While most people would think of that title as something related to Christmas time….to anyone who has ever been a member of the Marching Southerners would have to agree — this time of year is the beginning of the most wonderful time of year and of our lives.
It’s hard to believe that 23 years ago, I packed up everything I owned in my 1983 Buick Skylark and headed to Jacksonville, Alabama to attend band camp with the Marching Southerners. I still remember the nervousness, the freedom of moving away from home, the pride, and the anticipation of what was ahead.
My rookie year of Southerners was at a time when the upperclassmen could still haze. While as I think back of it now, it wasn’t that bad being a newbie on campus…however, back then I was a little shocked of all that I had to do to become a member of this wonderful family.
Being a Trumpet “Slug”, we had to get a white t-shirt and put the word “SLUG” on it and wear it every single day of band camp without washing (for the record, I still have mine STILL unwashed and stored in a ziplock bag), wear a set of antennas on our heads, our mouthpiece had to be hung on a string, and we had to steal a salt shaker from a local eatery to carry in our pocket. I got mine from McDonalds and being naive freshman, I was sure they were going to put me in jail for stealing it.
We would practice for hours in Mason, outside in sectionals, and outside on the concrete in front of the Pete. Our tans were fabulous, the music was amazing, the first time we practiced in the stadium left me wided eyed, and the day I received my uniform was one of my proudest.
But nothing…absolutely nothing prepares a Southerner for the feeling you get the first time you step off onto the field and perform for the amazing fans of Jacksonville State. To say you’re a rock star as a member of a several hundred person group is the understatement of a lifetime.
You are a SOUTHERNER and now a family member of something that bonds you with thousands of former and future Southerners to come. Only these individuals know what it’s like to go thru this process and to not only be apart of something magical on the field but be able to portray this magic to the fans in the stands.
Over the weekend, our newest members of our family arrived on campus to learn our traditions including “Salvation” and “Stars Fell” and the vets returned to campus yesterday. The music is in the air…EVERYWHERE!
You can’t drive around Jacksonville without hearing the sectionals, hearing the metronome counting out the beat for the drum line, flags twirling in perfect motion, and ballerinas kicking without ceasing. It’s wonderful! It let’s you know that the Southerner’s season is almost here and while we’re at it, we’ll let the guys play some football too.
Why yes Virginia, the Southerners are back in town and it IS the most wonderful time of the year!
(Source: getcockyjsu.com)
It’s been a pretty well known fact that Jacksonville State’s Volleyball program has been on fire in recent years! Fantastic finishes in OVC Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances to their credit — they resignate our cheer that “It is GREAT to be a Jax State Gamecock!”
Apparently even Auburn has been watching the JSU Volleyball program as this summer they hired our coach Rick Nold to lead the Tigers/War Eagles/Plainsmen to the promised land in the SEC.
So add a little more excitement with the hiring of Joseph Goodson to lead our Lady Gameocks and take us to the next level.
Coach Goodson arrives here from coaching at University of Wisconsin — Green Bay but is actually from our neighboring state of Georgia. A Graduate of Berry College, he has coached at Georgia Tech, Emory, and UGA. We are excited about what he has to offer and what it will mean to continuing the explosion of our program in a national level!
Get Cocky! wanted to celebrate our Volleyball program as well so we have developed a new volleyball line that is available now online and in our store on the square! This line is not only in our regular t-shirts but also in women’s cut t-shirts for our Lady Gamecocks!
So we would like to challenge all of our students, alumni, and friends to “Pack The Pete” this season and lets cheer our Lady Gamecocks all the way to the championship!
GO GAMECOCKS!
(Source: GetCockyJSU.com)
This week we had out Grand Opening Celebration — complete with Ribbon Cutting!
As I have said before, this has been a 20 year dream and there has been so many amazing “firsts” along this path — the first design, first shirt printed, first sale, first time we walked into what is now our shop, first pieces of the wood floor put down, first day of “move in”, the first day we opened the doors….
But this was THE Grand Opening — the day we could celebrate that we did it — we took this from idea and dream to reality. Filled with food, friends (both old and new), and fellowship and it was an awesome day!
President Meehan and Cocky himself joined our staff, friends, media, and customers for our Ribbon Cutting of officially opening the store!
While we enjoyed our cake (made by our good friend Sharon Alexander with Sweet Sensations of Newnan, Georgia) and chocolate fountain with lots of dippers (including red stuffed Oreos for the occasion!), Cocky ran outside and went up and down the square pointing our store out to drivers and pedestrians passing by!
We are so proud of our store, proud to be Gamecocks, and proud to be in Jacksonville!
It’s amazing to think that the year has flown by so quickly that we’re actually approaching Spring Break next week! It’s been a fantastic few weeks at the store and we thank everyone for being so welcoming to us in Jacksonville!
Many of you have asked us about Spring Break hours — we will be closing on Friday, March 12th, at 3 pm and will reopen on Monday, March 22nd, at 11 am.
We will be open extended hours on Saturday, March 27th, for Spring Preview Day and hope all of those incoming freshmen and their families will come see us!
