the lead susophone player.
Speaker 1: This year, as Luke Eisler, I mean, the Buckeyes host
Speaker 1: the Oregon Ducks, Luke will finally live out a dream
Speaker 1: that he has worked for and waited for a long time.
Speaker 1: Help folks understand the feeling of what it's like to
Speaker 1: be a part the Ohio State band, to have put
Speaker 1: in the commitment and earn your spot and now you're
Speaker 1: marching around Ohio Stadium before a game, spelling out the
Speaker 1: word Ohio Take take us there. I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: feeling unlike any other in the world. You putting all
Speaker 1: that effort and here you are in a game day.
Speaker 1: It's already six hours in. We show up six hours
Speaker 1: before kickoff. We go through morning rehearsal and do our
Speaker 1: skull session at St. John Arena. See everybody, see the
Speaker 1: football team here from coach day, march back over the stadium,
Speaker 1: marching on the ramp entrance, and you see the hundred
Speaker 1: thousand people up above you and the crowd is there's nothing.
Speaker 1: I was like it really, it's just all the screaming.
Speaker 1: Everyone's clapping in sync with the cheering you want. And
Speaker 1: it's just something that I've done it twenty one times
Speaker 1: over the last three years. I've marched every home game.
Speaker 1: It's just, um, you don't really lose that magic to it.
Speaker 1: It's just like anything else. But of course, yeah, ramps
Speaker 1: over then you have to go do scripts, so you
Speaker 1: keep going and uh a lot of a lot of pushing.
Speaker 1: It's just, uh, you're just kind of going out a pilot.
Speaker 1: At one point. Don't tell my directors, I said that
Speaker 1: can't go on a pilot. But it's just you get
Speaker 1: locked in and for and a half minutes of pure focus,
Speaker 1: pure adrenaline, blasting away on the horn and you get
Speaker 1: to your spot and you watch your friends live out
Speaker 1: their dream at the top of the eye. So it's
Speaker 1: just that's that's something you don't get anywhere else. It's
Speaker 1: quite quite an opportunity. That's well put. Watching your friend
Speaker 1: live out their dream means a fellow susaphone player dotting
Speaker 1: the eye. For those who don't know what we're talking about,
Speaker 1: I'd urge you to go to YouTube and watch. There
Speaker 1: are plenty examples of script Ohio being spelled out, drum
Speaker 1: major leading the band around as they march and finally
Speaker 1: spilled everything out, and finally, after the entire stadium has
Speaker 1: watched that group in that precise marching drill, one instrument
Speaker 1: and one musician separate from the group, all eyes on them.
Speaker 1: They are the sole focus on a hundred thousand people
Speaker 1: high step out, take off the hat and take about now.
Speaker 1: How much is it gonna mean to have a chance
Speaker 1: to do that the Oregon game this year in Columbus
Speaker 1: because in course bands couldn't perform, fans were not able
Speaker 1: to watch this great tradition, this great ritual. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's it's almost indescribable thinking and forward and I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's just one of those things with my love. Last
Speaker 1: year you learned about delayed gratification and never taking anything
Speaker 1: for granted. It's just um, when it comes to dotting
Speaker 1: the eye, I guess it's something I was forced to
Speaker 1: wait for, but it's something that is meant to be
Speaker 1: waited for. You just have to put in the work
Speaker 1: each and every day and keep that positive outlook going forward.
Speaker 1: And UM, I have done everything I can to stick
Speaker 1: around and make it happen for this fifth year. I
Speaker 1: graduated uh in May, but I am putting things on hold.
Speaker 1: I'm not moving for a job. I'm doing things on
Speaker 1: my term And it's just something that you have to
Speaker 1: commit to. Six of the eight eye dollars this year
Speaker 1: all actually graduated from Ohio State at this point. So
Speaker 1: whether we're working full time or just putting our lives
Speaker 1: on hold, it's we're making this dream happen. And uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of hard to put into words. It's
Speaker 1: something that you've been working on since you were a
Speaker 1: little kid with ambitions or say you didn't even have
Speaker 1: the ambitions, but it's just something you've learned to want
Speaker 1: more than anything. And UH, we are all super excited myself.
Speaker 1: And but it's just, um, I can hear your voice, matic,
Speaker 1: I can hear your voice, and it says a lot
Speaker 1: that the sus bone players came back after having graduated.
Speaker 1: You said, put the life on hole to live out
Speaker 1: the dream. I mean that tells folks everything they need
Speaker 1: to know about what it means to have those few
Speaker 1: seconds kind of cap a great career as a musician. There.
Speaker 1: I know there's an important person in your life who
Speaker 1: was looking forward to watching you do that last year
Speaker 1: when you were scheduled to do it, and and she
Speaker 1: won't be able to watch this time. But but but
Speaker 1: tell us about what you expect your emotions will be
Speaker 1: luke when you get your chance to guatt and dot
Speaker 1: the I uh in a short time now. It's really
Speaker 1: hard to put into words as well. It's just a
Speaker 1: lot of mixed emotions. I'm excited, I'm nervous. I don't
Speaker 1: want to screw it up and do really well. And
Speaker 1: like you said, it's uh. There's a lot of people
Speaker 1: in my life that this means a lot too, and myself,
Speaker 1: but especially in my family. They've done nothing but support
Speaker 1: me unconditionally over these last few years, and they are
Speaker 1: all supportive for me taking the time to do this,
Speaker 1: and I think this the Oregan game is just going
Speaker 1: to be a massive celebration for all of us. But yeah,
Speaker 1: one person will have in mind the whole way is
Speaker 1: definitely give me my grandma. She my biggest fan, absolutely
Speaker 1: the most vocal supporter as well. She was She told
Speaker 1: anyone and everyone she met m about how her grandson
Speaker 1: was in the High State Marching Band, and I just
Speaker 1: got the I but from sports games growing up to
Speaker 1: Bankard since I got older. She and my grandpa they
Speaker 1: lived a couple of hours away and in Canton, and
Speaker 1: I grew up in Columbus, so um, they always put
Speaker 1: in that effort. But when the bands, Yeah, when we
Speaker 1: weren't able to do it last year, we were both
Speaker 1: really bummed, but we said one our eyes on this
Speaker 1: coming season and looking forward to this day coming up.
