silver2005's trip report thread

[silver2005]

UC vs OSU

The high school game we were at out of courtesy towards our hosting band. We injected our own cheers in to pass the time. Most of them involve the phrase 'let's go cats', which worked well in our favor as the team was named the Patriots, often called 'Pats' for short. The student crowd was rather rude to us, mainly due to the fact that there was a clear lack of older folks, aka parents, at the game. Some of the crap they pulled would have gotten people from my HS suspended or more.

Didn't get too many shots outside the stadium/Skull Session during OSU as we were on the move a lot between getting there and going between performance locations.

Here are a few from the Skull Session.

This was the high school band that played before it began. They were really energetic and the crowd got into it. They had quite the repertoire for a high school band to fill in 45+ minutes.

The high school's tubas having some fun.

The place was packed for the concert. OSU's St John's Arena is roughly the size of UC's Fifth Third Arena, though OSU's stacks them up. I think UC's might be bigger. Keep in mind this is their old basketball arena. The one they actually use is much bigger. Its still amazing to see how much support TBDBITL gets.

The OSU Band making their entrance. They pretty much crowd the entrance, both here and at the stadium before they enter, drums pounding away. You can be a good distance away and just feel the air pressure off the drums on your chest. They sure let you know they're coming. For their fight songs and Hang On Sloopy, they just fill that arena with sound.

A closer look at them, particularly their drum major.

UC grad and OSU head coach Urban Meyer. The team comes in and the coach makes a rally cheer before each Skull Session.

The band after their infamous ramp entrance.

Ohio Stadium is HUGE! It was already full by pre-game.

Another band shot.

Paying homage to the away team. They may be able to play some of our fight song, but there is a 16th note running pattern which the baritones play which they missed. Hey, gotta poke a little fun at them.

In this shot, I was trying to show something weird the OSU band does. I think this is just for Script Ohio, but whenever they turn or make crossovers between lines when writing Ohio out, they made these snappy horn pops. This is probably one of the reasons they have to memorize the steps for this drill. You can see it a little bit in the far left.

That entire section at that end of the stadium is the student section. There is a massive wall of sound that pours from that side when the crowd gets into it. I can't imagine what it was like for the UC offense. When the stadium does the O-H-I-O spelling cheer, the students start it with panels in the shape of a big O and the spelling carries out counter-clockwise.

Script Ohio. I wish we had seats down the sidelines as I really wanted to see it clearly in person. The I-dotter is announced during the Skull Session and his name and picture are displayed on the scoreboard. They are chosen from tubas who have been in the band 4 or more years. On occasion, special guests will join the I-dotter, but its very rare.

The Buckeye football team takes the field. Our director conducted the National Anthem, which made me proud to see. There is a HUGE American flag hoisted by the ROTC in the end zone on the curved end of the stadium, the flag seen in the bottom of this picture.

Brutus.

The Bearcat! He does come to all OSU vs UC games armed with a nutcracker. Unfortunately, he didn't whip it out until well into the 2nd half while the Bearcats were getting smoked, a point where I stopped caring to take pictures. There were a fair amount of UC fans at the game, though it was this little spot of black next to us in the giant sea of scarlet and grey.

The calm before kick off.

The score a bit into the 3rd quarter. This was when UC seemed to be getting momentum back, which is a funny thing for a team playing away in an environment such as OSU. I never cheered so hard, at least since I went with the band to see UC play Syracuse in NYC for the Big East Tournament and whipped them. I really thought we could pull off the upset, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Had a great time regardless of the score. I kind of want to be there for an OSU/Michigan game.

[silver2005]

Just so people are aware, I have more pictures on the previous page from some other stuff in September. I separated them into 3 posts, and got paged in the middle of it.

[Fisher]

Go Bucks!

[silver2005]

I have a request to the KIC membership. I'll be doing research for things to do and places to eat in Annapolis for the Military Bowl.

Some criteria is in order for dining tips-

1. Somewhat on a budget, we (the band) get $30-40 a day and have to spread it out to cover all our meals

2. nothing too specialized or fancy

[silver2005]

I usually post a PTR of the bowl trip, but it'll probably be a few days after I get back. I won't be taking a computer as I won't really have time to use it, plus I'm afraid I'll forget it with how hectic Saturday morning will be (have to be out of the hotel at 6 am).

