Pep Rally

We arrived at the Westin just in time to see the football team boarding buses for who knows where. Perhaps it was for a brief tour of the Rogers Centre where tomorrow’s game is to be played or a quick work out. Where ever they were going, it wasn’t going to be long for they had to be back in two hours for the pep rally.

Inside the lobby of the Westin Harbour Castle there was a sea of scarlet. We inquired as to where we might purchase some souvenir shirts such as we had already seen and were told the guys would be setting up in the lobby around three…about an hour or so from now. With that in mind, we sat down near the bar to have a beer and a glass of wine.

Across the room, I thought I saw a relative of ours, Glen, the husband of one of Terry’s cousins and a dentist who had graduated from and did some instruction in the Rutgers system. Terry poo-pooed the idea but we later ran into him, his dad, his wife (Terry’s cousin) and their daughter. They had driven up from NJ last night stopping in Niagra Falls overnight. Glen’s brother had driven up Friday morning and was over taking a tour of the Rogers Centre.

We purchased a couple of T-shirts when the guys got their little booth set up and then headed over to the ballroom where the pep rally was to be held.

The crowd seemed to follow us and soon had the foyer to the ballroom packed shoulder to shoulder.



Things got so bad that they had to shut the escalator off because people would arrive at the top and have no place to go.

As the magic hour approached, the marching band and color guard arrived by means of the stationary escalators.




When they finally allowed us to enter the ballroom, we found the marching band arrayed at the far end and a stage beneath a big Rutgers banner to the side.




The cheerleaders and dance team did a couple of routines that could only be described as gymnastics to music.




Several recent Rutgers graduates, FB Brian Leonard, QB Ryan Hart and TE Dave Kelly were introduced by the emcees, the radio voices of Rutgers’ Football on WCTU. Each got to make a little speech that basically said thanks for the support. It means a lot and please keep it up. (Although Brian Leonard got a wee bit emotional during his.)



Then the marching band struck up the fight song and the current players mounted the stage to the cheers of “Up stream Red team, Red team up stream, Hoo-rah, Hoo-rah, Rutgers Rah!”



As they entered, it was interesting to see many of the players taking pictures of the crowd. With 8000+ fans in town for the game I guess they were a bit surprised to see how many were in that ballroom!

Coach Schiano made his way to the front and briefly addressed the crowd. (Briefly because he seems to be on the verge of losing his voice.)



(Damn, but it’s difficult to get a decent picture over distance in a flash environment!)

A few words from team captains and another rendition of the fight song and then the players were on their way for the night.



The band would head north to Nathan Phillips Square for a battle of the bands. (Terry and I opted out to go down the water front to Capt. John’s for a very nice seafood dinner.)