Speaker 1: But you know, sometimes stories don't always have a perfect
Speaker 1: hunting like that. So yeah, we we lost her back
Speaker 1: in March. She uh, she passed away after a long, fierce,
Speaker 1: courageous fight with art disease. So her unrelenting spirit I know,
Speaker 1: will live on and I even though she won't be
Speaker 1: there physical with me, thankful to have had her so
Speaker 1: many of my other life milestones, and I know she'll
Speaker 1: be right there with me in Ohio Stadium that day.
Speaker 1: Lad is beautifully put. My grandmother is very very important
Speaker 1: in my life as well, very influential, incredibly supportive, and
Speaker 1: I can understand the little bit about what you're feeling
Speaker 1: and what the emotions will be for you when you
Speaker 1: go out and honor her at that Oregon game. That's
Speaker 1: just tremendous. So Luke, I learned about the challenge system
Speaker 1: of the Ohio State Band researching this. Somebody has an
Speaker 1: off day on Saturdays. Someone who else who plays their
Speaker 1: instrument goes out to practice on Monday and says, I
Speaker 1: want their slot. I'm gonna take you down, and now
Speaker 1: you have to fight to keep your starting spot in effect,
Speaker 1: that's intense. It is. It's something that keeps us. It
Speaker 1: sounds pretty cut throat, but it is. It's for the
Speaker 1: greater good, you know. It's something that keeps us rotating
Speaker 1: and keeps us at the top of our game at
Speaker 1: all times, and that's what keeps us the best. You know.
Speaker 1: It's unnecessary evil almost uh, but yeah, there's twelve people
Speaker 1: that marched on Saturdays, but fourteen that's in a row,
Speaker 1: so you have two people. But in the case of
Speaker 1: the Suxophones were sister Rose and we're right next to
Speaker 1: each other, so technically four people looking at the twenty
Speaker 1: four that marched. And they're always watching you throughout the week.
Speaker 1: Are you learning to drill to the show for the
Speaker 1: halftime show correctly? Are you is you or fundamentals for
Speaker 1: the pregame looking out of whack? Or do you seem
Speaker 1: like you're out of time? Are you long with your
Speaker 1: step size? And just all these different things. They pick
Speaker 1: you apart on the sideline while also working on stuff
Speaker 1: their own. And I mean there are weeks I've had
Speaker 1: sinus infections and I'm on the verge of vertigo and
Speaker 1: barely able to stand up, horribly tired, and someone that
Speaker 1: was an alternate the next week is like, I'm going
Speaker 1: to take him down. And so I get my number
Speaker 1: called on that Monday, and I have to run out
Speaker 1: to the field, still on antibiotics and trying to make
Speaker 1: the most of it and power through. And I mean
Speaker 1: sometimes you just gotta dig deep and play the mental game.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, I mean I had to lay the
Speaker 1: hammer down. I guess I kept my spot. But it's
Speaker 1: just one of those things you never know. People are
Speaker 1: always expecting your best. So and much like Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: Man you had your flu game, you had to answer
Speaker 1: the absolutely. I like the SUSA phone section swag. The
Speaker 1: whole band has swag and to go buy the best
Speaker 1: and band the land T B D B I T
Speaker 1: L I guess tibiddle for short. I mean that's that's
Speaker 1: that's some swag right there. That's kind of cocky. Is
Speaker 1: the title deserved? I don't know. I something that our
Speaker 1: director likes to say. There may be bigger bands than
Speaker 1: us that can play louder and better than us. There
Speaker 1: may be some bands that can march better than us,
Speaker 1: but we're the best of doing both, and we're the
Speaker 1: best of what we do, so I understand by that.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna leave it to the view point of our
Speaker 1: our staff and our band. But it's uh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I respect anyone that does college marching band, and I
Speaker 1: love all the big ten bands, think that they all
Speaker 1: have something good to offer, but I don't know, there's
Speaker 1: just something unique about what we do, and I think
Speaker 1: it's um, It's just I'm glad I'm on the one
Speaker 1: that people call the best. So Luca is a solid dude.
Speaker 1: He's a self proclaimed band nerd admires all the big
Speaker 1: ten bands, but you can just hear the pride in
Speaker 1: his voice being a part of Ohio States. Now to
Speaker 1: the mascots. They were also missing last year, and they
Speaker 1: returned in the Live Mascot Division. Where's Mike the Tiger
Speaker 1: at l s u Get Bevo at Texas, Boomer and Sooner,
Speaker 1: the Ponies and Norman, the various birds, Auburn's war Eagle
Speaker 1: swooping around above Jordan Hair Stadium, the Air Force Falcon,
Speaker 1: all the dogs. Most have been the sec Smokey and
Speaker 1: my favorite Ugga who'll be back, spread Eagles in a
Speaker 1: bag of ice when the weather gets hot down there,
Speaker 1: and Athens. But as a see You graduate, my favorite,
Speaker 1: hands down is Ralphie the Buffalo. Come h. Ralphie is
Speaker 1: always a female buffalo. The males are kind of large,
Speaker 1: kind of hard to handle. And Ralphie's six will debut
Speaker 1: for see You this season now. Sean Tufts ran out
Speaker 1: behind Ralphie for three seasons. He was a linebacker and
Speaker 1: a captain. Then he played four years with the Carolina
Speaker 1: Panthers before coming back to school in Boulder, and the
Speaker 1: story of how he became a guy who ran alongside Ralphie.