And above all else, LET'S GO BEARCATS!

EDIT: I've gotten really, really sick the last few days, so I won't be able to go on the trip.

[silver2005]

I'm posting this from Hartford, only a few hours after we touched down. We're in a Comfort Inn which is decent, including nice breakfast options including complimentary breakfast at the hotel and a Denny's down the street.

Most of the things we can do involve historical societies and art museums. I think we're contemplating vising a mall as well, but its a nice city so far. We'll be downtown tomorrow night with some of us going to watch the USF vs UConn game to root for the Bulls since we've come to the consensus that we don't want UC playing the Huskies.

[silver2005]

Thinking about going to Kings Island on 1 of the next few Fridays (May 1st, 8th or 15th). I want to go on my own to get out all the emotions after my last UC undergrad band concert. I'll be in need of a good ride session, that's for sure.

[silver2005]

Kings Island Trip Report-  June 12, 2015

 

Went up for a pretty decent day all things considered.  It started out pretty hot and humid, then a big rain storm hit around dinner, but overall, the crowds were on the low side today.  Low as in walk on Invertigo and Banshee later in the day.  Congo Falls had a rather strange crew as they  were really dragging.  They stacked 3 boats at a time at one point.  It had a line longer than Backlot at one point. The rest of the crews were stellar.  Diamondback even hit interval and didn't stack for a good portion of the day!  I used that to my advantage as I probably rode it more on this trip than I did almost all of last season.  The late rain made Beast and Racer run like a dream.  I think the longest wait I had all day was 20 minutes for Delirium, Beast at night, and a late day Diamondback ride.  Not too shabby.  

 

I tried Juke Box Diner for the first time in a while and highly recommend it.  The burger was well cooked and it was very tasty.  I think its one of my favorite things to eat outside of the Reds HOF Grille.  Ate a pretzel in a very packed Festhaus during the bit of rain late in the day (which shut down all the rides for about an hour). 

 

I'll comment on shows more on other threads, but Cirque and Off the Charts both lived upto expectations.   For Cirque, I dig the new soundtrack as well as some of the new bits.  OTC was heaven.  Love the sound of a good horn section (which, KI has a heck of a group), and even a simple musical review sounds sooo much better with live instrumentation. 

 

The only other hiccups were WindSeeker and Drop Tower being down all day and Vortex throwing a fit or the later half of the day.  

[VortexBFForever]

And Vortex's "fit" was what cost me my traditional ride!!

 

I enjoyed your report. I'm writing my June 12 report right now!

[acfinn]

I'm posting this from Hartford, only a few hours after we touched down.  We're in a Comfort Inn which is decent, including nice breakfast options including complimentary breakfast at the hotel and a Denny's down the street.

 

Most of the things we can do involve historical societies and art museums.  I think we're contemplating vising a mall as well, but its a nice city so far.  We'll be downtown tomorrow night with some of us going to watch the USF vs UConn game to root for the Bulls since we've come to the consensus that we don't want UC playing the Huskies.  

As a member of UC athletics I want to say thank you for your support!

[silver2005]

 

I'm posting this from Hartford, only a few hours after we touched down.  We're in a Comfort Inn which is decent, including nice breakfast options including complimentary breakfast at the hotel and a Denny's down the street.

 

Most of the things we can do involve historical societies and art museums.  I think we're contemplating vising a mall as well, but its a nice city so far.  We'll be downtown tomorrow night with some of us going to watch the USF vs UConn game to root for the Bulls since we've come to the consensus that we don't want UC playing the Huskies.  

As a member of UC athletics I want to say thank you for your support!

 

Its been my absolute pleasure serving 9 years in the University of Cincinnati Bearcat Bands.  Been to so many great sporting events and trips, played some great music, met great people, everything was great.  It got me through the most difficult time in my life as well.  I can't imagine where I'd be without that.   Thank you and the rest of the UC AD for your increasing interests in the band.   Both Mike Bohn and President Ono have been a great source of support.  

 

If I could put in a request for my friends still in band, please try to get them to the Miami (OH) game this year!