The “crying piccolo player” from the Villanova band became one of the enduring images from the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, with footage and screen caps of her crying while playing the school fight song being posted throughout the sports internet on Sunday and Monday.
As happens these days, the image of Roxanne Chalifoux crying after Villanova’s 71-68 loss to NC State also developed into a popular meme with Joe Biden, John Travolta and J.K. Simmons’ character from Whiplash Photoshopped alongside her.
But Chalifoux’s proverbial 15 minutes of fame extended further when Jimmy Fallon took pity on her. Unlike the rest of us, he has a late-night talk show. Even better, Fallon has The Roots as his in-house band, who accommodated Chalifoux and her piccolo Monday night.
Fortunately for Fallon and The Tonight Show viewers, Chalifoux was not only a good sport about her incidental fame, but also a funny storyteller. Could she have guessed that being caught on camera while crying and playing the Villanova fight song would lead to her being on national TV and scoring tickets to a Taylor Swift show? Those are pretty nice consolation prizes.
Here at The AP Party, we’re wondering if another sad Villanova fan — our own Reva Friedel — can get some similar love. We’ll have to ask her if she plays an instrument that could fit in with The Roots.