Speaker 1: It's pretty unique. I was sitting in the in the
Speaker 1: stands and I got the emails that hey, you're in
Speaker 1: and like this total year four year kicked in and
Speaker 1: I ran down to the rail. I said, I'm a student,
Speaker 1: I can run and they were like, oh man, you're old.
Speaker 1: Like I know that, but I'm also a student now.
Speaker 1: And they asked me if I still had the juice,
Speaker 1: if I still had a good forty time, and I
Speaker 1: had to go prove it and I had to I
Speaker 1: had to get on with my merit, and uh yeah
Speaker 1: it worked. They they also saw some of the marketing
Speaker 1: appeal of like getting to brand the Ralphie program, showing
Speaker 1: what it looks like from different angles. Um and and
Speaker 1: I was a part of that, which is pretty fun.
Speaker 1: So Sean, describe what it's like to be part of
Speaker 1: a crew hanging onto a rope for dear life. As
Speaker 1: an eleven pound round bunctious buffalo charges down the field.
Speaker 1: Does a you turn and charged back? Yeah, there's no
Speaker 1: there's no on the job training that can prepare you
Speaker 1: for that moment. It's it's quite literally, you do a
Speaker 1: lot of work, you talked to a lot of people,
Speaker 1: you watch them film, and then at some point someone
Speaker 1: hands your rope and they tie it to a buffalo,
Speaker 1: and then you get up and get going. It's you
Speaker 1: know a lot of people talk about like getting thrown
Speaker 1: in the deep end. I think I think we could
Speaker 1: rebrand that getting getting handed a buffalo rope um. There's
Speaker 1: there's nothing you can do to experience the prep to
Speaker 1: to go through that event. You practice your trained but
Speaker 1: like most things, it's not quite like the real thing,
Speaker 1: right with a crowd of fifty thousand and she must
Speaker 1: feed off that, get a little more charges up. And
Speaker 1: the challenge really is when the lights are running, you're
Speaker 1: doing it for real. Yeah, And you know, the crowd
Speaker 1: does give a kind of a deafening component to it.
Speaker 1: It limits some communication, I think for you know, for
Speaker 1: some eighteen year olds that hadn't gone through that before.
Speaker 1: I think looking up and seeing all the you know,
Speaker 1: the smiling faces, yelling and screaming, I think it's a
Speaker 1: it's it's a bit of a starstruck moment for a
Speaker 1: lot of people that haven't had that experience before. But yeah, nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing compares to that first twenty or thirty ft when
Speaker 1: she's running out and your hats blown off and you're
Speaker 1: you know, you're running faster than you can humanly run
Speaker 1: because you've got something towing you down the field. That
Speaker 1: that's the unique system overload that you know. I don't
Speaker 1: think you really catch up on it until you're on
Speaker 1: the back stretch and you're finishing the run, like just
Speaker 1: the effort in the momentum of what's happening. The funny
Speaker 1: part is when one thing they don't tell you when
Speaker 1: you're training Ralphie and they purposely don't tell anyone this.
Speaker 1: So she wears a harness that goes roun her front,
Speaker 1: round her chest or on her side, and around her butt.
Speaker 1: So in your first run and I ran loop, which
Speaker 1: is a heavy position, you stayed in the back and
Speaker 1: you're runner with your heels down and try to slow
Speaker 1: Ralphie with your body weight. But that rope runs right
Speaker 1: around her backside and it collects anything she drops off.
Speaker 1: So when you're running, you'll be running down the field
Speaker 1: and there's just a little pivots of full of ships
Speaker 1: like popping off into your face. In your hat and
Speaker 1: under shure, they don't tell you that that wasn't. People
Speaker 1: have their favorite mascots in their favorite schools, but I
Speaker 1: think Ralphie has in universal appeal just because it's so unique.
Speaker 1: You have any comments from folks who found out you
Speaker 1: had done this or why you were doing this, and
Speaker 1: that had correct questions about her because she is a curiosity.
Speaker 1: You know, we used to get a lot of competing
Speaker 1: sports program that buffaloes from Mascot's college pro and they
Speaker 1: were always trying to like figure out what made us sick.
Speaker 1: And it was always like that's our thing, Like we're
Speaker 1: not going to teach you how to do that. And
Speaker 1: we check in with them and see how they were doing,
Speaker 1: and they sometimes they pull like a two year old
Speaker 1: male buffalo off a ranch somewhere and try to get
Speaker 1: some some yokels to run with it, and that always
Speaker 1: ended poorly. Um. Outside of that, I think there's just
Speaker 1: a general curiosity, right, Like we're a couple of degrees
Speaker 1: away from you know, farm to tables a term, but
Speaker 1: you never actually get to the farm, right, You never
Speaker 1: got to get to see it. So I think people
Speaker 1: are very curious around like what is the temperament of
Speaker 1: a buff Hello, you know you seem in Yellowstone and
Speaker 1: you see him somewhere else. It's a unique animal. And
Speaker 1: you know we've got one that's you know, uh, not
Speaker 1: domesticated by any amusing. But she's approachable. We can interact
Speaker 1: with her. She goes to to you know, public events
Speaker 1: and licks gloves. She loves to take the leather, so
Speaker 1: she'll lick your gloves. She'll lick your shoes, and she'll lick.
