Connecticut honors University of Idaho’s band for its Yale March Madness support : NPR

The University of Idaho marching band, wearing Yale T-shirts, performs Sunday during the NCAA Tournament game between Yale and San Diego State in Spokane, Washington. The group was honored in Connecticut for performing as the Bulldogs.

Ted S. Warren/AP

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Ted S. Warren/AP

The University of Idaho marching band, wearing Yale T-shirts, performs Sunday during the NCAA Tournament game between Yale and San Diego State in Spokane, Washington. The group was honored in Connecticut for performing as the Bulldogs.

Ted S. Warren/AP

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont officially declared Thursday “University of Idaho Day” in his state.

To understand why, we need to go back exactly one week and several games to March Madness, when the Yale University men’s basketball team faced Auburn in the NCAA tournament.

The Yale marching band was unable to travel to the game in Spokane, Washington, due to previously scheduled spring break plans, according to ESPN. Hearing this, the University of Idaho marching band – which hosted the first two rounds of the tournament – ​​volunteered to replace him.

“We want to help another university,” Spencer Martin, director of the Idaho group, told the Associated Press. “We want to help another group.”

He said it was an exciting opportunity for the students, some of whom hadn’t even finished unpacking their bags from the previous week’s Big Sky Conference tournament, and for other more junior members who wouldn’t have otherwise not had this experience.

The group held a single rehearsal Friday morning, rehearsing Yale’s fight song, “Bulldog,” and tweaking some of its own chants to fit the occasion before boarding the bus for the 90-minute ride to ‘in Spokane.

“We put all our marbles in ‘Bulldogs,'” Martin told Yale Daily News. “There’s a lot of stuff we didn’t know, so we were just trying to have fun with it.”

Yale’s spiritual guard greeted them with logo-emblazoned T-shirts and other clothing. Yale Athletics covered transportation costs, shirts and pizza, although the group was not otherwise compensated.

The blue-clad group called themselves the “Vandogs,” a portmanteau of the Idaho Vandals and the Yale Bulldogs. They sang the Yale fight song, chanted “Handsome Dan” (the name of the Yale bulldog mascot) to distract Auburn during free throws and were on their feet cheering at the end.

No. 13 seed Yale beat No. 4 Auburn in a stunning upset, winning only its second NCAA tournament game in school history.

Yale coach James Jones said in a postgame press conference that Idaho’s group contributed to the victory.

“Having that atmosphere and the people coming out to support us, there’s nothing better than that, and we can’t appreciate them more than being Bulldogs fans,” he said. “And a lot of times when you’re on the road and you’re the underdog, the crowd works in your favor and that helped a little bit too.”

The “Vandogs” also accompanied Yale for its game against San Diego State on Sunday, which ended in a loss.

But that act of camaraderie remained a highlight of March Madness, going viral on social media and prompting Lamont to officially recognize the Vandals’ “display of generosity and sportsmanship.”

Proclamation honors University of Idaho group — quoting Idaho’s own fight song — saying it “made a significant contribution to the atmosphere and energy of the crowd and enhanced the Yale Bulldogs’ 2024 NCAA Men’s Tournament experience.”

A spokesperson for Lamont’s office told NPR via email that the governor, himself a Yale alumnus, wanted to show the University of Idaho that Connecticut appreciated its kindness.

“Proclaiming a day to honor the university is a fun way to show that even though our two states are on opposite sides of the country, acts of sportsmanship like this can bring us together,” added the spokesperson.

The Idaho Athletic Department responded with its own enthusiastic message on X, formerly known as Twitter, celebrating the fact that the Sound of Idaho (as the group is known) “is heard in Hartford”: Big Sky’s best band is now the best. Ivy League group!”