FB: Empire 8

[AUPepBand]

The Alfies, Alfred's answer to the Oscars, will be held tonight, this year following a '50s theme. Student voting ended yesterday.

AU football team (8-2, E8 champs) are vying for an Alfie as AU's most outstanding athletic team. Won't be easy, however, as AU softball team (currently 30-4, 11-1 E8) has won 17 straight games and is also on the ballot. Both teams certainly deserving of the honor.

Also up for an Alfie....for Campus Spirit by an Organization...AU Pep Band! There are four other groups nominated.

And finally, AU Habitat is also nominated for an Alfie for Best Community Service Project (Spring Break House Build).

On Saxon Warriors!

[sjfcards]

Four days without a post on the E8 bored.

Pep had forgotten about some vids that Pep Jr. had made during the AU-Hartwick game at Homecoming 2007. Just playing them has Pep pumped.



On Saxon Warriors!

Fisher really needs a Pep Band. Adds so much to the college football experience.

[dlippiel]

Four days without a post on the E8 bored.

Pep had forgotten about some vids that Pep Jr. had made during the AU-Hartwick game at Homecoming 2007. Just playing them has Pep pumped.



On Saxon Warriors!

Fisher really needs a Pep Band. Adds so much to the college football experience.

dlip concurs about how awesome pep bands are and how they improve the college football experience for all.

[sjfcards]

Since we are on the subject, what is the feeling of the board on the best place to watch a DIII football game in Upstate NY?

I think there are a lot of quality options.

[pg04]

I'm a big fan of watching a game at Ithaca. 

[theoriginalupstate]

I'm a big fan of watching a game at Ithaca. 

I agree, the back drop looking from the home bleachers is amazing...

[sjfcards]

I'm a big fan of watching a game at Ithaca. 

I agree, the back drop looking from the home bleachers is amazing...

The lake adds a lot to the game for sure. From the other side of the field it is not the most attractive thing to look at, but IC has to be high on the list. I like Cortland as well. Obviously the stadium, by itself, is enough to make a trip to C-town worth it.

[AUPepBand]

I'm a big fan of watching a game at Ithaca.  

Pep thoroughly enjoys the atmosphere at Butterfield but seldom, if ever, the results.    

Pep is looking forward to this fall's trip to RPI's new crib...Kazoo has billed it "Acronym Stadium." Pep would suggest it may be comparable to Cortland's stadium. But the stadium alone does not make for the game experience, as suggested by other posters. A big stadium at 30% capacity falls flat, whereas an overflow crowd at Growney or Merrill can be sensational.

Years ago, Pep was somewhat intimidated when Ithaca would bring its pep band to Merrill Field, because a band can seemingly "set the tone" of a game. Over the years, Pep pleaded with AU's band director(s) to get a pep band started. It just wasn't a priority to them. So, 10 years ago, Pep started a kazoo band and, once Pep was on the AU payroll, the band was begun in earnest. Last night, the AU Pep Band, after being nominated each year for nearly a decade, won its first-ever ALFIE award for Campus Spirit by an Organization:



Congratulations to all the musicians, over the years, who have hopped on the bandwagon to support our Saxons!

[AUPepBand]

Pep's 3,000th post:

[fisheralum91]

Hmm- best----there are a lot of good ones--
i can tell you some of the worst-
in no particular order: Brockport-ick all around bad, Utica College-blech nice field bad layout, Hartwick-is that a prison yard?,

[Bombers798891]

As someone in a wheelchair I hate, hate, hate going to Butterfield (Oh the irony). There's nothing like pushing yourself up a massive hill and then being forced to sit in the walkway that's two feet wide because the college can't put a handrail in the bleachers to assist people in climbing up. (Not that the weather ever makes that trickier than normal)

St. John Fisher on the other hand, has got railings to hold onto if you want to sit in the bleachers, and special reserved seats for people in wheelchairs on days where the stadium is full. Top notch

Nothing can beat the view from the top of the Butterfield bleachers on a beautiful day, especially because of the way the bleachers are naturally raised up from the field, but I'm still putting Fisher miles ahead for just not being a pain in the @ss to get there

[AUKaz00]

Congrats to Pep and the band on their Alfie and getting a shout-out from the football team during their acceptance speech for best sports team.

On Saxon Warriors!

[sjfcards]

Hmm- best----there are a lot of good ones--
i can tell you some of the worst-
in no particular order: Brockport-ick all around bad, Utica College-blech nice field bad layout, Hartwick-is that a prison yard?,

If I was saying which stadium I am not a huge fan of, I would have to add Buff State to the group you mentioned.

One stadium I like is Fauver Stadium at U of R. I know the field is not the best, but I like the old school look and feel of the place. The setting is nice, and whenever I have been there it has been full (mostly because it is a Courage Bowl game, but still.)

[AUPepBand]

So Pep was taking the Bandwagon for a spin the other day, while the "other van" was getting an idiot light checked out. So Pep was thinking again about what might be an appropriate "send-off" for this storied van that has taken Pep far and wide ever so faithfully since just before 9/1/01.

Pep has considered:

1) Park it somewhere "down by the river" where he can live in it during retirement
2) Enter it in the Demolition Derby at the Allegany County Fair in July
3) Drive it back to its roots...Oregon, although most of its early life was on straight and narrow Iowa roads
4) Buy an "anywhere" bus ticket for insurance, then drive the Bandwagon across the country this summer, hitting every state possible and when it dies, take a bus back to Saxonville.



Current odometer reading: 318,???

Pep welcomes his fellow E8 posters' thoughts.

[pg04]

Hmm- best----there are a lot of good ones--
i can tell you some of the worst-
in no particular order: Brockport-ick all around bad, Utica College-blech nice field bad layout, Hartwick-is that a prison yard?,

If I was saying which stadium I am not a huge fan of, I would have to add Buff State to the group you mentioned.

One stadium I like is Fauver Stadium at U of R. I know the field is not the best, but I like the old school look and feel of the place. The setting is nice, and whenever I have been there it has been full (mostly because it is a Courage Bowl game, but still.)

I Think Buffalo State's is just the absolute worst!!  Plus the location, is not the best ---   I'm not sure if it's changed, but their press box was the worst that I was ever in...