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)
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!
Welcome to our new blog! It feels like a whole new world full of new beginnings around here and the excitement is sometimes almost like Christmas for a little kid.
I guess the best place to start this blog is to tell you a little about Get Cocky!
When I was a student (and Marching Southerner) at Jacksonville State University (that’s Alabama not Florida for those of you who are just visiting this), I wanted to have a store that was full of just JSU stuff — not like other stores that had a selection of Alabama, Auburn, UGA, and then a sliver of JSU or dare I say Troy(Sux). No—JUST JSU. I knew the name of the store, I could see the concept but I was a lowly student with no money or real business experience so that’s what it remained — a dream.
Unlike other dreams and business concepts that have floated in and out of my life, this one has stayed true to my heart and passionate in my soul that I would make come true one day.
Many business ventures later, I started bringing up this idea to my staff. We decided that now was the time to start doing the research and making GetCocky a reality.
We made many trips to Jacksonville over 2 years to visit the “other 2 stores” and see what they were offering students and talking with students on what they wished they were offered. And just like any good Chicken, Get Cocky emerged from the egg!
We decided instead of offering what the other stores had, we would design our own merchandise and have it licensed thru the school so that if you want a t-shirt with our designs, you’ll have to get it from us — oh yea, and at lower prices.
We opened our webstore (GetCockyJSU.com) on September 5th as JSU took on Georgia Tech and were floored with the response!
Our goal is to open a physical location for Get Cocky in January 2010 in Jacksonville for Gamecock Fans everywhere to enjoy our merchandise.
Wow! Blog #1 completed…lots more to come!!
Goooo Gamecocks & BLOW SOUTHERNERS!!! C’mon GET COCKY!