Speaker 1: Her tongue is like sandpaper, so she will lick the
Speaker 1: finish off your shoes if you show up with some
Speaker 1: nice wing tips around Edmund or something. And people just
Speaker 1: aren't used to that. They want to know what makes
Speaker 1: the buffalo take And we got you know, I got
Speaker 1: two years doing it. And getting able to train her
Speaker 1: and be with her and have her train me was
Speaker 1: was an honor. You mentioned the training the year before this.
Speaker 1: I guess it was Ralphie five that the two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight in the Spring Game, which was her debut.
Speaker 1: Folks can see this on YouTube if you want to
Speaker 1: see her get away and a Ralphie run that not
Speaker 1: did not work out perfectly. She kind of got free,
Speaker 1: uh completely from from the handlers and kind of decided
Speaker 1: to do her own thing before they finally reined her in,
Speaker 1: not completely. We had one rope on her still and
Speaker 1: that was our saving great um. When we run Ralphie,
Speaker 1: she's typically between a thousand and fift pounds UM in
Speaker 1: the first year. Uh, this upcoming year, she'd be she's
Speaker 1: gonna be about four to five hundred pounds UM. That
Speaker 1: year her first run, we put a game day harness
Speaker 1: on her that wasn't sized right, so that was our mistake,
Speaker 1: and she stepped out of it. She stepped up over
Speaker 1: the up over the line and shook loose of four
Speaker 1: or the five ropes. So we still had one that
Speaker 1: was around her head halter that we used to kind
Speaker 1: of anchor down and get her back. I'm safe, but
Speaker 1: that was that was some of the worst case scenario.
Speaker 1: How do you get the buffalo back? You know, she's
Speaker 1: a little she's trained to go to her her trailer.
Speaker 1: She loves her trailer. It's where she gets fed. She
Speaker 1: you know, she travels, she loves hanging out in there,
Speaker 1: and so once we can get her vision on the trailer,
Speaker 1: she'll know that's her home. You know. She she likes
Speaker 1: being unfulsome field, But I wouldn't say it's it's her
Speaker 1: top ten favorite or you know her her number one.
Speaker 1: She wants to be in the trade, learn be safe,
Speaker 1: and so once we can get her vision on that,
Speaker 1: that's all the counts and then we can kind of
Speaker 1: hurt her with the rest of the people. For anyone
Speaker 1: listening who wonders about putting a wild animal in a
Speaker 1: harness in ropes and having her run around in front
Speaker 1: of a crowd and what that might do. UM, can
Speaker 1: you can you speak to that in terms of how
Speaker 1: how she's treated, how she seems to respond to this
Speaker 1: this ritual. Yeah, all live mascots across the country, from
Speaker 1: you know, from war Eagle to Mike the Tiger. UM.
Speaker 1: They have programs. They are tied into Petera and tied
Speaker 1: and everything else, and they make sure she's trained. Well,
Speaker 1: we've got a veterinary staff that's that's always looking after her. Um.
Speaker 1: She is the best trainer, sorry, the best kept buffalo
Speaker 1: in the world. I can guarantee of that. UM. She
Speaker 1: she likes working with us. She she has fun with it,
Speaker 1: especially in her younger years. She really enjoys getting out
Speaker 1: and running and honestly, being a part of the team,
Speaker 1: which is kind of fun. You can see her get
Speaker 1: excited and like waggertail like that's like kind of like
Speaker 1: a dog. When you come out to see year. She
Speaker 1: loves to come up and say hi to you. The
Speaker 1: problem with young ralphiees is that they want to play,
Speaker 1: so she'll play with you with her head and her horns,
Speaker 1: not knowing her own strength. UM. So certainly keeping her
Speaker 1: in in the best top physical form to go do
Speaker 1: what she does and keep her safe is our priority. UM.
Speaker 1: I think the one part the misconception. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people see from the outside when she runs
Speaker 1: to a trailer, we do a big loop and then
Speaker 1: about a hundred yards back into a trailer. People think
Speaker 1: we're dead ending her into a wall and like just
Speaker 1: running her into a trailer and hoping she hits the
Speaker 1: other side. Right. That's not the case. Um. She actually
Speaker 1: will turn around and and look at us before we
Speaker 1: can slam the door, which is a very fast process.
Speaker 1: So all her weight is in her front quarter of
Speaker 1: her body, your big head, big shoulders, little tiny button.
Speaker 1: So when she decides to hit the brakes, she can
Speaker 1: turn around literally on a dime and be running the
Speaker 1: other way faster than you can, faster than humans really can.
Speaker 1: So that's the biggest misconception. People think we're like bonking
Speaker 1: her into a wall in there, but she's actually turning
Speaker 1: her around and coming out towards us faster than we
Speaker 1: can handle. If you can stereotyper at least characterize that
Speaker 1: the typical Ralphie handler. There. There are men and women
Speaker 1: who do this. Uh what is it that makes them tick?
Speaker 1: It makes them want to do this. You know, we
Speaker 1: aim for a diverse team. Um. We've had people that
Speaker 1: had military backgrounds that had served, that had come out.
Speaker 1: We've got kids that are a computer science major that
Speaker 1: have never been around livestock um our goal, and we
Speaker 1: have farm kids, and we've got people from the inner city.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. We're looking for that well rounded team
Speaker 1: so that we can learn from each other as well.
