Bob J Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 (edited) Back when I marched, our hornline had an odd tradition called “The Rookie Shirt”. We had a lot of rules regarding our uniforms. You did not wander around in partial uniform. You did not smoke or eat or drink in uniform (except water). You treated your uniform with respect, because in the old days, our corps did not have such nice uniforms (remember the jumpsuits?). And above all, you did not wear a tee shirt from another corps under your uniform. Not even if you marched there. Not even if they were the defending DCI champions. Except for the Rookie Shirt. The Rookie Shirt was special. A tee shirt was purchased from whichever unfortunate corps had finished 13th at DCI the previous year. This shirt became the Rookie Shirt, and at each show, a different rookie would take a turn wearing the Rookie Shirt. The Rookie Shirt was magic, because whoever was wearing the Rookie Shirt would not tic. They would march a perfect show. But the thing is, if you wash the Rookie Shirt, the magic will wash out, so the Rookie Shirt was never washed. It was born with the magic that comes from all the emotion of coming in 13th and not making finals. Then at each camp before the season, the vets would take turns wearing it “seasoning” it with their own magic, their dedication and experience. Between wearings it would be sealed in a plastic bag to keep it “fresh”, and to keep the magic in. While it was an honor to wear the Rookie Shirt, as you can imagine, you wanted to wear it early in the season. Before the “magic” became unbearable. But since it was magic, and whoever wore it would not tic, the Rookie Shirt was always reserved for the worst marchers/players at the biggest shows. Honor or not, you did not want to wear the Rookie Shirt at nationals, for many reasons. I think the Rookie Shirt was burned after each season. More likely it spontaneously combusted as soon as it was removed after finals. What is your corps “Rookie Shirt” tradition? BTW I wore a Guardsmen(?) shirt for the Casper Wyoming show in 1982. And I marched a perfect show. Edited September 27, 2007 by Bob J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistofflies Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 That...is an amazing story. We didn't do anything like that at the corps I marched with, but we did have a lot of rules regarding our uniforms and believed in treating the uniform with respect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 Heh....Tony Sawyer (Ducttapegerbil) brought that tradition to Dream for 03....thank GOD I'd marched before!! Unfortunately, it didn't survive teh season. It didn't get washed, but one fo the rookies who had been tasked to wear it tried to dry it out in teh microwave....and it caught fire! A shame....it had been autographed by a multi-year BDC vet the prior week at LMS 4!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCSoprano9702 Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 That is a good story. We similarly had a rule about no corps shirts other than your own. I believe it even extended to rehearsal, which looking back is rather harsh. We would designate a "sop mom": a girl in the soprano section whose job it was to find out who the "age-in" (i.e. youngest person in the corps) was, and to bake a birthday cake for that person for their first show. After the dinner after the show, we would eat the cake and give (mostly inappropriate) presents to the age-in who then had to give a speech begining, "Today, I am a man...". We also had a superstition that telling marching band stories was bad luck. Often rookies would fall victim to this when trying to fit in with vets sharing stories about previous years. The vets would stare blankly, and one would simply say, "You just told a band story." It must have been awkward to be the rookie in that case, but I sure found it amusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberly Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 BTW I wore a Crossmen shirt for the Casper Wyoming show in 1982. And I marched a perfect show. I was in the stands for that show! You WERE tic-less! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicBobert Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 Ha ha, very cool. I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 Any Crossmen remember the Jitbag shirt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickk3 Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 I really liked that stroy and tradition. trying to recall what we did, but it's not coming to me right now (it was a few years ago... okay okay - decades!). it'll come to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymbal_steve Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 Any Crossmen remember the Jitbag shirt? I never knew that word should have a capital J......learn something new every day. I also learned that gets past the filters....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSnareline Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 That had to have been one FUNKY shirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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