End of Summer...College Football is Here. 9/11 Tribute, The Ohio State University, 2011

Today my husband and I went to the OSU game--what a gorgeous day to be there to take in the sights! It's always a trip down Memory Lane of our days as students there.  I started taking pictures, not sure how I would use them for my blog, then they did a 9/11 tribute.  It was beautiful.

First, the band came in.  "The Ramp," it's called, and it's one of the highlights of the game.  (See them through the goal post and fanning out?)

 They marched into their formation--An eagle--the American symbol of freedom.
 The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of American,
because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed
to exist only on this continent...
      ...The eagle represents freedom. Living as he does on the tops of lofty mountains, amid the
solitary grandeur of Nature, he has unlimited freedom, whether with strong pinions he sweeps into
the valleys below, or upward into the boundless spaces beyond.  (baldeagleinfo.com)

 Then they unfurled The Colors.

Oh, say! Does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

YES! 

Before the band did their Script Ohio there was another tribute and a moment of silence.

In a stadium with 105,000+ people there was TOTAL silence...

They also recognized first responders out on the field, and asked all

first responders in attendance to stand and also be recognzied.

Here's what the OSU website says about Script Ohio:

First performed during the 1936 season, Script Ohio is the most indentifiable trademark associated with Ohio State Football and the Ohio State Marching Band. The script is an integrated series of evolutions and formations. The band first forms a triple Block O formation which will slowly unwind to form the famous letters. The drum major leads the outside O into a peel-off movement around the curves of the script, every musician in continual motion. The middle Block O revolves counter-clockwise as the other two rotate in a clockwise manner. Slowly the three blocks unfold into a long singular line which loops around, creating the OSU Marching Band's trademark.

I'm linking to:
The Tablescaper ~ http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/ for Seasonal Sunday

and

Susan from Between Naps on the Porch ~  http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/  for Tablescape Thursday