Speaker 1: I think the piece that makes those diverse minds tick,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a desire to perform. We get a
Speaker 1: lot of former athletes who, you know, for one reason
Speaker 1: another didn't make the baseball squad or love see you,
Speaker 1: or you know, I just didn't have the right genetic
Speaker 1: gift um to play basketball or football or something, and
Speaker 1: they want to compete and they want to do something fun,
Speaker 1: they want to adventure. That's the piece everyone shares, so
Speaker 1: that one common thrend is that like the desire for
Speaker 1: something bigger and desire to to to be adventurous and
Speaker 1: do this. Right, that's not a normal person. You just
Speaker 1: don't walk down the street and say like, hey, hold
Speaker 1: this rope and then see what happens. Right, You got
Speaker 1: to find that right mentality who wants that that adventure.
Speaker 1: It's a fun part to to watch her run um.
Speaker 1: A lot gets baked into that. That's not just like
Speaker 1: a show piece, right, she is really a part of
Speaker 1: the team. She's kind of the team captain for us
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. And and we take and
Speaker 1: listen to her and I think, you know, we I
Speaker 1: talked a little bit on this podcast about like learning
Speaker 1: from your coworkers, learning from from people, and she has
Speaker 1: a lot to offer the Ralphie team, and and that
Speaker 1: to me was the piece that was really interesting, right,
Speaker 1: like learning patients, learning how to interact, learning trust and
Speaker 1: how to do that with an animal that you know
Speaker 1: most people look at and just think is a savage
Speaker 1: horned sprinting stampeding beast. But that's not the case, right.
Speaker 1: It thinks a lot of trust between both parties to
Speaker 1: be able to execute that run, and that it isn't
Speaker 1: early lightly. That goes through a lot of trials and tribulations, right,
Speaker 1: And that's that's something you imply to your marriage, to
Speaker 1: your business life, to your raising kids, um, you know whatever.
Speaker 1: And I think that's a unique piece about Ralphie that
Speaker 1: that gets overlooked, is that trust, that bond that's developed
Speaker 1: between us and her and the fifty people four thousand
Speaker 1: people in Polo Field. Don't short me, Chris, there's four thousand.
Speaker 1: You're missing there now. Sean reminded me that Ralphie's location
Speaker 1: is kept secret by CEU. She lives in a ranch.
Speaker 1: The address is never published so that fans and foes
Speaker 1: don't know where to find her and she can live peacefully.
Speaker 1: To take us home in this episode, A very old
Speaker 1: friend of mine with some great stories to tell. I
Speaker 1: met John Ruth in the eighties when he was the
Speaker 1: man inside the Sebastian the ibis costume at Miami, the
Speaker 1: bad boy mascot of college football. John was a student
Speaker 1: in South Carolina was hired professionally to be the mascot
Speaker 1: for baseball and football. You have him, that's very rare.
Speaker 1: Went onto the floor to Marlin's. He'll tell a story
Speaker 1: about a nearer death experience before a Sugar Bowl. That's scary.
Speaker 1: But we begin with a funny one nine Miami at
Speaker 1: Florida State Camp. Someone Ole's had that great tradition when
Speaker 1: Chief Asciola has a flaming spear, goes out to the
Speaker 1: center of the field aboard renegade and plants it in
Speaker 1: the field. So John and some buddies sat around in Miami,
Speaker 1: had a few drinks and came up with a crazy idea.
Speaker 1: Sebastian would where a firefighter's costume, bring a fire extinguisher
Speaker 1: to the field and maybe mess with that great tradition.
Speaker 1: It did not go well that night in Tallahassee. So
Speaker 1: as the game starting, I'm in the I've got the
Speaker 1: fireman's hat, the fireman's jacket, and I've got a fire extinguisher,
Speaker 1: and I got it. I actually was standing there for
Speaker 1: two or three minutes before the team came around, and
Speaker 1: Coach Erickson and the team come around, and and I
Speaker 1: really hadn't figured out exactly what I was gonna do.
Speaker 1: Yet I was still standing there going okay. You know,
Speaker 1: I figured i'd squirt the Miami fans, you know, and
Speaker 1: I'd squirt near renegade, and I see you all look,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't. I mean, I knew I wouldn't get
Speaker 1: out of Tallahassee alive if I put the spear out.
Speaker 1: But it was just kind of that Okay, y'all got
Speaker 1: your flaming spear, and we're gonna put it out, you know,
Speaker 1: that kind of a joke to the robbery. And but
Speaker 1: as as Coach Jarrickson and the team come around, and
Speaker 1: the guy from the TV says, all right, coach, five seconds,
Speaker 1: let's go, and boom. I take the first step and
Speaker 1: someone grabs me and whips me around and it's this
Speaker 1: young face right and you know, up in the face
Speaker 1: of the eyelas, and I'm thinking it's the students who
Speaker 1: opened the gate and I He's yelling, give me the
Speaker 1: fire extinguisher, give me the effing fire. You know, he's
Speaker 1: going crazy, and I'm yelling no. Of course, nobody can
Speaker 1: hear me because the baby bands playing as the team
Speaker 1: is going out. But I jerked away from him, and
Speaker 1: as I jerked away, I squeezed the trigger accidentally and
Speaker 1: sprayed water all over the chest of a Leon County
Speaker 1: share Stepanie. So I got maybe another step for two
Speaker 1: before there were five of them now and they had
Speaker 1: slammed me up against the fence. Uh, there's a wonderful
Speaker 1: picture of the Miami Herald photographer took. He just snapped
Speaker 1: real quick. It's the only known photo of it. There's
Speaker 1: no video of it. But you nowadays, there'd be five
Speaker 1: thousand people who had their their cell phones out. But
Speaker 1: they got me up against the fence, one wing to
Speaker 1: one side, one wing behind my back, and one guy
Speaker 1: had the beak and was trying to pull it off.
