Band not going to Alabama game
Saw this on Twitter. Can anyone in the band confirm? Would be awful if true.
So, the @umichband won't be traveling to Dallas for the "home game" against Alabama? That's completely unacceptable @DaveBrandonAD.
EDIT: Now confirmed. What a joke.
Stephen J. Nesbitt @stephenjnesbitt
Alabama's band, though, will be on hand at Cowboy Stadium. Members of the MMB that I've heard from are none too happy with the decision.
The Michigan Marching Band has been informed by the Athletic Department that it will not be travelling to Dallas for Michigan/Alabama.
The football team will has just been informed that they too will not be attending the game in Dallas.
FAIL
just as the twitterverse made wisconsin reverse course on its transfer rule, i hope our collective outrage forces DB to reconsider.
But I think it could. I encourage everyone to send emails/Twitters to DB to fly the band to TX.
cant find it
I just tweeted DB suggesting he reconsider his decision.
I bet he's really worried now...
We need to get Shane involved! He has got some serious pull around the Michigan twitterverse.
Somebody will fork over the money. Too many rich alums for Michigan for this to not happen.
It's certainly possible he's holding out until a donor steps up, but "I'm going to do something shitty unless someone pays me otherwise" is not a great way to run an athletic department in the long term.
Al Glick or Stephen Ross can open up the checkbook. 100k, no sweat.
Why should they foot the bill exactly? Just because they are wealthy and have given a lot of money in the past? If the band doesn't attend the game I don't want Brandon there either, at least on the University's dime. He can pay out of his own (deep) pocket and sit with the rest of the peasants in the stands.
If bringing the band along entirely defeats the purpose of playing a game in Dallas, then it makes complete sense not to bring them along. This isn't a bowl game where we're getting $12M.
The band will live.
I'm starting to wonder exactly what the purpose is.
Quite disappointed in Michigan Athletics. We all know they have enough money to send the band to Arlington for this statement game. Also, we can all-but-guarantee Alabama's band will be there. This is what the Michigan name is for: providing the best to our teams when we have the opportunity.
Picture this: Michigan drives in for the first score of the game. The crowd is 65% crimson. There is a underwhelming amount of cheering, since the majority of the fans are not happy about the score. The announcers, being biased towards the SEC due to TV contracts, downplay the score and talk about how Alabama won't let that happen again. No band to pump up our team and our fans, no fight song, no nothin'. That's just... shitty.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
one upper...
I'm also ANGRY!!!
This literally, actually, positively, definitely makes NO sense.
...needs a benefactor to provide it with its own earmarked piece of MIchigan's endowment so that it may travel in the style it's become accustomed.
Shepherd is one of the larger donors to the marching band. If I'm not entirely mistaken, he footed most of the bill to get us that chartered jet to Orlando for the Capital One bowl.
It sounds like there wouldn't even be a chance for this to happen as it's an administrative issue rather than a financial.
Maybe another relevant example?: 2006 there was talk about being funded (by Shepherd) to take the band to PSU for that game. Ended up being nixed by Paterno (et al)
April 19th, 2012 at 10:39 PM ^
How does it "enhance the Michigan brand" to show a Michigan product on a featured stage that doesn't depict the true capabilities of the UM experience? Nobody here will argue the band is the main attraction, but they're certainly a large portion of an expected Michigan football experience. Seems contradictory, Mr. Brandon.
oh, and way to make this more of an alabama home game, DB.
This news just plain sucks. The MMB and the music they play is an essential part of Michigan football. This is a huge national game and it is essential to show Michigan football in its best ligfht. That cannot be done without the MMB, cheerleaders, etc..
This whole thing is starting to suck more and more. It should have been a two game home and home event just like Bama and PSU did over the last two years. Bama was incredibly hospitable to PSU people and vice versa.
This whole process become more F'd up every time the subject comes up. If this is Brandon's thinking, it needs to be thought about some more.
WHAT IS BRANDON'S EMAIL ADDRESS?
Gentlmen, get out your pens.
Dear Mr. Brandon,
I was deeply troubled when I learned earlier today that the University of Michigan Marching Band will not be making the trip to Dallas for our season opening "home game" versus Alabama. This game is as much about bringing a Michigan Football experience to other parts of the country as it is a chance to play football. The band has consistently proven itself to be a group of excellent ambassadors for our program, and the reward for their hard work is the right to represent the university at home and abroad.
I sincerely hope you reconsider your position. I know that given recent ticket price increases, meteotoric rises in concession prices and aggravation, and a reduced schedule of quality home games, I have been reconsidering my attendance each fall. To have what is ostensibly a Michigan home game begin with anything other than, "Band, Take the Field", is completely unacceptable.
Sincerely,
YO PUT YO NAME HERE, DAWG
I just sent my letter in. My wrath is building.
C'mon people. We funded a magazine 230%, got #BruceFreed, we #BeatOhio, and we've won countless internet polls. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD. Outrage changed Bo Ryan today, outrage can change DB today!
Is nothing sacred anymore?? This is a travesty of epic proportions. Brandon has supposedly been responsive via email in the past - time to start showing up in his inbox en masse!
I guess I'll just have to bring my trombone then.
Not-really-neutral site games are lame.
Quite simply put: A Michigan football Saturday without the Michigan Marching band is sacreligious. And in this case, it's purely unacceptable. The money is there and it's Labor Day weekend.
I am just waiting for Brandon to just get rid of the band altogether- maybe they can just have a hype video and rawk music instead of the band forming the M at the beginning of the game. Sound is sound, right?
Apparently his conception of the Michigan brand is just anything that saves/makes money. He should remember that money is useless except in what it is used for. We don't love Michigan because it's a really wealthy athletic department or because it has a great marketing department. We love it because of things like the band, the winged helmet, etc. I knew I had arrived at a special place when I saw the band first come onto the field and form that M, with the banner being raised soon after.
Oh and I am not some old timer who hates any and all change. That moment I just wrote about? 2006.
It might be worth checking to see what other games the band is scheduled to go to this year. Every year they usually go to our rivalry games and then maybe one other away game. This year, I am sure they are scheduled to go to both ND and OSU. So they will already have a big travel budget even if they don't include any other game game such as Nebraska.
Of course I want to see them in Dallas for such a big game and will let Dave Brandon know that. But at the same time, before we go too crazy let's wait to confirm the news from the athlectic department and to learn the reason why.
the band, not the athletic department, funds those 2 annual away trips themselves.
Ohio State and Notre Dame are almost definitely in the cards... the band hasn't attended any away games other than those teams and MSU in recent memory.
That being said, this game should be getting similar treatment to a bowl game. The exposure is simply too great.
It's a nice matchup, but it's not a bowl. Bowls are structured as a reward at the culmination of the season, and they're a break from Winter weather.
This, if true (is there confirmation?) would be very wrong. We were supposed to have signed this deal to give us the financial equivalent of a home game at Michigan Stadium. If so, we should be able to bring the MMB. If we can't afford it, then it was a mistake to sign the contract.
I guess I'll have to play The Victors in my head everytime Denard shreds through the Alabama D.
we need to do something.
If this thread isn't worth a first post, I don't know one that is. Thanks GBsince1992.