I am a member of The Pride of the Sunshine. For eight-plus hours a week, I pour my blood, sweat and tears into band practice so that I, along with the other 364 members of the band, can help cheer on our football team each Saturday.
As members of the band, we all know how important it is to support the football team, no matter how badly a game may be going. I admit sometimes it is hard to stay positive — to keep cheering for our team even when it looks as if we are going to lose.
But no matter what the final score is, the band always ends each game with the fight song and the alma mater. It’s one of our traditions because we know we can’t only support the team when things go well. In fact, the team needs our support most when it is losing.
At the end of every win, the football players and the cheerleaders come over to the band and sing along to the alma mater, after which the band joins them in singing the fight song. The band then chants “Muschamp, Muschamp” over and over as he comes up to shake Dr. Watkins’ hand. In those moments, I feel an overwhelming amount of team spirit as we all come together to celebrate our school and our team.
Unfortunately, we cannot win every game. And when we lose, the team doesn’t come over to the band to sing with us. Instead, they immediately head to the locker room, heads down, as the band plays on without them. This has bothered me as long as I have been at UF. Why doesn’t the team share in school spirit with us after a loss? I know that it is disappointing for the team to lose, but every Gator fan is disappointed as well.
The score shouldn’t affect our team spirit. Win or lose, I will always be a Gator fan. Our team could be 0-10 and I would still be proud to support our team. Losing doesn’t make the team any less important to the school. Losing doesn’t mean that we are not going to cheer on the team. Losing doesn’t mean that we should forget our school spirit. Instead of lamenting a loss, the team and the fans should celebrate our school’s tradition of excellence. We should all join together as one team, one school, one Gator Nation to sing at the end of every game.
We are all Gators, no matter the score — “In all kinds of weather, we all stick together for F-L-O-R-I-D-A.”
Allison Kane is a UF classical studies sophomore. This guest column ran on page 7 on 11/8/2013 under the headline "Here’s a lesson in team spirit"