Speaker 1: And so there it's now you know the team is
Speaker 1: out there, but now the Miami fans are noticing what's
Speaker 1: going on, and cups of ice started coming down, and
Speaker 1: I mean they're One of the guys had his handcuffs
Speaker 1: out and was yelling, I'm gonna take you to jail,
Speaker 1: you know, And and it was getting really bad. I
Speaker 1: mean literally, can you imagine a guy of bird costume
Speaker 1: being carried out in handcuffs. But our cheer and adviser
Speaker 1: walked over and said, excuse me, gentlemen, what are you
Speaker 1: doing to our bird? And I think that kind of
Speaker 1: hit him that yeah, okay, waiting, let's calm this down.
Speaker 1: So they poured out the fire extinguisher. They literally one
Speaker 1: guy had his hand on my chest held me against
Speaker 1: the fence until Chief Assola went and did the flaming
Speaker 1: spear thing. And to this day when Sebastian and the
Speaker 1: I with, when Miami goes to play in Tallahassee, someone
Speaker 1: from Leon's County Sheriff's deputy will find Sebastian the ib
Speaker 1: was prior to the game and keep him off the
Speaker 1: field until Ossiola does his little flaming spear. I guess
Speaker 1: that's the tradition I started. Listen, you had no you
Speaker 1: had no intention of charging out to center of the
Speaker 1: football field in a bird costume and dousing the flame
Speaker 1: after we've been thrown on the ground, right, No, I,
Speaker 1: I mean I really had not even thought it that far.
Speaker 1: I really just thought, okay, well, you know, we'll have
Speaker 1: the fire extinguisher and and but yeah, I would not
Speaker 1: have gone out in the middle of the field. But
Speaker 1: I've literally had people who tell me, man, I was
Speaker 1: in Tallahassee when you grabbed that spear. He broke it
Speaker 1: over your knee and scored it down and and and
Speaker 1: then the cops grab you. And I'm like, no, the
Speaker 1: cops grabbed me before I ever got out on the field. So, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just another one of those things. And and
Speaker 1: of course, I mean Sebastian has a history of doing
Speaker 1: things with fire extinguishers. You know, obviously we do the smoke,
Speaker 1: but there were there are a few other instances where
Speaker 1: some fire extinguishers got involved. Any other stories from a
Speaker 1: career of being one of one of the bad boys
Speaker 1: of college football, Well, you know, as to say, we
Speaker 1: didn't think we were. And when it first started, um,
Speaker 1: uh you know, I asked Sebastian, I I started in
Speaker 1: My first game was Jimmy Johnson's first game. I had
Speaker 1: been brought down to Miami to work as the baseball mascot,
Speaker 1: the Miami Maniac, and had worked a couple of years. So, uh,
Speaker 1: coach and Ellenberger left and and it kind of seemed
Speaker 1: like a great fitlain you got me on salary, Let's
Speaker 1: make him do the football games as well. And so
Speaker 1: my first game in uh with with Coach Johnson, we're
Speaker 1: actually up in the meadowlands, and put the kickoff classic.
Speaker 1: We're playing number one Auburn, and uh uh, I didn't
Speaker 1: a place to change, so I knew the equipment guy
Speaker 1: and I just said, can I change somewhere in the
Speaker 1: locker rooms? He said yeah. So I'm sitting there and
Speaker 1: and I didn't know when the schedule, what the schedule was,
Speaker 1: when the team was gonna go yeah, And I got
Speaker 1: kind of stuck in the back corner as the team
Speaker 1: was came in and I'm sitting there and you know,
Speaker 1: tights and fur and the head sitting there and Coach
Speaker 1: John walking around. He's slapping guys on the helmet. Come on, god,
Speaker 1: you know, he he's motivating. Everybody Suddenly comes to me
Speaker 1: and he goes, who are you? And I, Hey, coach,
Speaker 1: I'm John Ruth. I'm your mascot. He goes, the mascot
Speaker 1: changes in the locker room and yeah, coach, it's a
Speaker 1: tradition at Miami. Well I started the tradition right then
Speaker 1: and there. So he let me stay and and that
Speaker 1: was one of the things that kind of helped over
Speaker 1: the nine years of me being uh Sebastia. The ibis
Speaker 1: was that I got I was dressing in the locker
Speaker 1: room most part of the team, and I really got
Speaker 1: to know the guys and and so that helped as
Speaker 1: as things evolved over the years. And and you know,
Speaker 1: your your football mascots are a lot tougher than the
Speaker 1: small mascots. As the maniac, he was kind of a
Speaker 1: lovable loser. But Sebastian had to be tough. And it
Speaker 1: was an amazing time to be a Miami Hurricane. And
Speaker 1: I was so fortunate to to you know, be the mascot.
Speaker 1: You know, I did have There was a newspaper article
Speaker 1: in the early nineties that I was talking about how
Speaker 1: we were the bad boys. We had some amazing guys,
Speaker 1: We had some great guys that you know, we weren't
Speaker 1: as bad as people thought. But there was one article
Speaker 1: that came out and it said, Sebastian the Ibis is
Speaker 1: the baddest of the bad. And it wasn't that I
Speaker 1: was trying to be bad. It was just I looked
Speaker 1: at at my job as upholding the traditions and and
Speaker 1: one of those traditions was just being as tough as
Speaker 1: the football team mascots back in the day versus now. John,
Speaker 1: how much more or how much less latitude do they have.
