Before The Parade Passes By

TigerBlog played the trumpet in high school. Well, at least his last year in high school.

He figured as a senior that he would take up a musical instrument, and the band director at the time, a man named Mr. Danielson, suggested percussion. TB wanted something more, well, instrumental and asked what the easiest instrument to learn would be, and Mr. Danielson suggested the trumpet.

Mr. Danielson then went to get an old, beaten-up trumpet out of the closet, except the floor had been waxed a few minutes earlier, and the only trumpet he had was a brand-new one, which he gave to TB.

This was in early summer. By the time school started, TB's high school girlfriend, a french horn player, had taught him the basics of how to play. By the time school started, TB was in the concert band, which was made up of primarily freshmen, as well as the marching band and even the jazz band, which he only made because there weren't enough trumpets who tried out.

By the end of the school year, TB had played a few solos and had a really good experience. And then he never played again, not a single note. In fact, his entire trumpet career lasted about 11 months.

The high school band did march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City, though, and TB remembers 1) dodging what the horses on the parade route had left and 2) that it was cold.

TigerBlog likes a good parade. The Tournament of Roses Parade or the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving always make for good television, even if the fluff and self-promotion quotients are over the top.

There are all kinds of parade songs in musicals, real feel-good stuff, like "76 Trombones Led The Big Parade" from "The Music Man" and "Before the Parade Passes By" from "Hello Dolly."

One of the absolute best things on Princeton's campus is the annual P-Rade, where all the classes line up and march down the heart of the campus.

Even the Princeton Department of Athletics gets into the parade business once a year, when it has the annual "Parade of Champions" to honor the previous year's championship teams.

TigerBlog watched as the parade began to form late in the second quarter of the football game, with a line of 17 teams (15 Ivy champs, plus Ivy tournament champ women's lacrosse and Eastern Sprints champ women's lightweight rowing) plus men's squash national champion Todd Harrity walked in from the Princeton tunnel.

Eventually, the front of the line snaked around to the Bucknell 20, back to the end zone, across the field and then back down to near midfield behind Princeton's bench.

It was about 140 yards worth of athletes/coaches, all lined up ready to be recognized.

This was the largest gathering on the field, as Princeton's 15 Ivy titles last year were, as you might have heard, were a league record for an academic year.

Also, as TB always says, there is no guarantee that the next Parade of Champions, or the one after that, will fill the field. In fact, it's the neverending challenge here, to keep those parades what they've always been.

There was nobody here who looked out at the field and thought "hey, now Princeton can take it easy for awhile."

Each year is its own challenge.

And just for reinforcement, TB offers up the same quote he always does, the voice-over for the end of the movie "Patton." For opening credits, TB will take "Saturday Night Fever." For an ending, it's hard to beat "Patton," especially when he says:

"For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph - a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: That all glory is fleeting."