Outside my third-floor office window, the façade of Stanford Stadium rises above a sea of trees, filling the horizon. The giant ‘S’ carved in sharp relief, flanked by shimmering banks of glass and topped by 11 fluttering red flags, makes for a handsome backdrop. Unfortunately, the view inside the stadium hasn’t always been so pretty.
I’m not referring just to the football team, which last season went 1-11. Credit the Cardinal players for hanging in despite a rash of injuries and lopsided losses amid a withering schedule. More troubling was the listless, dispiriting atmosphere in the stadium on game days. At the finale against Oregon State, the place was so quiet it could have doubled as a study carrel. Two things may change that this season.
The first is Jim Harbaugh, the new head football coach. I saw him speak at a Faculty Club reception last spring, an ostensibly casual event at which he could hobnob with faculty and football supporters. It turned out to be excellent entertainment. At one point, while describing the desire he looks for in Stanford’s scholar-athletes, Harbaugh jumped on a chair in the front row, threw his hands in the air, and shouted, “That’s a guy I can get excited about!” The crowd, including a mildly alarmed elderly woman in the second row, clapped in appreciation.
Whatever else will be said about this year’s football team, I suspect we won’t hear many complaints about its readiness and energy level. That will be step one in restoring enthusiasm at Stanford Stadium.
The second step will be the return of the Stanford Band.
The game-day experience depends mostly on the quality of football, and there’s no substitute for a competitive team. But it helps to have a few high-octane undergraduates who can jazz up the joint, and the Band can deliver on that score.
True, the Band has alienated fans in the past with inscrutable field shows—a Daily columnist a few years ago compared their performance to a “foreign film without subtitles.” Humor is hard, especially when performing in front of a vast audience from a great distance. And while spoofing religion and Oregon wildlife brings one kind of problem, being relentlessly obtuse may be more off-putting. However, there are hopeful signs that the Band is back, figuratively as well as literally. (See “They’re Back!” in this issue.) After an arduous 10-month process that restored LSJUMB from limbo—it was sidelined for the entire 2006 football season—Band leaders and administrators seem determined to improve the group’s performance on and off the field.
With true administrative support and renewed commitment to the fans, the Band can help put the fun back in football Saturdays. And that’s something to cheer about.