Speaker 1: How much more scrutiny is there? How do you think
Speaker 1: the job has changed two current times now? Well, I
Speaker 1: mean back when I was doing it, there worked in
Speaker 1: the rules, So we made up the rules as we
Speaker 1: went along. You know, if we did something and we
Speaker 1: had to apologize, which happened quite often, we'd apologize um
Speaker 1: and said, you know, over the years, there have been
Speaker 1: a few instances where things have happened, and uh so
Speaker 1: now there are some rules, and you know, the characters
Speaker 1: are a lot less um free to just go out
Speaker 1: and do things. So some of the mascots are trying
Speaker 1: to do things that you know, get a little more
Speaker 1: exposure and a little more attention. But yeah, the rules
Speaker 1: are a lot different now. And you know, we we
Speaker 1: just kind of made him up. Well, I don't know
Speaker 1: about the rules. The day that Cosmo the Cougar jumped
Speaker 1: on the set when college Game Day visit a b
Speaker 1: y U. You you're singing him out as a guy
Speaker 1: that's doing it. We listen. I looked over my right shoulder,
Speaker 1: Desmond Howard, it's to my right. Cosmo climbed up the
Speaker 1: scaffolding to the game day set. I said, what the hell?
Speaker 1: What is he doing. He gets down. I think we're fine,
Speaker 1: It's all good. Then he climbs back up a second time,
Speaker 1: jumps the railing, comes around behind Desmond, behind me and
Speaker 1: between myself and Courso, jumps up on the little table
Speaker 1: that I have. The entire show is on that table, cards, notes,
Speaker 1: shot sheets, jumps on the table, kicks and stuff on
Speaker 1: the floor, knocks my cup of coffee over onto the show,
Speaker 1: knocks my phone on the floor, grabs a piece of
Speaker 1: paper that I need for the show, rips it in half,
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to play off. Hey Cosmo, Hey Buddy
Speaker 1: jumps down, and finally I couldn't resist it. If it's
Speaker 1: okay with Cosmo going on with the show. We weren't
Speaker 1: talking about b y U at all in that segment, Johnny,
Speaker 1: he jumped down. I was told we didn't insist on it.
Speaker 1: He got fired on the spot from his role as
Speaker 1: as Cosmo the Cougar. I don't know if they kicked
Speaker 1: him out of school, but that was serious business. That's
Speaker 1: funny you bring up Cosmo that that was the most
Speaker 1: disruptive episode we ever had with the mascot. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's the same one, but the
Speaker 1: one who's done the dances has done pretty good. But
Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean, and that's what mascot's got to
Speaker 1: be careful. You know, you can't go a little too far. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we, like I said, we always kind of
Speaker 1: pushed it to the line. But there are many times
Speaker 1: where you know you can go too far. And that
Speaker 1: was always you left just before game they went on
Speaker 1: the road. I'll bet you had you still been Sebastian
Speaker 1: and college game day comes outside the old Orange Bowl
Speaker 1: in that parking lot, surrounded by people who were preparing
Speaker 1: for the game, I bet you you'd have been disruptive. Man. Uh,
Speaker 1: we'd have had some fun. I'm sure that what the
Speaker 1: people might understand about the art of being a mascot
Speaker 1: that challenges everything that goes into it underneath the suit
Speaker 1: that folks see on Saturday afternoons. Well, obviously the first
Speaker 1: thing is you're sweating like crazy. Uh. You know, you
Speaker 1: lose between eight and ten twelve pounds a game. Uh.
Speaker 1: I Actually the worst game I ever did was we
Speaker 1: played Florida early September noon game and I think I
Speaker 1: lost seventeen and a half pounds. And at the time
Speaker 1: I waited about for about a hundred and forty pounds.
Speaker 1: I was down to almost a hundred twenty pounds. At
Speaker 1: the end of the game. I got heat stroke, spent
Speaker 1: three days in bed um and and actually at the
Speaker 1: end of the third quarter, I stopped sweating and and
Speaker 1: it happened to be in the lot. Went to the
Speaker 1: locker room take a break, and the paramedic looked at me.
Speaker 1: There was always one and you know, outside our locker room.
Speaker 1: And he looked at me and says, you look bad
Speaker 1: and I and I said, well, I'm not sweating. He goes,
Speaker 1: we put some flips, so they put two I V
Speaker 1: s in me for about ten minutes. I emptied the
Speaker 1: bottles quickly. I went back out because we're playing the
Speaker 1: gators or what, we're beating them. So I went back
Speaker 1: out finished the game. But then I realized I had
Speaker 1: each struck and I spent three days in bed with
Speaker 1: like a hundred and three Greek fever. From your experience
Speaker 1: mentoring mascots talking to other guys who did the job,
Speaker 1: is it a case of an alter ego? Is the
Speaker 1: real person far different from the character in the costume?
Speaker 1: Very often most mascots, Yeah, there's kind of a little
Speaker 1: jackal and high type thing. Um, I always felt that
Speaker 1: my family probably said no, but um, you know, I
Speaker 1: always felt like I would do a crazier things in
Speaker 1: the costume. I mean, I mean the physical things. I'm
Speaker 1: not a very physical person outside of the costume, but
Speaker 1: you know, getting me in the in the costume, and
Speaker 1: and I mean just some of the crazy things, you know,
Speaker 1: climbing upstand letting the crowd pass you up stands, and
Speaker 1: you know, I had more knee surgeries, and I had
Speaker 1: had a bigger file in the training room, and some
Speaker 1: of the football players, Uh, you had plenty of injuries
Speaker 1: as Sebastian you you you got consistently hurt. I missed
Speaker 1: missed a couple of games. Um the most of it
Speaker 1: was was late in my career. But um, I blew
Speaker 1: out my knee at b y U And another game
Speaker 1: we were a home game, I went up in Arizona,
Speaker 1: missed the field goal that would have won the game.
