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Rice at Houston (September 4th, 1999)
Version 2.11 (release date September 3rd, 1999)
GO RICE!
ENTRANCE: MOB scatters in from four corners to form...
FORMATION: MOB while playing...
MUSIC: Turning it Loose
ACTION: Two S.A.'s dressed in black suits, drive out onto the field in
"blues mobile" (black & white police car), open a briefcase with something
interesting inside it; song ends and MOB scatters to...
FORMATION: Astrodome (top is removed during song)
ANNOUNCER: The summer months have brought the sound of construction to
Houston as local sports teams rush to build new facilities. The Astros are
building a new downtown stadium. Rice is building a new baseball stadium.
And UH is remodeling a football stadium that has had more names in its
58-year existence than season ticket holders.
MUSIC: Start Me Up
ACTION: SAs wheel out a large replica of the Astrodome, which they proceed
to disassemble to form new arenas. The stadiums will be nested inside of
each other, so they'll get progressively smaller. Each stadium will be
accompanied by a sign with its name. [Biggest = Astrodome, Big = Enron
Field, Small = Robertson] Once the new Robertson is 'built', it is marked by
a 10 yard long sign with all the names listed on it.
FORMATION: Texas map
ANNOUNCER: In 1995, the Chronicle truly became Houston's leading information
source when it bought out the Post for use as spare parts. Even though Rice
and UofH get buried on the 13th page, the Chronicle does provide great local
sports coverage...if you consider UT, A&M and the Cowboys to be local.
MUSIC: Rescue Me
ACTION: giant Houston Chronicle beats opposing papers into submission, then
chases off any attempts by other newspapers to join the fray. 3 reporters,
located near Houston on the map, try to cover the following events, using
telescopes to help them see: - In Austin, UT plays A&M. - In Dallas, a
Cowboys player gets arrested. - In Houston, Rice plays Houston. The reporter
covering this game has his telescope backwards, so he sees very little
despite being next door.
FORMATION: SWC
ANNOUNCER: The breakup of the Southwest Conference has shown some things
never change. The Longhorns and Aggies have shown promise during the regular
season only to get sick on Sugar in January. Baylor left the SWC to become
the doormat of a new conference. And Texas Tech athletes are still trying to
build their GPAs up from ground zero.
MUSIC: Carry On My Wayward Son
ACTION: Sequence of events. One mascot from each former SWC team. UT and A&M
mascots go to a large Sugar Bowl and OD. The Owl, Frog, Pony and Cougar get
to beat up on the Bear for a change. The Red Raider sits at a desk,
occasionally bringing the paper up to a teacher that whaps him over the head
with a giant red F.
FORMATION: HI
ANNOUNCER: We'll never forget our old friends from the Southwest Conference.
We're sure you'll enjoy visiting places like beautiful Hattiesberg - we've
got to go _all_the_way_ to Hawaii. We'll send you a post card.
MUSIC: Dueling Banjos -> Hawaii 5-0
ACTION: During the dueling banjos segment, country bumpkins in Hattiesberg
welcome UH to town with a sign reading "Cooger, Hi". During the Hawaii 5-0
part, Rice is welcomed to Hawaii by hula girls with a sign reading "Owls,
Aloha". Party ensues.
EXIT: Scatter off the field
ANNOUNCER: You've seen them on Letterman!
So don't go away - the next act is a surprise performance by the
nationally famous Yodeling Poodle Choir.
---POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM GRUNGY---
I've done a lot of "epilogues" on the end of the scripts that I've
saved over the years. But I could hear almost nothing from the press
box yesterday. I can say that the formations were really sharp, from
the penultimate vantage point and the action was eye-catching.
Someone else will have to fill in the crowd reactions and other
details.
I *can* report that virtually every person I've run into who saw the
show and talked to me about it - loved it. Usually something like
"Wow - that was a great show! What happened?".
This show worked. I'm impressed...
On the other side of the coin - we may never see The MOB's name in
print, in the Chronicle, again. The last UH show, in '95, received
praise from Neal Farmer for it's biting nature. This one was similar
and got no ink.
The power of the press belongs to those who own the presses...
---POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM THE GOODNIGHT---
I heard laughs, not boos, in the region of the stadium near where
I was standing, for the names/tickets joke, but not much reaction at
all to the long sign, which had some wind-tangling problems and was
only intermittently visible.
The only time I heard boos was when the "Cooger Hi" sign went up.
---POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM MINDY SIMMONS---
Well, I definitely heard a long, drawn out "Boo" from the crowds where I
was at right after that joke. And talking to some Rice students who were there, they said that they understood everything and liked the show
(especially one guy who really liked the stadium joke). So I'd say the
show worked out pretty well.
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The Marching Owl Band