More of This Please Vandals Go Ivy League
At a time when college athletics feels like it’s going off the rails and succumbing to everything that is unattractive about capitalism, this story comes along unexpectedly.
The University of Idaho’s men’s basketball team recently wrapped up a lackluster 11 — 21 season in the Big Sky Conference with no postseason invites. Their season was over, and it was time to move on to other things — like classes or education or academic activities too often not associated with March Madness. I know I sound like an old fart — but stay with me for a second.
I am unsure of the details or how this next part of the story developed. Something extraordinary happened during the opening round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The #13 seed Yale Bulldogs were playing the #4 seed Auburn Tigers. This was a classic first-round mismatch in which Yale had virtually no chance of winning.
For reasons unknown, Yale could not fly their pep band across the country to Spokane, WA, for what would surely be a single game, so the Bulldogs would not have that basic level of support during the contest against Auburn. Now, let’s be honest. Yale could afford it, but let’s assume the band members needed to be in class and couldn’t afford time away. It’s doubtful, but in the absence of fact — I’ll go with that.
The facts of what actually happened will likely unfold in the media in the coming days — but for now, I know that Yale mysteriously had a band playing their fight song in the stands as they battled Auburn from the mighty SEC conference. There they were. A group of college-age musicians jamming and cheering on Yale like they meant it.
Back to the University of Idaho. The 29-member ensemble playing their hearts out in the arena that night was the Idaho Vandals band wearing Yale t-shirts. Band director Spencer Martin and his band of Vandals traveled 90 minutes to perform so that Yale players would not be deprived of having some level of support or hearing their school’s song played throughout the game. Idaho had no reason to be there other than to support the overmatched Yale basketball team.
Idaho’s band traveling to support Yale is unique in today’s economics with the vast cost cuts enacted, especially in the Arts. The investment of time alone was a gift from Idaho to Yale. Most of these Idaho band members stood zero chance of ever playing in an NCAA tournament setting as their team is near the bottom of a conference not known to be a basketball powerhouse.
But for one day, these kids were kings and queens. And they were Ivy Leaguers. I wonder how many of the 29-member band applied to attend an Ivy League school but were told they didn’t qualify. But for a game — they made it to both the Dance and the Ivy League. Their blue shirts with the classic Y on the front is not what made them winners. No. That was what was pounding beneath the blue shirts with the classic Y on the front. Their hearts. Their passion for life. Their compassion for a team without a band. Their desire to sacrifice time and energy to support a group of players they never met before.
Yale was a 13 seed. It had no band. They had a tough draw versus Auburn, a five-hour flight, three hours of time zone changes, and little chance to advance. But they won 78 — 76 and became one of the Cinderella stories of the tournament. A single act of kindness can go a long way. Twenty-nine acts of kindness can make you an Ivy Leaguer for a day and help turn a bunch of kids from Connecticut into a fairy tale story for a weekend in Spokane, WA.
Note to self — do much more of this in life. Make more magic than enemies. Share gifts generously. Support the underdog more often. Sacrifice deeply for others.
This is the human spirit. No matter what they tell us — this is what we were made for.
One Shining Moment…cue the music.
