Jessica Lee

"Fire and intensity. You can't take that for granted! You've got to do it tonight. Do it for the crowd. Do it for yourself. Go and get it!"

No, this was not the closing remark to John Mackovic's pump-up speech before UA's last home football game against Washington State.

Rather, they were the powerful and passionate words of Professor Jay Rees, director of the Pride of Arizona Marching Band. Standing atop a short cement wall in the courtyard of the Ina E. Giddings building, Rees commanded the forceful sound emanating from the 250-member ensemble warm-up.

It is forty-five minutes 'til game time.

Hundreds of hours of practice were falling onto the shoulders of the Pride of Arizona ÷ it was the first time they were to play their entire three-piece "The Music of Red Hot Chili Peppers" show during the halftime performance.

The show is more than a bunch of college kids clad in sparkly red and blue running around on the field while everyone else buys a hotdog. Rather, the performance is an artistic expression that "illustrates our search for passion and individuality in an era of self-worth being overshadowed by superficial media images · we hope our music and energy can inspire everyone to search for the truth of the unique individual and the love that will make all the difference."

That's right. Our band is a bit deeper than just showing up to football and basketball games to pipe out "Bear Down Arizona."

Nor should their role as the "pep" of the game be undermined. The band creates the essential atmosphere at football games, and is the only entity that brings the crowd to their feet clapping. Yet, in the past four years, the band has been unanimously attacked by writers at the Arizona Daily Wildcat such as Ryan Finley, Connor Doyle, Maxx Wolfson, Shaun Clayton and Bryan Rosebalm.

The most recent unwarranted assault on the band was in last week's Family Weekend edition courtesy of sports writer, Jeff Lund: "I'm not sure which is worse, being stuck in such a poor seat next to the alternative marching band that butchers all the songs we used to like to hear on the radio, or having ma and pa cover their ears and hide their eyes from the occurrences in the student section."

Adam Melvin, chemical engineering senior and section leader of the cymbals, responded strongly when asked what he thought about the Wildcat sports desk. "People don't know what it is. Simple-minded people that don't appreciate how much work we put into it. I think sports editors get sick of criticizing the team, so they have to start picking on the band because we are the easiest target."

Drum major Scott Matlick, music education sophomore, was also eager to respond. "We put in a lot of work. I don't think an organization that works as hard as we do should be gotten rid of." He was interested if they would write the same things if "they were to come out for a week and put in the amount of work."

That's right. They double-dog-dare you sports monkeys.

On game weeks, the band members put in over twenty hours of intense rehearsal time. A study was done that measured the heart rate of marching tenor drummers and compared their aerobic levels to other college athletes. The results were surprising to the public ÷ those drummers were in better shape than most jocks, and comparable to basketball players. Hum, I wonder if Luke Walton could run formations while carrying thirty-five pound drums and manage to keep the 64th note beat? Rees strongly responds to the criticism that our band is worthless and should be done away with, "It's crazy. College bands are a big part of what creates the atmosphere, and the Pride of Arizona is widely considered one of the best."

Performing at sporting events is only a part of what the band does. They are involved in charity events, play for the children at Casa de los Ni–os, and do high school outreach.

David Rodenkirch, director of marching percussion summed it up well. "It is too bad those writers are so short-sighted because we are doing an extremely incredible and useful thing with our time, having fun, becoming quality people and doing things for others."

As the performance nears the end, their instruments quiet and the band begins singing lyrics from RHCP's "My Friends" "to reject the cold, impersonal aspects of society and to commit to being passionate in all that we do."

Together they sing: "I love all of you/ Hurt by the cold/ So hard and lonely too/ When you don't know yourself."