Marilyn's wondering. . .

On the last weekend of September with homecoming festivities at UND and hunters enjoying their season, a person can't help but wonder . . . .

-- Who is the sousaphone player who loses his place when the Pride of the North Marching Band is performing before UND football games in the Alerus Center?

-- How many ways can you cook a goose?

-- What makes Ryan Chappell run?

For the first question, I turned to Robert Brooks, director of the band. He says Mark Hermanson is the fellow who hoists the 50-pound sousaphone over this shoulder and runs like crazy to find the right place in the band's formation of UND.

Hermanson is in his third year in the band. This is his first year as the lost soul. You hear a mass sigh of relief from the crowd when he finds his place.

Hermanson replaces last year's lost musician, Scott Suchor, who along with Ben Kinser, is now a drum major.

And how about that band? It is bigger and better than ever this year, with 100 players and a larger-than-ever color guard.

The band will be marching in the Homecoming parade Saturday morning. It also will march through the tailgating area before the game. The band will be there before the game and at half time.

Without the band, the celebration would be rather bleak. Not too many stay after the game for the band's fifth-quarter concert. But it's a good idea because the parking lot is clearing out, and you get more entertainment when you might otherwise be sitting in your car, going nowhere.

Now, about cooking a goose.

I called Kay Dell Super in Middle River, Minn., because she is arranging the goose cook-off Saturday afternoon during the annual Goose Festival there.

She says there are many ways to cook a goose. You can do it any way you want to. Chop it up and fry it. Cook it like a turkey. Bake it. Grind it up and brown it like hamburger.

First, of course, you have to shoot or capture a goose.

Then, there's that matter of what makes Ryan Chappell of the Sioux football team run so fast.

When I asked his mother, Beth Chappell, she said he was on the move early. He was one of those kids who was climbing all over. You really had to watch him. But he has worked pretty hard at becoming a speedster. It didn't just happen. His parents, Beth and Jeff Chappell, and his sister, Abby, are at every game to cheer him on.

Music on the Quad

Powder Puff football is the name of the game beginning at 9 this morning at the Centennial Quad on UND campus. . . . And Carla Christofferson and Cindy Blikre-Roche, this year's Young Alumni Achievement award recipients, will be honored after the game in the Memorial Union Loading Dock. . . . Music on the Quad at midday celebrates 100 years of music at UND. . . . Sioux fans are invited to a luncheon at noon today in the Alerus Center, where they can get the lowdown on Saturday's football game from the coach and maybe some players. . . . Tom Brosseau, a UND alumnus who has been gaining acclaim as a singer of blues and folk music, will appear at an open-air concert along with the UND Steel Drum Band this evening in University Park . . . .

Meanwhile, at the downtown Fire Hall Theatre this evening, the performance of "Dracula" will be preceded by a discussion on the history of the show. . . . And the John Behling Trio will perform at a Homecoming reception at North Dakota Museum of Art. . . . The Greater Grand Forks Symphony, with conductor James Hannon, opens its 99th season with "Legends & Fantasies" on Saturday night and Sunday in the Empire Arts Center. . . . "Gear Daddies," the country rock quartet, will perform Saturday evening in the Chester Fritz Auditorium. . . . The welcome mats are out all over the campus, including Christus Rex celebrating 100 years of campus ministry. . . . Merle Haggard's son, Noel, will play at a benefit for Northwood on Sunday evening at the Fritz.

Danny and Tyson

Cheerful person of the week: Danny Freund. Runner-up: Tyson Giles.

Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or (701) 772-1055.