Week Zero is officially behind us and now the full-fledged Week One of college football is here. That means our weekly recognition of the supporting cast members of the college eco-system is back as well.
We started Tuesday with our Band of the Week recognition. That honor goes to the Spartan Legion of Norfolk State University. While they haven’t performed an official halftime performance yet in 2017 we were able to catch up with them last weekend at the Battle of the Bands in Charlotte.
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Our Steven J. Gaither was on hand and according to him, they were the most impressive band in Charlotte. He’s just a judge and jury of one but that’s the beauty of HBCU bands, there’s no scoreboard or referees. You must go out there and just touch someone’s soul in the crowd.
Despite the Legion’s wooing of Steven, it must be noted that our “Band of the Week” isn’t based on popularity or any sort of performance metrics. No one on our staff could carry a note in a bucket and to my knowledge, a musical inclination has escaped us all.
In fact, our selection of the Band of the Week is so unscientific I can best explain by saying, “we just pick people.” That’s not to say we don’t put any thought into it or just pull names from a mayonnaise jar. Rather our goal is to spread appreciation to all of the bands in the HBCU universe throughout the football season.
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We all know who the top dogs are but we can’t just highlight FAMU, Bethune-Cookman, Southern and fill in your own blank every single week. At the same time we’d be fools not to acknowledge the power players every year as well because they set the bar. So we do our best to mix in the big guys, the middle men, and the up and comers.
In no way is this a plea for you to stop caping up for your school and cease talking a little smack about our selection for any given week. When you interact with our content it helps our business grow and that’s the only way we can provide our service to you. Plus you guys are really funny sometimes.
Also every Wednesday we will celebrate that Black Girl Magic with our WCW hashtag. It’s a great way to celebrate all the women who are a vital part of the HBCU football experience every weekend. From dancers, cheerleaders, ladies in the band and even the royal court if you give us one of those special waves.
We are kicking off this season with the ladies of Texas Southern. They all made the long trip to Florida, had to worry about what was happening back home with the Hurricane but they endured it all with a smile. That’s magic in our book.
So let’s celebrate and debate all season long as we recognize and honor some of the real MVPs of Black College Football.
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