self-elected unofficial pseudo high school mascots

again while cleaning the basement, i found some pix from back in the high school days. a buddy (TheSBM) and i hung out during football games goofing off. our school had cheerleaders who cheer as most cheerleaders do, but don't necessarily lead as most cheerleaders don't. we should call them cheerers or something. either way, since we are the big reds, our high school also had an indian mascot. the mascot was, if i recall correctly, one of the best people who tried out for cheering but didn't make the cut. i might be wrong there though. the mascot wore a big brown indian outfit and a big racially-insensitive indian head with the veteran alcoholic's red-nose included. she didn't mascot much back then. she'd walk around flirting with boys and hanging out with the cheerleaders in between cheers.

TheSBM and i were at, i think, the homecoming game, sitting in the rain where the visiting teams band usually sits, but they weren't there for some reason. we were YELLING across the field to OUR home band to play certain songs. sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. when they played, we'd dance like fools trying to choreograph and stay in sync on the fly. it was goofy. but later that week someone suggested we become the unofficial mascots... so we did. our parents made up some quick suits for us and we put on different warpaint every game and became the unofficial mascots. it was a good time, be it in the rain or good weather, actually interacting with the crowd and having a blast. we even completed the first (to our knowledge) "wave" in nelson field during the home win against our rival, martins ferry.

here are some pix i found of those days:

excited our team is going for an undefeated regular season

FINALLY allowed on the sidelines for the last game of the regular season against martins ferry (we won, 10-0 season)

TheSBM driving, me on the roof, it was FREEZING, but we were undefeated. there was a picture VERY similar to this taken by a newspaper photographer saying something like "another big reds fan shows HER pride. JEEZ!!!