Holy Bowl: One Love For Brothers’ Blue

The Talon explores what it feels like to be blue — Brothers’ blue. 

Every September, Brothers spirit blasts through the limits of space-time; the stakes ride high and the Falcons gear up for the fight of their lives — Holy Bowl.

This year, our Gentlemen Falcons headed into battle with Coach Dan Carmazzi at the helm, the CB alum whose 23 wins and 41 years in the annual game have been spent almost completely on Jesuit’s side.

But this year, we got this guy! And a completely rejuvenated Falcon Force!

Last years’ Falcon Force came crashing down like that fake bird in A Bug’s Life, but seniors Matt Franzoia (’15) and AnnaMarie Carmazzi (’15) (niece of previously-muddled-by-marauders-red-but-now-beautiful-blue Head Coach Dan Carmazzi) have resurrected the spirit bird, and they’ve done a better job than anyone expected.

From the first Friday night football game, Falcon Force has made a presence at every major sporting event. During the Holy Court match against St. Francis, our student section accidentally stomped through some of St. Francis’ bleachers during a heated set.

But despite our awesome student section and burly head coach, the results were just the same. By the end of the first quarter, we were down 28-0, and the final score was 48-21.

But that’s not the point of this article.

In Sacramento, there’s nothing special about a Division I team slaughtering a Division III team.

Last weekend the city of Sacramento, and Jesuit, saw something completely different. They saw a student section that screamed their hearts out from the first whistle till well after the game when security demanded that they stop.

The city of Sacramento saw a student section that never gave up on their team.

I was in an unusually choice position during the game. As Rally Chair, I was chosen to help lead Falcon Force. I’ve read articles and watched interviews wherein people describe how the air around them simply felt different in a moment; how a single moment brought a fire between a group of people that could never be stirred otherwise.

I arrived to the stadium with the Brothers Line right before that picture was taken. We started letting out cheers from the first kick off, and we didn’t stop. We had cheers practiced after the rally from the day before, but we quickly made it through all of them and started to make up new ones. At one point, the Swedish flag flew above the student section as we cheered “Swede,” for our Swedish superstars, Chris Guillen (’15) and Jonatan Gihl (’15).

We literally never stopped cheering. Actually, the third time Jesuit scored, we might’ve gone silent for half a minute, but that many people painted in that much blue don’t just stand around silently.  Falcon Force doesn’t just stand around silently.

When we scored for the first time, in the 3rd quarter, I ran through the concrete walkway between the student section and the Falcon Force leaders. It was like running through a soccer game tunnel, only I couldn’t see past the bodies stacked like sardines. I was screaming and throwing my body all over the place, but I couldn’t hear myself. I couldn’t hear anything, actually. There was just a continuous cry coming from every student in our section.

When that many people scream, it’s noticeable. 40 or 50 people can make a sound, but when you’re one of 1,000 you feel the sound inside of you, and so does everyone else.

In that moment, and for the whole game really, I don’t think our student section minded that we were losing. It’s not that we weren’t paying attention to the game, we were just proud. We were proud of our team, proud to be Falcons, and proud to be cheering together.