From the unscripted and rather raunchy beginnings in a dingy locker room beneath USC’s physical education building to today’s polished performances outside Heritage Hall, jock rallies have become a Friday afternoon tradition for the TMB, the football team, song girls and fans alike.

This week’s ARTCAST recaps the tradition, which began in the 70s, when assistant football coach Marv Goux took a young Dr. Bartner under his wing and brought the band and the team together in the cramped quarters beneath the gym. In an emotional moment, Goux recalls that initial rally, and the powerful outcome. “We had the best damn rally you’ve ever seen,” Goux recalls. “All of a sudden the team and the USC band became this power. It was the greatest rally you’ve ever been around.”

Dr. Bartner also recalls the Pete Carroll years, and a jock rally before the 2005 Orange Bowl, when the TMB and the football team squeezed into a tiny hotel room before the Trojans played – and demolished – the Oklahoma Sooners the following day to win a national championship.

“The band and the team  are literally on top of each other, and Pete Carroll’s right in the middle. He was like a cheerleader,” Dr. Bartner says. “The energy in that room … You felt it. Nobody’s gonna beat this team.”

Watch this week’s Classic Spirit of Troy to see halftime shows that salute the United States, featuring “Stars and Stripes Rock,” a medley of armed forces tunes, America the Beautiful, Olympics music and other patriotic charts.

You can find it all on the TMB’s YouTube channel.