Band not going to Alabama game

This is absolutely unacceptable. We give up a home game, and we don't even get the band there?

WTF Dave Brandon?

One of the big things that sold me on the game was the event aspect of it for the players. I feel pretty stupid because the athletic department clearly doesn't see it that way.

Unless, pure genius, he gets MGoBlog to pay for the MMB!

David Does Dallas.  In this episode David Brandon screws the entire Michigan Marching Band.

Let me see if I get this right:

Sell a home game and replace with Cowboy Classic, it will be like a bowl game.  Next, tell the band they are not going, so now it's basically  a road game.  In the end, Brandon screwed the UM for a $4.7 million road game.

hell, I live in Dallas and I'll open up my house to a few band members if the school is too cheap to pick up the tab.  

about petitions or tweets or outraged fans or the MGoBlogosphere, not to mention the students in the Michigan Marching Band. He cares about money in very, very large amounts, and caters to and hangs out with people who have money in very, very large amounts. The only thing that will change this decision is if enough of those people who have lots of money complain to him when they encounter him in the Chop House during the desserts and brandy. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.

this has officially become a road game. not having the band in attendance butchers the experience.

This really pisses me off!

I don't think Brandon considered the players view on this. Do you honestly think the players don't want the band there? I want to hear The Victors in cowboy stadium and this really upsets me. Yet we'll pay more for our tickets next year and they don't have enough for them in the budget. Unbelievable.

Mr. Brandon,

Recently news has broken concerning the Michigan Marching Band and the 2013 opening game to the college football season between Michigan and Alabama. It is news that clouds what would otherwise be a banner day for the Michigan brand. 

As you have stated numerous times, a key tenet of running the athletic department is to push "the brand". This game in Cowboys Stadium is just as much about allowing other parts of the country to experience the Michigan football "brand" as it is about playing the game. But what is Michigan football - indeed, what is Michigan athletics - without the Michigan Marching Band?

It is the Michigan Marching Band that fuels a passionate student fan base in Yost Ice Arena for every Michigan hockey game. It was the Michigan Marching Band that begun numerous storied traditions in college sports and music, including introducing That School Down South to the script OHIO and being the first band awarded the Sudler Trophy. The Michigan Marching Band have consistently proven themselves to be an excellent group of ambassadors for the Michigan "brand" abroad. These are but a few of the countless reasons why it makes no sense, financially or otherwise, to leave them out of the Michigan/Alabama game. And with Alabama's band allowed to be present, the omission is all the greater.

I sincerely hope that you, or whomever is responsible for this decision, reconsiders the position. As a born-and-bred Michigan faithful since my birth in 1983, I have never felt that anything that truly defined Michigan was in danger. No band at what will be one of the biggest regular season Michigan football games ever will severely shatter my faith and love of the Maize and Blue. The recent installation of "Victors Points", increase in piped-in pop music, and considerations of a mascot have already begun to erode the Michigan tradition - the very "brand" you are rightfully trying to spread. To follow those recent changes and concerns up with the loss of the Michigan Marching Band at the football program's biggest public stage of the year would be a critical blow to the game, to fans' faith, to the program, and to the "brand" itself. Only good things can stem from the band being present at Cowboys Stadium; only negative things can occur without them. 

Thank you for your time.

So who the fuck is going to play Hail to the Victors???

What's the cost to bring the band? I bet it's over a quarter, maybe a half mill or so. That's a considerable amount of dough, yo.

HEY YOU GUYS, there's one thing we're forgetting here... JUMBOTRON.  

Who needs the marching band at the game when you can slap them on that giant TV as they do their thing at the Big House.  Now we can keep ALL the $$$$$$

BRILLIANT!

I'm all for the #MMBtoDallas hashtag, but #greatboobs is trending, which is also pretty cool.

They don't take the entire football team on away games either, do they?  

If as someone posted in one of the band-related threads the AD offered to pay to bus the band in, if the band wants to fly, perhaps they could work out a way to come up with the difference.

Talked it over with my wife. If the band isn't going, then neither are we. Looks like I just saved a boat load of money.

I think I have my trumpet from 8th grade I can bring. Who's in for a fan band?



This is fucking bullshit.

I've ranted about Brandon here before. He is not the good shepherd of the Michigan Athletic Department. He's a self-centered, ego-driven dick who, despite having worn a Michigan uniform, does not have a clue about what Michigan fans want, or who we are.

He has created a staff of marketers that weren't needed in the first place, and he's given them all something to do - screw up the hallowed traditions of Michigan football as much as possible.

Some of us say he does it for the money. I say he does it to feed his massive ego. He wants to go down as Michigan's big innovator. Well, he can't. That man was Don Canham.

Instead of good, big ideas, he's all about the trimmings, the foo-foo stuff of having Michigan play in Dallas as though that's somehow better than the Big House. It isn't. The Big House is the best football stadium in America. That's where a Michigan home game is played.

Brand = bullshit.

Someone here wrote a respectful letter, as though the man cares. He needs a lot of letters that say, "What are you thinking, dickhead?"

All: forgive me for being so old fashioned, but they have these things called telephones we might make use of. mgoblue.com lists DB's (such appropriate initials) phone number as 734-764-9416. MSC's number, for good measure, is 734-764-6270. Perhaps a few days of fielding angry phone calls will catch their attention.

Needless to say, we gotta get our new twirler MGoMember to Dallas...

In 1980, the band was not sent to the Notre Dame game. We lost it on the last-second Harry Oliver miracle field goal. The next week at a pep rally on the steps of Rackham Auditorium, Bo stood before the crowd--his jaw jutted out in that defiant way--and spit out the words, "The next time I go into a war, I want my band with me!!!" Send the MMB to Dallas when Michigan HOSTS Alabama! The Team, the Team, the Team!

Obviously, I can't guarantee this but I just have a feeling that someone will pay for the band to go. If I recall correctly, when OSU went to Texas or USC a few years ago, an anonymous donor stepped up to pay the band's costs.

I would hope that we have as generous a donor somewhere out there! Calling Stephen Ross!!

If Bama can afford to send their band I'm sure we can as well.