By CANDACE MIERS

Contributing Editor

I spy something blue and wrinkled.

I spy the Band of Pride's Hoop Troop.

At 6:57 p.m. last Thursday night, the band came trickling in the Thomas Assembly Center to the Bulldog basketball game after leaving band class less than thirty minutes before.

Armed with tubas, trumpets, trombones and Chic-Fil-A, the volunteer troop settled in between the blue and white roped-off sections of the bleachers.

For the entire first half of the game, the fans listened to pre-recorded music to get pumped. Now they could listen to live music.

By the time the second half of the game was underway, so were the chants, cheers and chords from the Hoop Troop.

Individual members yelled things to the opposing team like "your mama doesn't love you" and "we're gonna whoop some ass." Group chants began with one band member and ended with all the members' voices.

"He ain't got no suitcase, but he's traveling" and the infamous "noise" were among the many group chants.

"I think the yelling that we do definitely affects the game," Joi Chadwick, a member of one of the Hoop Troops and a senior music education major, said.

"I think it [group cheering] gives our team a boost and makes it hard for the other team to concentrate."

Of course there was chatting among one another along with the cheering while the game was in play when music is not allowed.

"We mostly talk about the game and what pieces of music we are going to play next," Chadwick said.

But it was not just music talk twisting in and out of the bleachers.

There was also the occasional flipping off one another and individuals discussing plans for later on in the evening.

Shooting the bird was less prominent than pressing the keys of their instruments, though.

During the many time outs and pauses of the men's basketball game, the Hoop Troop played several popular tunes.

"The basketball games are exciting, but the band makes the whole experience so much better," Bradley Landry, a freshman electrical engineering major, said.

The tunes were accompanied by group movement: nods, sways, waves, circular dips, slams and back bending tuba players were a few of the motions put into action by the band-at-play.

One concrete step of space was all the room the band had to boogy but that did not stop the troop.

Some attempted the seawalk, a popular dance club move, as well as some booty shaking.

Butt jiggling aside, I spy something silver and shiny and it's not the piccolos stuffed in back pockets.

I spy piercings.

For future reference, lip rings will not affect the playing of an instrument. Several members of the Hoop Troop have many pieces of metal to complement their ensemble.

The Hoop Troop ensemble is a blue polo shirt and khaki pants. Each member of the troop added their personal touch to the wrinkled shirts and several variations of khaki with hats, sunglasses, sweat bands, muti-colored undershirts and the occasional beer belly.

"We are rushed to get out of class, get something to eat and change clothes before we head to the game," Elise Kidd, a member of one of the Hoop Troops and a junior elementary education major, said.

And the troop does most of their playing, rushing and cheering as volunteers from the band itself, Kidd said.

"Everything we do here at the games is on a volunteer basis," Kidd said.

"Some members may get paid, but if they do it's very little, maybe fifty to one hundred dollars. I've been doing this for three years and this is the first year I'm getting paid."

The members said they volunteer because they have fun.

"It [being a member of the Hoop Troop] is just so much fun. We're getting to play music but we're not restricted to sit down or be quiet like concert season, just required to keep up the spirit," Kidd said.

The members of the Band of Pride who volunteer to play at the games are split into two groups; there are two Hoop Troops to keep up the spirit. Some members play on both troops.

Even when they are not playing, some members from the other troop are there to cheer the band and basketball team on.

At last Saturday's basketball game there were fourteen plus members of Thursday's troop adding to the cheers of the roped-off group.

"We come because we enjoy cheering for our team, whether or not we are playing," Chadwick said.

So, who cares if their spit valves leak all over the steps, or they wear leopard-print cowboy hats, air hump, yell occasional bad words or chew with their mouths open during renditions of "Defense Bulldogs Defense."

Each dirty deed is done dirt cheap.

Not only do they play for cheap, but also play without fans, glory, cheer for the group, or even recognition for the individuals who make the music that is heard at the game.

The Hoop Troop is heard but not seen, reprimanded for tardiness which is unavoidable because of class, but not respected.

I spy something blue and wrinkled.

I spy two Hoop Troops that must be fueled solely on pride.