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 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
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!” :-)
With the holidays approaching — don’t forget to get your favorite JSU grad their Gamecock merchandise from GetCockyJSU.com!! We’ve got a fantastic selection with many original shirts, shorts, and jackets that Jacksonville State lovers have never seen!
Remember Santa Shops with us — shouldn’t you??
Merry Christmas from Get Cocky!
This weekend some really amazing things occurred for the “Hen House!”
The Lady Gamecock Volleyball team travelled to Tallahassee to play in the NCAA Tournament.
For those of you who only focus on the football team or the Marching Southerners—let me catch you up to speed. This year is their THIRD appearance in the tournament and their FOURTH OVC Championship in five years!
They beat one of the home teams — Florida A&M on Saturday afternoon and then faced #3 in the country Florida State on Sunday. They lost 3-0.
But before you start thinking the “Well, we’re just a little school in Alabama” excuse — look closer at the set scores! 25-18, 26-24, 25-22 Literally, victory was within their reach and Florida State did not have an easy time moving to the next round. Similiar to our meeting FSU in football, we demonstrated that we have Division I potential written all over our women’s volleyball team!
So congratulations Coach Nold and the Lady Gamecocks on your fantastic season! We can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next year! This season definitely makes us proud to be Gamecocks!
OK, I’m going to reveal something to you that most people (aside to those in my office) actually know about me…..Ready?….Are you sure???….ok, here it is…I LOVE STATISTICS!!! I love graphs, maps, pie charts — you name it, if it can help me understand our business better, then I LOVE IT!
With that being said, we had our first order come in from the state of Washington today and I thought “Now THIS is cool!” I mean someone on the other side of the country is ordering to show off their Gamecock Pride! How awesome is that?
Our online webstore has this great statistics program on it so it can help us understand who is coming to the website everyday. We have people in 30 different states from California to Maine who have visited GetCockyJSU.com since we opened…but wait…there’s MORE! Our website has been visit by Internationally too — Japan, Egypt, Afghanistan, El Savador, UK, Austria and others! I can’t believe how many awesome place our JSU Alumni are in and humbled that so many of them shop with us!
Now I just need an Alaska and Hawaii…Alaska? Hawaii? Alaska? Hawaii? Bueller? Bueller??
Last night I had the privilege of being apart of the first meeting of the South Atlanta JSU Alumni. I have lived in south Atlanta 11 years (ok, THIS time, I’ve only lived here 6 other times before in my life—army brat, you understand). Most of the Atlanta Alumni meetings I have attended, have resulted in road rage along the way to get to the meeting normally held in North Atlanta.
Kaci Ogle of the alumni office and I got to talking and I started naming off many of the alumni on the south side, the number of Band Directors on this end of town (seems like the majority of schools have a former Southerners leading the music departments) so we thought — what the heck, we’ll try an exploratory meeting to start a group down here.
About 20 of us met at Partners II Pizza in Tyrone last night and had a ball…you might have known someone before you came (I think I knew one) but before you knew it, the people around you knew someone who knew someone and so forth. The great common denominator was we were all Gamecocks — some of us Southerners, others 92J jocks, drama peeps, and even athletes — but we were all Gamecocks.
What wasn’t surprising to me was that we all loved our time at JSU and couldn’t help but share that with the group — it molded us to be who we are, who our extended family ended up becoming, and where we tell any young person around us about the University we love and why they should love it to.
I know many people that have gone to other schools and when they talk about their college experience I hear about how they went there but it wasn’t the experience that Jacksonville State seems to impress on those who go there. They just went to college — no big deal and have never been back since.
I wish I could explain how a modest size University in a small sleepy town at the Foothills of the mountains in Northeast Alabama becomes the place that changes your life…but it does…and last night proved it 20 times over…
PROUD to be a Gamecock!
With the unfortunate short ending to JSU’s incredible season this year, I must say a few words about our senior quarterback, Ryan Perrilloux.
Ryan was the quarterback for my beloved LSU Tigers where I worked for many years. I had heard the rumblings about him from former co-workers and even the comparision of his off the field antics to those of Kevin Faulk, who was a student while I worked at LSU. But we won the national championship and of course with that much is forgiven both on and off the field.
But it came as little surprise to me when I heard that Ryan had been kicked off the team by Coach Les Miles for violating team rules.
What was a shock to me was the announcement that Ryan would be transferring to my alma mater at Jacksonville State in 2008. Being an avid ESPN Radio listener, I had heard a grocery list of schools interested in talking to him come play for their school but Jacksonville State??? “The Friendliest Campus In The South?” Say it ain’t so Jack Crowe! We don’t need the controversy or the bad press I thought.
But I’ll be the first to admit it — Ryan has turned out to be an outstanding young man both on the field and off.
He certainly didn’t have an easy time of it as he had many people watching him at every turn and calling the Athletic Department everytime he held his fork wrong (a small town will do that for you). But he allowed JSU to mold him as it has molded so many of our alumni.
Our fans definitely enjoyed the ride and seeing Ryan’s extraordinary moves on the field and his inspiring his teammates to play smarder, run faster, hit harder and truly move JSU Football to another level of glory that many questioned we could ever return to. He made us proud on the national level at our oh so close fight at FSU and by winning the OVC.
Upon the end of his last game, Ryan stated that coming to JSU was the best decision he had ever made and that it changed him as a person.
So I, for one, stand corrected of my original thoughts — what I thought was a terrible mistake to bring this young man to our friendly little campus proved to be exactly what he and WE needed.
Congratulations Ryan on your final season — we look forward to watching you making Gamecocks everywhere proud in your next stage of your life!
Meet Get Cocky’s Mascot W.G.! (Whaddya Get!)
