It Takes a Willage

This afternoon before the Huskers-Cyclones game, I went to the Haymarket, downtown, and on the campus to see the sights, people watch and such. I could have gotten a seat on the 45 or 35 yard line for 65 bucks, but who knows how far from the field it was. But I wasn't looking for a ticket. As I and a crowd of a lot of other people, maybe 70 then 150, watched the drum corps and band perform on the campus lawn, I thought about all the time and effort that those twenty and 150 individuals went through to perform for and entertain the 77,000 fans that came to watch the game. All of it would be nonexistent if not for the football team, who I doubt realize what magnitude their play has on so many people. For example, how much would the band practice or care if they were playing to a half empty stadium of disgruntled fans? How many Lincoln businesses would be struggling to make ends meet without those five, or this season seven, weekends of increased population in the city by a third? It all begins with the success of 60 kids playing football for three hours on a Saturday afternoon.
However, I think the question remains, would the band care? Does their motivation come from matching the success and excellence of the football players, or is it from the desire to perform well no matter what the circumstance? I'd like to think I would fall under the latter. And whether or not I apply it, I think that the more dire my circumstance, or the lower the quality that surrounds me, the harder I would try to excell, partly out of pride, but also out of self-respect.