Speaker 1: At the end of the game, that was I believe in.
Speaker 1: And Ryan McNeil are All American defensive back, you know,
Speaker 1: was the guy at the back when the field goal missed.
Speaker 1: And then we went reached up and high fived each other,
Speaker 1: you know, jumping high. I at the goal line. Unfortunately
Speaker 1: his body kind of pushed me back and I landed
Speaker 1: awkward and and uh RIPTI meniscus in my knees. So
Speaker 1: there I had. I had six surgeries total in my career. Uh,
Speaker 1: four of them while I was at um and uh
Speaker 1: so there was It's a good thing we had a
Speaker 1: wonderful doctor who who liked me and said, hey, come
Speaker 1: on in, we'll take care of There was one other
Speaker 1: time when John needed medical attention on the job. It
Speaker 1: was the night before the Sugar Bowl down in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: At the end of the ninety two season. Miami was
Speaker 1: set to colign with Alabama for the National Championship. It
Speaker 1: was gonna be John's last game in the Sebastian costume.
Speaker 1: So as we were walking the first block of Bourbon Street,
Speaker 1: just just off the canal. Uh We're walking and uh,
Speaker 1: I just felt something. Damn. I was at the back
Speaker 1: of the group, so most most of our group was
Speaker 1: in front of me, and so there were only a
Speaker 1: couple of people with me, and I just felt something
Speaker 1: hit me. And I've kind of bent over as if
Speaker 1: I thought it was a rock of be a bottle
Speaker 1: um and I just kind of bent over. I didn
Speaker 1: go down, you know what, been over And about fifteen
Speaker 1: feet away were some police officers on the corner there,
Speaker 1: and one of them saw me and came over and goes, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: we got our first one. And I said first one.
Speaker 1: What he says, gunshot victim? I was what? And a blood,
Speaker 1: of course, was now coming out of my face. We
Speaker 1: walk over. There was a wool Worst department store right there,
Speaker 1: and there was a mirror in the window, and he
Speaker 1: or the window itself, I guess was more of a mirror,
Speaker 1: and he held a towel against me and he pulled
Speaker 1: it away and he goes, look, entrance wound, exit wound,
Speaker 1: and well, we'll slowing down to that kid. And he
Speaker 1: goes entrance wound, exit wound, and he's pointing to your
Speaker 1: temple in your cheek, right, yeah, the bullet had I
Speaker 1: had just turned my head. We were doing the fight
Speaker 1: song with those little New Year's eveborns, you know that
Speaker 1: that that that that that, and I just turned my
Speaker 1: head and the bullet grazed entered right next to my
Speaker 1: h My eyebrow went under the skin hugs the own
Speaker 1: and then exited right here on the middle of my cheek,
Speaker 1: then grazed my shoulder. I still have the jacket that
Speaker 1: had had a powder burn, and my shoulder actually had
Speaker 1: a It almost entered my chest the second time. So
Speaker 1: when we go to the hospital, they stitched me up.
Speaker 1: I think it was a total of eleven stitches, five
Speaker 1: on the top, six on the on the cheek. So
Speaker 1: the next night, uh is the National Championship game, and
Speaker 1: uh so, prior to the game, I've got this little
Speaker 1: bandage on my face and I'm walking around the sidelines
Speaker 1: as you're in costume. Now now you're now you're out
Speaker 1: of costume. Just prior to I like to kind of
Speaker 1: check out the you know, the stadium, where where the exits.
Speaker 1: How can I, you know, take a break and things
Speaker 1: like that. So I'm walking around and the game was
Speaker 1: on ABC and Bob Greasy was doing the game. I've
Speaker 1: got to know Bob. When he started his broadcasting career,
Speaker 1: he did some University of Miami baseball games. So Bob
Speaker 1: and I start talking and he's I'm telling him the story,
Speaker 1: and other reporters started gathering around, and the report I
Speaker 1: believe it was from the AP walks up and you
Speaker 1: know it's listening to the story. He goes, well, you're
Speaker 1: not gonna work the night's game, are you? And I said,
Speaker 1: it's going to take a hell of a lot more
Speaker 1: in the bullet hold of the head to keep me
Speaker 1: out of this game. And my mother had always said
Speaker 1: I was the luckiest person on earth, and literally the
Speaker 1: doctor said I was the luckiest person on earth that
Speaker 1: you know, could have taken just millimeters away, could have
Speaker 1: taken out the nerves in my face and paralyzed me,
Speaker 1: or you know. So I kind of looked at it
Speaker 1: as as as God was looking out for me there,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I just kind of took it
Speaker 1: as another example of enjoy every day. Isn't that a
Speaker 1: perfect message to end on? Enjoy every day, count our blessings,
Speaker 1: be grateful for all the things that we have, including
Speaker 1: the things we loved by college football that we didn't
Speaker 1: have a year ago. I hope this has got you
Speaker 1: pumped up for this season. I had. I know that
Speaker 1: I certainly am my thanks to all my guests, Thanks
Speaker 1: to the sports information departments that all miss Washington and
Speaker 1: Colorado and the band directors socond Ohio State and Donovan
Speaker 1: Welles at Beuthun Cookman. Thanks to Jason Whitekeel for his
Speaker 1: editing skills and most important and next to my co
Speaker 1: executive producer Jennifer Dempster, we are certainly excited about the
Speaker 1: episodes to come in season three. Invite you to subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate and review, and in the meantime enjoy all of
Speaker 1: your college football saturreays.