Idle Musing

I was over at a friend's place today to watch a bit of U.S. College football. After the Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Oregon Ducks 26-17 in the Rose Bowl, we switched over to catch the start of the Sugar Bowl between the 12-0 University of Cincinatti Bearcats and the 12-1 Florida Gators. As part of the pre-game entertainment the Florida marching band performed. At the college level anyway, Americans take marching bands very seriously. Musicians who are in the band program are often on scholarship, I think, they have fancy costumes, cheerleaders, flag-bearers and whatnot; and to direct the whole band, which for the big schools probably runs in the 150-member range, the conductor stands atop an elevated podium.

At one point in their routine the Florida band started to move into a shape that I initially thought was an outline of the state of Florida. But then my friend said "What are they doing, a gun?"

I'm pretty sure they were doing Florida. But the outline was pretty raggedy. Guns are pretty prevalent in Florida, I think. They might even qualify as the state's Official Fashion Accessory. But I can't see the band doing an outline of a gun. Maybe it was a hybrid state/gun symbol? It's not that much of a stretch. As you can tell from the above photos, there is a definite similarity.