scatter band
n.— «Eschewing the more traditional, rigid marching-band image of peers such as Cal and USC, Stanford’s rowdies call themselves a “scatter band.” Also found at most Ivy League schools and others such as Rice and Virginia, scatter bands “can the charade of military lock step and run onto the field in a screaming frenzy.”» —“The big game: Band of misfits” by Patrick Fitzgerald Sacramento Bee (California) Nov. 19, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A California listener shares a couple of pranks from her time in the U.S. Marines, where unsuspecting recruits would be ordered to complete impossible tasks. She remembers that newbies would be sent to retrieve a bucket of frequency grease or a...
Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s family farm in Virginia, where they...