PHOTO: The Ole Miss Band, Heroes To The End

On Saturday, the Mississippi Rebels held their annual spring game. The event was sparsely populated, the weather was 50 degrees and cloudy and the denizens of Oxford, MS watched as teenagers sluggishly walloped into their teammates halfheartedly. There were heroes present on this day, however. Oh yes, there were heroes.

Long after the final score of the spring game will be forgotten (they write that final score down somewhere, I assume), the world will remember -- nay, sing songs of -- the bravery of the Ole Miss band, who braved the elements and ascended Mount Bleacher to trumpet (literally, in some cases) the exploits of their team. Our own Steven Godfrey brings us the stirring visual.

via @38Godfrey

At great cost to life and limb, these intrepid explorers trudged ever upward, bravely stepping over the bodies of the xylophonists, sousaphonators and tromboners that succumbed to the elements and were unable to complete the journey. When the Ole Miss band reached the chilly summit, they began tootling their victory to the supporters in attendance, thrilling the crowd with not only the school's fight song, but marching-band versions of popular songs of the day.

Let their sacrifice never be forgotten, these brave few. Let their victorious, yet tragic story not be in vain. On this day each year, let us play a horn version of "Seven Nation Army" loud and proud as we mourn the loss of the Ole Miss band, who climbed to dizzying heights only to be decimated by rampant hypothermia, crow attacks and no fewer than four instances of "rolling down stairs while attached to bass drum."

Bless you, Ole Miss band. Bless you all.

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