I must brag

that during one of the pep rallies when I played football

in high school I won "Mr. Sexy Legs." What

seemed to be a fun time, turned about to be a curse,

though. I have fought all my life against being just a

sex symbol. Yet, I loved the school spirit we had back

then when it was a simpler time. There was not the muss

and fuss like now when cheerleaders have the extra hassle

of getting their cell phones through the metal detectors

or with the football team carrying the extra weight of

flak jackets. But can we expect school spirit to really

be the same?

Well, some things are.

There will always be the band geeks with their braces and

glasses and other assorted correction devices attached to

their heads. But that's okay, because it's just good

training for them when they wear space masks aboard the

shuttle or when they're on the headset phone getting

advice from Ted Turner on how to run a Fortune 500

company. It's also still the same with metal folding

chairs lining the stage, occupied by the principal, coach

and always the librarian. Just why is she always up there

anyway? And why does the principal always tap and beat on

the mike? Violence against children? How about the

brutality against p.a. equipment?

In the old days when I was

being "pepped," it was much the same as today:

lots of thrilling camaraderie and esprit de corps among

the football players. Okay, maybe the slaps on the

backside came with a little less baggage or suspicion,

but still, the game was about the guys, about the team,

and still is. And what can be more substantial than a

60-member squad of whooping, crazed two-hundred-pounders

with enough raging hormones to arm a nuclear warhead?

Over the years, school

spirit has changed, though, too. In the old days students

were satisfied to gleefully grin and cheer and scream for

their school or their class during the typical pep rally.

Kids today are much more disaffected and detached. Today

it wouldn't be cool to jump up and down yelling,

"Go, Chiefs," not to mention the legal

liability of hitting someone in the eye if the bolt flew

out of your pierced tongue.

Cheers were much simpler in

the old days, too, with simple chants like, "Rah rah

ree, kick'em in the knee." Today you might hear,

"Raw raw meat, shoot'em in the street." Two

bits? Kids today don't even know what two bits are. Today

they would cheer, "Two packs, four packs six packs,

a carton; let's get outta here, a drug bust is

startin'!"

Luckily, cheerleaders

through the ages have always remained the same. Always

the perkiest, most persecuted subculture in the school,

marrying the best looking guys and divorced in five

years.

It is harder today, too,

because schools have more than the original three sports;

football, baseball and basketball. But how does one have

school spirit for golf? Or bowling? Can you imagine

having a pep rally just for the bowling team? What would

the band play? And would they have to wear those awful

shoes? Does the flag corps show up at the golf matches?

And how would the golfer know where to hit the ball with

all those flags moving all over the course?

Nevertheless, school spirit

and pep rallies are still a rite of passage for every

student growing up. And still the greatest way in the

world to get out of sixth period.

[Contact Billy Murphy

via e-mail: [email protected] , or visit his homepage on the

Internet at https://billymurphy.homepage.com .]

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