Marching Band

[BG EV]

At the last home game the band was told to be quiet even though they had been following the "script"; they were interfering with the marketing agenda. Personally I believe the advertising should be on the video board and band should have priority. I don't want or expect a quiet field and certainly not canned commercials - could you imagine this at any other facility? They were respectful and didn't just leave but they had every right to.

[MarkL]

I wholly disagree with your final statement and I am a band alum. The band is there to entertain the home crowd. They are part of the experience but the focus is the football team. And yes, other college sports venues around the country will have to tell the band they cannot play during a specific break. As a band alum and a fan of the band, I recognize that this is just a reality to deal with.

[MarkL]

Now if you want to get upset, look back to 2004 when I was in band. We were playing Eastern Michigan and in the second half of the game, EMU coach Genyk came up with the most BS excuse I've ever heard for why his team was playing so badly. He complained to the officials that the team could not hear the coaches over the band.

THE BAND IS PART OF THE GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE! It's not canned noise by the athletic department, it's not pumped in crowd sound, it is a sanctioned student group that is part of every game day.

The MAC officials told the band we could no longer play during the game. I believe if we would have played it would have been a 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty on BG. I can't say another time where I've heard not the stadium officials but the game officials, hired by the conference, tell the band they can no longer participate in the game. I mean, I can understand that the band can't play while a play is active, but the band should never be told by the game officials they cannot play a song between plays. The band could only play during time outs and at the end of the game, otherwise we'd be giving up first downs to the mighty fighting EMUs. Some of the folks in the band were urging a walk-out. If we can't play, why are we here? Take off the uniforms and head to the stands, they said. Dr. Hayward put a pretty quick end to that. I'm confident our at-the-time AD Krebs contacted the MAC office with some mighty scathing words, and to the best of my knowledge that has never happened again to any MAC team. I also hope Coach Genyk and the officiating crew got an earful from the conference office, but this is the MAC we're talking about so I'm probably wishing for too much.

[Falcon137]

At the last home game the band was told to be quiet even though they had been following the "script"; they were interfering with the marketing agenda. Personally I believe the advertising should be on the video board and band should have priority. I don't want or expect a quiet field and certainly not canned commercials - could you imagine this at any other facility? They were respectful and didn't just leave but they had every right to.

Every right to leave? Like march out of the stadium?

Were they told to be quiet so an ad could be heard? Or just randomly in the 3rd quarter or something?

[Flipper]

They should have walked out...if Axl Rose is the band director...

[Bassdrummin]

Back in the day, I used to agree with this thread...I don't like it when people try to tell me what I can and cannot do. <--------my usual reaction

Nowadays, I see why they have to balance the good things I like about football games and things that detract from the gameday experience. Unfortunately, creative advertising is a financially necessary. By quieting the stadium down to focus on a single sponsor, you can create more value for your advertisers and request more money.

As far as scripts go, we're not the only college that follows a script - get a load of the script guy at the end of this video.
"Heart-warming welcome home from tour hug... no time for that, get off the field."

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/201 ... online-com

[Dayons_Den]

I dislike when the band, or fans for that matter, are making noise when our offense has the ball. This especially irks me when it is a third down and/or critical play.

[kdog27]

This ^

[MarkL]

I don't think I agree with that notion. You want crowd noise, crowd energy at all phases of the game. Now you don't want to interfere with the coaches' ability to communicate with the team, and I sincerely doubt the band playing Ay Ziggy Zoomba will do that.

Quick note speaking of crowd noise ... anyone remember 2007 against Akron? We were lining up for a FG attempt and Vrvilo was going to attempt a 50 or 60-some yarder. I'm sure it would have set the school record, maybe even the conference record. The stadium was eerily silent. Even the Akron fans were silent. I think they recognized what a feat this kick would be, especially given our kicking woes in 2005 and the disaster of 2006. Vrvilo drilled it, it was straight down the middle, then hit the crossbar and bounced forward. An extra inch or two, or a slightly different spin on the ball, and that thing goes through. Even with the miss, the whole stadium, including the Akron fans, applauded the effort. Pretty cool.

[Rightupinthere]

At the last home game the band was told to be quiet even though they had been following the "script"; they were interfering with the marketing agenda. Personally I believe the advertising should be on the video board and band should have priority. I don't want or expect a quiet field and certainly not canned commercials - could you imagine this at any other facility? They were respectful and didn't just leave but they had every right to.

I'm not sure how people are misreading what BG EV is stating. This is backing the band if anything.

Everything is carefully scripted in a game venue anymore regardless of where you are. Even the hockey games are carefully scripted. It's all just a business decision. Whatever.

The band playing when the ball is in play makes me anxious and I believe they push too far at times, but that's just me and my experience. Whenever I or my mate was conducting marching band back in the day, we cut off when the team broke the huddle - NO EXCEPTIONS or Chief (Director of Bands at the time) would be on your case in an instant (not pleasant).

[Falconfreak90]

I'd rather hear the band jam their tunes during timeouts any day over canned music. If I want canned music, I can go to NBA games. The band is part of the college football tradition.

RUIT has the right idea...on Offense, the band plays until the team breaks the huddle.

Just my 2 cents...BEAT MIAMI!!!!

[jg4242]

I'm quite incensed about the original post and by some of the reactions in the thread. This is a university. The student experience should come first. You can call me naive all you want, but the fact that the MARKETING department can tell the student band what to play and not to play is patently ridiculous. The idea that the University even considers it okay to tell the band to stop playing because the ads can't be heard should make every alum's blood boil. I don't give a damn if this is "standard practice" in modern college football. I don't give a damn how much money Meijer pays for ad time. This is a SCHOOL. The students should come first, especially the ones who work for hundreds of hours to come perform, free of charge, for a f*&$ing football game.

[FalconTurf]

I'm quite incensed about the original post and by some of the reactions in the thread. This is a university. The student experience should come first. You can call me naive all you want, but the fact that the MARKETING department can tell the student band what to play and not to play is patently ridiculous. The idea that the University even considers it okay to tell the band to stop playing because the ads can't be heard should make every alum's blood boil. I don't give a damn if this is "standard practice" in modern college football. I don't give a damn how much money Meijer pays for ad time. This is a SCHOOL. The students should come first, especially the ones who work for hundreds of hours to come perform, free of charge, for a f*&$ing football game.

If the alumni are that upset the only thing they can do is donate more so athletics can do without Meijer. I suspect regardless of how much is donated more will be needed and these adds are necessary evil.