Last weekend I went down to Christopher Newport University
for homecoming. I hosted the VA Pi SigEp
Alumni tailgate with my friend Spencer.
A few years ago we started going back for the tailgate and football
game. Each year we have stopped by the
undergrad tailgate and met the brothers and every year I am more and more
impressed with the men of VA Pi. As a
founding father of our chapter I take great pride in what our chapter has
become. This year was no different. However this year there was not an alumni
tailgate, so Spencer and I decided we would offer to host it so the brother who
were going to be in town had a place to stop by, reconnect, and have some food. It has become something that I thoroughly
look forward to every year. This year I
was also able to bring my daughter along and let her see her future campus.
Also this coming weekend I will be heading back down to CNU
to celebrate with my brothers our 10 year charter anniversary. It is going to be the most fraternity events
that I have attended in a single week since college. If you throw in O’Gradyfest which is a bunch
of alumni it’ll be 3 events this month.
The only downside to all of these events is that it makes me want more events
to interact with the brothers. I definitely
do not take them for granted anymore because each year it seems to get harder
and harder to get people together. But
in this week that I am indulging myself in SigEp-ness I thought I would share
some of my favorite memories about being a member of this great
fraternity. Since it’s been 10 years, I
figure 10 things should be enough. This
also may end up being multiple blogs depending on how long the stories end up
being.
#10 – Chapter Meetings: The fun ones.
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| Sigma Phi Epsilon Founders |
First our chapter made a rule early on that members were not
allowed to sing the song Yo-Ho in mixed company. We felt the song was disrespectful to women
and we did not want to make it seem we were going to be that type of fraternity
when we started on campus. Every year
there was an event one of the sororities hosted where the fraternities would
sing songs to the girls. I was never
able to make it to that event but from what I heard those songs were never “Sweet”
songs. I also can’t say that Yo-Ho was
one of the songs other fraternities sang.
But SigEp would sing out sweetheart song and give the girls roses.
Anyways, back to Yo-Ho. One night while partying at Jefferson East a brother started to sing that song. Someone got him to stop before many joined in. The next day in chapter it was brought up that a brother was singing the song and something should be done about it by the Chaplain. The brother who sang the song stood up and loudly exclaimed, “WHO SANG YO-HO LAST NIGHT, that song is inappropriate and should never be sang by us.” Apparently he was unaware that this happened. As half the chapter started laughing he then said, “This is not a laughing matter, this is serious.” As he looked at the E-Board and asked, “What are we going to do about this?” I looked at him and said, “That’s a great question, do you realize you were the one singing the song?” He then sat down. I don’t even remember if anything did happen to him for singing it. I doubt it because by that point the whole chapter was laughing in their seats.
Another event that I don’t even know if it actually happened
in chapter, was when Bill Miller showed up at the House after turning over his
duties as Treasurer and said, “I ain’t doing shit next semester,” while
throwing a deuces sign behind his head.
We found out that the undergrads do this after each chapter meeting now
to signify chapter has ended.
The third story was on the day that the heads of the
families were coming up with their family names. Everyone had turned in their names except for
one family. The head of their family was
not around that semester. I just
remember Jacob and Matt sitting in the back of the room coming up with
names. The one they settled on was The
Number One family. Everyone in the room
was shaking their heads at the ridiculousness of the name. I actually think it hurt the guy recording
them to even write it down. To my
knowledge this family is now defunct.
But watching those two fools come up with crazier and crazier names and
then to settle on “The Number One” family was enjoyable. And if you knew the two guys you would
understand just how ridiculous the conversation was that they were having about
their family name.
The last story is about our President during my last
semester, Matt. As President we gave our
number out to the members so they could get a hold of us for emergencies. Well even when I was President, emergencies
were also apparently drunk dialing you at 2, 3, 4 in the morning. In a time before unlimited calling and free
texts this could cause your monthly cell phone bill to be a bit
outrageous. So when Matt took over as
President after my term he eventually changed his number. He did not find the humor in the drunk dials
that I did apparently. Well when we all
realized this at chapter, a few of us brought it up that what a real emergency
happened? How would we get ahold of him? I even tossed the guilt trip of; it’s part of
being the President, at least that’s what I was told when I asked for a portion
of my cell bill to be covered by the chapter.
Well by the end of chapter Matt gave his number out again. I don’t know why but I still laugh about this
story when I think about it. I can only
speak for myself, but I don’t think many drunk dialed him after that. Matt would be the only one who could truly
answer that though. I do know that I received
Drunk dials for the next 3 years until many of the guys who were in the chapter
with me graduated. I think I enjoyed
them even more after graduation.
#9 – Plaza Big Beers: 34 ounces of glory
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| CNU Plaza Time |
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| Big Beer |
One day two of my brothers and I went to Plaza dinner. We were getting ready to leave after 2 big
beers because one of the guys had to lead the Sigma meeting at the house. Another guy at the table said let’s get one
more beer before we left. I mentioned it
might not be a good idea since we were heading to the Sigma meeting. Casey said he would pay if we got the third
and finished it in time to make it to the meeting. Well I’m not one to turn down free beer. Needless to say we ordered it and drank
it. Jason and I left and Casey picked up
the tab. I don’t think he intended to
pay for everything.
The last one was actually after college. It was with some of my alumni brothers though so it still applies. We were celebrating a brother’s 25th birthday. Our goal for the night was 5 big bears in one sitting. Well apparently we were a little too rowdy while trying to finish our 4th beers. The Mayor’s family was also eating there and asked our waitress, the glorious Sandra to kick us out. Sandra and the owner knew who was asking them so we were asked to leave once we finished our beers. It almost took the wind out of our sails. We had set out with one goal for the night and now we were not being allowed to finish. Well, we got someone to drive us to the other Plaza at Denbigh and got our 5th beer. Then went back to the Country Club to hang out for the rest of the night. It is not every day that you are kicked out of your favorite restaurant by the mayor.
#8 – SigEp Homecoming Tailgates
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| SigEp Flag |
I mentioned most of what I enjoy about these in the beginning
of this post. I am so glad we decided to
go to Homecoming in 2012 because meeting the undergrad rejuvenated my love for
SigEp. I started attending more alumni
events and getting to know some of the younger alumni and the undergrads. The best part as I stated earlier was seeing
how great the chapter had become, but also learning about so much of the stuff
we started in 2003 and 2004 that the chapter was still doing. Seeing what these guys are doing now in 2014
makes me Damn Proud to be a SigEp.
Look back later today or tomorrow for #7 and #6. Then the top 5 will follow. I’d love to hear from some other brothers on
their favorite stories in relation to the 3 topics currently posted.
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