Seven hours before kickoff, Nate MacMaster sits on a folding chair in the foyer of the Ohio State University Marching Band Center. The complex forms part of Ohio Stadium's outer shell, a monument to marketing ambition that expanded capacity to 105,000 in 2001. MacMaster, the band's drum major responsible for leading the group through its drills, is stripped to a T-shirt, breeches rolled up to his thigh, unwinding an Ace bandage down the length of his shin. "Stress fractures," he explains. "You get them from strutting, especially in the practices before tryouts. Having long legs makes it worse — puts more stress on your body. But the strut wins the tryout. Anyone can twirl the baton or do tricks, but it takes a man to strut."
