FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

amh63 · September 24, 2013, 09:00:27 PM

Thanks guys. Have been out of touch! Who would have thought...do not even know Brown's mascot

gridiron · September 24, 2013, 09:10:22 PM

Brown's mascot is the Bears.
Brown's overall record past 15 years: 92-57 (.612)
Brown's Ivy only record past 15 years: 64-41 (.612)
Brown's Ivy League titles past 15 years: 3 (1999, 2005, 2008)

Harvard usually dominates league play.

AUPepBand · September 24, 2013, 10:00:37 PM

Quote from: gridiron on September 24, 2013, 09:10:22 PM
Brown's mascot is the Bears.
Brown's overall record past 15 years: 92-57 (.612)
Brown's Ivy only record past 15 years: 64-41 (.612)
Brown's Ivy League titles past 15 years: 3 (1999, 2005, 2008)

Harvard usually dominates league play.

Alright, alright, since you guys are talking about Brown, Pep is going to have to tell a Brown story. First of all, Pep's father-in-law flunked out of Brown, or, as Pep likes to say, "Pep's father-in-law flunked out of one of the finest institutions in the land!"

So shortly after founding the Pep Band at Alfred University, Pep was with Pep Jr. in the Big Apple one weekend in November when the Bears were playing at Columbia. Pep was curious as to what the bands did in the Ivy League so we took the subway to the northern tip of Manhattan to catch the game. Sat on the Columbia side for the first half to get a look at Columbia's band....just a small, jovial bunch of jokers that made a little music. Pep wasn't much impressed with the band musically but they seemed to be having fun.

The second half was spent on the Brown side where there was a much more disciplined band. When the Bears scored (and they scored rather often against the lowly Lions), the band played the fight song, then turned around and continued singing the fight song directed at the fans, played it again and then had a member go down front and do as many push-ups as the points the team had scored, with everyone counting out loud. The routine carried on through the kick-off and three or four plays into the next series of plays. Now that was a celebration! It was then that Pep caught the idea to extend the AU Pep Band's celebration of Saxon touchdowns.

Then, a couple years ago, Pep was making plans for a trip to Bridgewater, MA for the Saxons' ECAC bowl game, when he heard a news account of the Columbia University band being "banned" from the Lions' season finale against Brown. Seems the band had changed the words to its fight song and were mocking their Lions in a loss at Cornell . Well, it seems the band leader repented and the band was allowed to play at the Columbia-Brown game, held the same afternoon as the Alfred-Bridgewater contest.

Pep was unable to muster any AU student musicians but had a couple band alumni in the Boston area who agreed to play at the Bridgewater game. AU fell behind 10-0 before the alumni musicians arrived, midway through the second quarter. Once the band arrived, the Saxons righted themselves, marched to their first TD; held the Bears to a three-and-out, then blocked the punt and returned it for a TD. By halftime, AU was ahead, 21-10 and went on to a 41-10 win. Without the band, it was Bears 10, Saxons 0; with the band, it was Saxons 41, Bears 0. Meanwhile back in Manhattan, the Lions, supported by its little repentant pep band, rallied to defeat a 7-2 Brown squad, 35-28 in overtime, for their ONLY win of the season.

On Saxon Warriors!

amh63 · September 25, 2013, 10:02:31 AM

Pep...interesting post! Guess my take is that bands can influence games, I have been trying to get hold of a t- shirt that depicts how one band DID actually impact directly a game for years. The game was the big one between Cal and Stanford. The band rushed onto the field before the end of the game and allowed a player to score. The band acted as cover for the runner. A Cal grad promised to get a hold of one for me. Anyway, you seemed to enjoy your time in "Spanish Harlem" watching a game on a field built over the gym. Talking about bands, Cornell has the ONLY marching band in the Ivies. I do not know of any pep bands in the Nescac. Amherst has had small bands appear over the years. I remember when Amherst hired local HS bands to play. Rumor has it that there might be a student band this year...maybe for the Bowdoin home game...helping to dedicate the new field.
Question to posters on this "hump" day before any previews are posted...what conference schools have pep bands for games?

madzillagd · September 25, 2013, 12:09:42 PM

Being out here in Cal/Stanford country I've seen "The Play' t-shirts many times over the years, not so much anymore.

amh63 · September 25, 2013, 01:44:13 PM

Mad...thanks for the pix. Saw the "original" t- shirt...not in Cal blue on a classmate who lives out there. Some day, one of my sources will come through.

plus Karma

dman · September 25, 2013, 01:47:56 PM

mucho macho, moo cow, marching band.....

quicksilver · September 25, 2013, 06:24:02 PM

Here's a great article about the three O'Malley brothers (Sean for Bowdoin and Jake and Brian for Amherst) facing off against each other in the Bowdoin-Amherst game this Saturday in Amherst. It turns out that their father is an Amherst alum and their mother a Bowdoin alum.

gridiron · September 25, 2013, 09:23:02 PM

What day does the trash talking start about the upcoming weekend games???

AlDavis · September 25, 2013, 09:41:48 PM

I will start it up.....Did anyone check out the Williams Boxscore.....strait garbage and 45 Williams players did not take one snap......my barking since July saying Williams was 4 - 4 at best and maybe 3 - 5 if they get smashed by Bates is off.....they looking at 2 - 6.....Be very , very , very afraid of Wesleyan.

AlDavis · September 25, 2013, 09:46:21 PM

Quote from: AlDavis on September 24, 2013, 11:42:23 AM
Don Best Sports

Wesleyan - 24 1/2
Hamilton 54

Colby 49
Middlebury - 14 1/2

Bowdoin 46
Amherst - 13 1/2

Tufts 52 1/2
Bates - 23

Williams 51
Trinity - 17 1/2

heavy spreads this week , nothing exciting is happening this week....all blowouts.....you can tease Williams up to + 23 1/2 if you want to.

amh63 · September 25, 2013, 09:48:54 PM

The Amherst preview of the Bowdoin game is posted. Need to go to the Amherst website athletic page and then the football page. Just came up but was put there, I believe due to two other feature stories posted. Enjoy....do not know has any trash talking type comments. Have not read myself.

gridiron · September 25, 2013, 09:56:00 PM

Figured we could count on AlDavis to get us rolling. Excellent start.

Without question Williams is teetering on the brink this season. If offered a 4 and 4 record right now by the football gods, the Ephs would be well advised to take it. A loss this weekend and the team will be at .500 since their 8 and 0 season a couple of years ago.

AlDavis · September 25, 2013, 10:10:02 PM

Looked like pound for pound Bates was right there with Trinity , Bates is one team I would not look forward to playing , only problem with that offense is that when they get down 2 scores they can't come back....very solid win for Trinity ....not impressed with Amherts body of work at Hamilton and hard to tell on Middlebury....Wesleyan offense was unstoppable in the first half with record stats and the night game was spectacular with a huge crowd for Nescac standards.

gridiron · September 25, 2013, 10:20:11 PM

Only one upset last week (Colby) and a near one by Bates. With the spreads posted this week, any/all upsets deserve significant notice.

Thinking some flaws in last week's winning teams were masked by competition that wasn't quite ready yet. Here's hoping there are a few upsets---much more interesting to talk about the following week.