Pres. Rosenberg: Beachside! Dec. 19, 2011


President Mark B. Rosenberg is in St. Petersburg, Fla., for the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 20. The president is sharing commentary and photos from his trip, so be sure to check out his blog on this whirlwind trip. Yesterday FIU News published his first entry. Below is his second:

What a special day here in St. Pete!  Amidst all the activities, one stands out that I must tell you about.

Our cheerleaders rose to the occasion this afternoon at St. Pete Beach. They were pitted against Marshall’s cheerleaders in a classic beach tug- of-war contest.

FIU had a great day of fun, spirited competition, winning the Battle of the Bands, the Cheerleader Tug of War, and the Wing-Eating Contest.

Our FIU team started out slowly, giving ground grudgingly to the determined and equally balanced Marshall opponent.  Marshall’s fans—outnumbering the FIU onlookers 2:1, used a common voice to urge on their straining team.  FIU gave ground to the point of near defeat, as both teams exhaustingly pulled and yanked the rope across the hot sun-filled beach.

Then, as if injected with adrenalin, our FIU cheerleaders took on a new life!  What had happened?  Out of nowhere, dozens of blue-shirted FIU fans — the notorious 12th Panther — appeared. Initially chanting “go, go, go,” the voice then changed to “F-I-U! F-I-U! “ as if they were one, rather than many. At that precise moment, the taut rope started moving in the opposite direction, pulling an oxygen-starved Marshall troop across the line, allowing the referee to declare an FIU victory, and leaving the Thundering Herd’s followers in stunned disbelief.