Dec. 19, 2011
SAN DIEGO - If ever Louisiana Tech's Band of Pride earned its name, it was today.
The band participated in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl's annual Battle of the Bands event in the city's revitalized and thriving Gas Lamp District downtown Monday night, but its battle Monday began long before it reached San Diego.
The band arrived in Monroe at 7:30 a.m. for its 9 a.m. flight here, but because of a too-sharp turn by its pilot while taxiing on a Dallas airport runway, the charter that was to carry the 140 members of the band was stuck in the mud off the runway there. Seriously.
And so, another charter was immediately scheduled to go from Chattanooga, Tenn. to Louisville, Ky. to Monroe to pick up the band.
In the meantime, a wrecker pulled the original charter out of the mud.
And finally, the Chattanooga charger was cancelled and the original charter took off and flew to Monroe, mudless, picked up the band and lifted off from there at 2:30 CST, roughly five hours behind schedule.
(With a discount to Tech, obviously. And with the original pilot. Who got stuck in the mud. On a wide runway. As all runways are.)
While waiting for its plane, the band, aboard its chartered buses in Monroe, went first to McDonald's, then to the Pecanland Mall, and back to the Monroe airport hanger. It was a bit of a long day.
In good spirits, considering, the band arrived here just before 4 p.m. PST - the flight is a bit more than three hours - was bused to its hotel, changed into its game uniforms, picked up its instruments that had come on Tech's football equipment truck earlier in the week, and was in the GasLamp District for the 6 o'clock event -- or about 12 hours after it had arrived in Monroe.
The Tech cheerleaders performed along with the band and it played and marched down the city streets; the Regal Blues have not yet arrived but will be here to perform in Wednesday's game. And the band - Well, the show must go on. And it did. Despite setbacks, all is well. Go Dawgs No Matter What, right?
Texas Christian's band also marched and played in the downtown event that fans enjoyed along the neon-lit sidewalks.
The band will perform again Tuesday at the luncheon for the two teams aboard the U.S.S. Midway, the retired aircraft carrier that's now a Naval museum, docked in San Diego Bay, and then again Wednesday in Qualcomm Stadium as the Bulldogs take on the TCU Horned Frogs in the Poinsettia Bowl. Unless something else gets stuck in the mud, kickoff should be at 7 p.m.
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