We will also be open with extended hours on Saturday, April 10th, for the Spring Football Game! Lots of festivities going on that day as well as the baseball team playing! It’s going to be a great day to be in Jacksonville so make sure you come too! Things are really buzzing and if you haven’t been “home” in a while, grab the family and come make a full day of it!
Got questions or comments? Let us know! blog@getcockyjsu.com
That’s right! With a little bit of the Irish, we’ve created a fantastic t-shirt just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!
This green tee declares you are LUCKY but with a little JSU to boot! :-) And only at $15!
This t-shirt is available for only a limited time and only offered in limited quantities so order yours today online at GetCockyJSU.com or at our new store on the square in Jacksonville!
I’m so sorry for the delay! It seems like forever since I’ve been able to blog about the store! However, we’ve been renovating our new physical location and between it and our “sneak” campaign — we’ve either had to keep quiet or have been so physically exhausted our fingers couldn’t move!
We decided to “sneak” our way into Jacksonville — anyone can throw a “Coming Soon” sign in the window but that’s just not our style! We started out with a “Hatching Soon” sign in the window along with a 4 foot tall egg with contractor paper blocking the view! As the weeks of renovation would go by cracks began to become visible….then some feet…then some wings…and even a beak!
And then this week, the paper came down…the sign and the egg were removed and Get Cocky merchandise and signage adorned the windows and doors and we were so pleased to open our doors at 3 PUBLIC SQUARE EAST!
That’s right! Get Cocky is ON the Square in downtown Jacksonville! Right inbetween Romas and Java Jolt!
We’ve got our great selection in their now but so much more is following it! So come in and see us but plan on coming back again and again and see what new things have come in so you too can “GET COCKY!” :-)
At the end of most years, most people are ready to be done with the year and move onto new beginnings. With all that has happened in the world with the recession, I really can’t blame anyone for those feelings. However, I must admit that while I’m really excited about 2010, I have to say that 2009 was filled with great beginnings for Get Cocky!
As I have already talked about in this blog, Get Cocky has been a 20 year old dream that I came up with when I was a student at Jacksonville State. So having that dream come true was such an amazing experience!
We opened up our web-based store in September this year and amazed at the huge response we received! Apparently there were more JSU peeps wanting something different than just me! 2009 was a great start for Get Cocky!
But 2010 has great things in store as well — for JSU and Get Cocky!
JSU has great things in store — softball team gets to build on what they started last year, the addition to our football stadium, playing Ole Miss and Georgia State in Football season…the list goes on and on!
For Get Cocky…our product line is expanding, we are opening our physical location, and we are looking to growing our relationship with the students and residents. 2010 sounds so exciting we’re about bursting at the seems for it to start!
So thanks 2009 for a great foundation — and welcome 2010 for all the exciting things to come!
There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”
At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:
Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him!
Blessings upon you and your family on this joyous Christmas Day!
The Staff (& Dogs) of Get Cocky!
This weekend three of us headed down to Atlanta First United Methodist Church in downtown Atlanta to volunteer with the Midtown Assistance Center or MAC for short. MAC services low income individuals in the community and is sponsored by many of the downtown churches.
MAC offers a food pantry and clothes closet as well as other services to assist these individuals.
With the holidays in full swing, their donations were up and volunteers were down.
We started in the food pantry. Many schools had done food drives and brought in boxes and boxes of food that now had to be organzied by item and placed in shelves so that finding these items would be easier.
We were told that items like Green Beans and Corn are more than plentiful but that many of the requests are for more of meat products like Spagetti and Meatballs, canned fruit, collard greens, and okra.
It was amazing the generosity of people and children to donate food less fortunate than them and so in time for the holidays. But MAC representatives told us the time that they have a need when the shelves are not so full and boxes are not coming in as quickly is summer.
After less than an hour with the help of other volunteers, the food pantry was completely organized and ready for the rest of the month’s requests.
We then moved on to the clothes closet that just simply need to be checked for resizing. What great clothes people had donated and in great shape! I kept thinking about the clothes in my own closet that I keep holding on to for no good apparent reason that I need to bring in for MAC’s use.
With the number of people helping, we had everything completed in less than 2 hours. WOW — 2 hours of volunteering to assist an organization that will help hundreds of individuals make it thru to another day.
While this blog posting has nothing to do with our regular blog on JSU or sports, I just wanted to share that even YOU can do something to assist others —once a week, a month, a quarter, or a year….from organizing cans and clothes to feeding the hungry…what YOU can do can truly make a difference to others! And maybe make the “Reason for the Season” be one of a difference all year long!
Since we started our web-store and our Facebook and Twitter pages, we keep hearing (ok, reading) from JSU Students who say that there is nothing to do in J’ville or that they wish there were other opportunities or stores in J’ville….
So let’s hear from you! What is it that you wish there WAS to do in or what kind of services do you wish were available to you in J’ville?
Let us know! We want to listen!! blog@GetCockyJSU.com
