The Cal Poly Band, Mott Gym, and the Mystery of 807

The Pride of the Pacific - Photo by Jamie Pereira

I’m a band geek. I’ll admit it. I was in the pep band for some time at UC San Diego. I wore a shirt that said “It’s OK, I’m with the band,” for many years. I love sports and, if you love college sports, you probably love your team’s band as well.

Ohio State fans know about “dotting the i,” USC loves their sunglass-clad drummers waving the “V” for Victory, and Stanford fans — Well, they know their band cares even if it happens to seem less-than-organized. At UCSD, fans knew that when the Triton pep band played “Wipeout,” the band would spread to all corners of the gym to play and end the song with the entire band back in a group usually splayed out on our collective backs, legs kicking like we were swimming or something, while we finished the song. Most college bands have traditions like this.

In Mott Gym on Wednesday night, a group of green-clad musicians in short sleeves and jeans, file into Section 8 as the earliest fans arrive. Whether playing for a packed arena or a mostly-empty gym, the Pride of the Pacific is ever-present in Mott Gym. Throughout good seasons and mediocre ones, the band is the constant.

“For the kids, the highlight for them is… performing good music and sounding great doing it,” said Chris Woodruff, Associate Director of Bands at Cal Poly. “We provide a tremendous portion of the game atmosphere… not just playing music, but cheering, supporting the stunt and dance teams and providing for our fans and our teams an atmosphere where they can succeed.”

Woodruff helps to manage the 176 musicians in the marching band during the Fall quarter (football season) and also with the three pep-band groups of about 50 each who split duty during the Winter quarter (men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball season). Woodruff and company also manage two concert bands.

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Wednesday night’s event is a rare double-header, with the women’s game preceding the men’s. Fans filter in throughout the entire women’s game, but as it starts at 4:30 PM, the band probably makes up one third of the crowd.

So it’s fitting that two band members get a chance at the bungee contest during a timeout. If you haven’t seen the bungee contest before, it consists of two players tied together with a huge bungee cord running in opposite directions from mid-court. Usually one of the contestants is dragged back toward half-court on their backside while the other makes a shot and wins. It’s really a contest of momentum.

The two guys from the band though, aren’t phased by the bungee and as it’s being stretched to its limit, the bungee actually breaks off of one participant — something that rarely (if ever) happens. The contest goes on, but the future of the bungee contraption is in doubt. Leave it to the band, right?

During the opener, Cal Poly’s Ashlee Burns, the human green-light, knocks down a three in transition. Along with the cheers of the crowd, the band hollers “THREE.” In case you weren’t paying attention.

As the cheerleaders try to lead a cheer in front of the sparse Mott Gym crowd, it’s the band who is there to pick them up. Cheering along with the cheer and dance squads is followed with a raucous rendition of the fight song.

“All the crowd has to do is watch the band,” said Cal Poly alum and fan Jesse Pereira. “If they want to know how to be a good crowd, they should just do what the band does.”

It’s true. While the cheerleaders lead many cheers, the band seems to dominate when it comes to coordinated noise-making. In a place that isn’t exactly Cameron Indoor, the band’s job isn’t simply to play music. In Mott Gym, they are ambiance-creator and generally an example of good fansmanship.

“We are definitely there to pump up the teams themselves and the crowds,” said fourth-year drummer David Hodson. “Here in Mott Gym — which is not that big of a gym — when we’ve got 50 of us standing on our feet making noise it pumps up the crowd and gets the team into it. We’ve seen the team come back from some games where it wasn’t looking so good and the band got everyone going.”

Like many band members, Hodson is an mechanical engineering major. And he is into the game the entire time. It seems to be a prerequisite for a percussionist.

Despite the band’s best efforts, the women lose their star player and an 18-point lead to fall to Pepperdine by two. Unphased, the band gives Mustang players a round of applause and a strong fight song as they exit the court.

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The men’s game comes about a half-hour later.

After exiting the gym to take a breather, the band re-enters with renewed fervor. There are a few more saxophones, not quite so many clarinets, and, as always there is no shortage of horns and percussion.

The Sacramento State Hornets are invading Mott Gym to take on the Mustang men in the nightcap. While there are many more bodies in the gym for the main event (theoretically absorbing noise), the fight song seems to have a little more pep. So do the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Ozzy Osbourne, and Green Day songs that they play, among others. Maybe there is something about playing to a crowd.

Dylan Royer sinks one of his five 3-pointers on Wednesday night. Royer was 5-5 from beyond the arc. - Photo by Jamie Pereira

As players from the other team are introduced, the band greets them.

“At center, number 41, Konner Veteto,” says the Public Address Announcer.

“Hi Connor!,” shouts the band, in unison.

“All of the cheering is ‘Learn by Doing’. The younger people just kind of pick it up,” said third-year musician Kaylinn Roseman. “Because there are so many of us at these games that if all of us are cheering, then everyone else will want to cheer too. Supporting our athletics is really important.”

Roseman is playing hurt tonight with a walking boot on her foot. It doesn’t seem to be slowing her down. She still stands — with the rest of the band — for most of the game.

Many Mustang fans have wondered about the “807” that was on the backs of the band during the last few seasons.

“807 Means ‘Band Always Wins,'” said Roseman. When asked how it means that, the response was, “It just does.”

With the backing of the band and a fifteen-point, five three-pointer outburst from local sharpshooter Dylan Royer, the Mustangs pull away from the Hornets in the second half, improving their record to 5-2 on the season.

Royer is now 19-29 from three point range on the season (65%) as the Mustangs prepare to host Saint Mary’s on Saturday.

After the game, the men’s team continued a tradition of thanking the fans and the band specifically for coming and supporting them.

“When you think college basketball, you think what goes into college basketball, and the college band goes with college basketball,” said men’s head coach Joe Callero. “They are organized, they’re loud, they’re sharp, they’re there, they’re religiously supportive, and we appreciate it.”

And it even seemed as though one of the many Cal Poly engineers had fixed the bungee. They were trying to use it again, after all. Once again, the bungee device lost structural integrity. It broke again. It’s probably been relegated to a dumpster next to the gym by now.

While the bungee proved beyond repair, for Mustangs fans the atmosphere at Mott Gym was a lively and energetic buttress for the home team. Thanks a great deal to the band.