OT: Trustees Take Last Seats on Plane, Forcing MSU Band to Bus to Final Four
Have you ever driven from here to Minneapolis? I have. It sucks. But that's what the MSU band is forced to do tomorrow because the trustees booted them off the team charter. I didn't need another reason why I want them to lose, but I have one anyway.
LINK.
The Enron board was less tone-deaf than these clowns.
Right. They were even called out on this not too long ago. It is normal for the MSU trustees to travel with the basketball and/or football team for big events, and even bring their own personal guests.
"I will never forget the day that I sat in court to watch Larry Nassar sentenced in federal court, while photos were swirling online of the MSU Board of Trustees partying in Portland to celebrate Phil Knight's birthday," Nassar survivor Morgan McCaul said in an interview with the Free Press.
"It was an incomprehensible slap in the face, and I believe it speaks volumes as to the priorities of the board: money, reputation and athletic success. And it was those twisted priorities, placed above the safety and well being of students and athletes on campus, that allowed Larry Nassar to prey upon young women for literally decades.
"They couldn't have shown their character more clearly."
What's interesting about this situation is the BoT resorted to the same behavior they did with Nassar: a cover-up.
The band director emailed all the band parents asking them to immediately remove all social media posts regarding this topic.
Covering up is the Sparty way.
There might be very valid reasons to have trustees or other administrators travel on the official plane. But there are so many better solutions that could have been chosen for the band. The MSU Difference!
- Charter a larger plane
- Charter two planes
- Put together an Alumni tour and put them on a plane with Alumni
- Izzone students could coordinate a charter flight for students only with the band (assuming Izzone is similar to Maize Rage but I'm not sure)
- Charter a band-only plane and bring more members of the band
I doubt anyone in Maize Rage would wear Axe.
Mostly good ideas....except for "bring more band members." The NCAA restricts the number of band members you can bring to games. When I did basketball band in the 1990s about half the band went so you rotated who went to each round.
Yep, it's limited to like 20-something, including the director (IIRC). They keep lists and check you in at the door and everything. I remember a hockey band trip where someone forgot their ID at the hotel and it was a very serious problem in the way an NCAA makes a problem a problem.
I mean, even the algorithms get it...
Sparty gonna Spart.
You ever known an asshole to stop being an asshole when called out? If anything it emboldens them when things fade away.
“ ...I'm not sure all things are equal, anymore. Never have been. Never will be. This is what good people fight against daily. The never ending struggle.”
“At some point, don't the good people have a duty to rise up and get these people out of power?”
They seriously need to take a page out of George Costanza’s book and literally do the exact opposite of what they think they should do.
They can't afford 2 planes with that $500 million payout they're making
I think the term you were really looking for was "Michigan taxpayer"
Engler is taking up two seats, so that probably isn't helping matters.
One to fit all of his misogyny?
Just two? Have you seen pictures of him recently?
He makes Jabba the Hut look slim and trim.
He makes Jabba the Hut look slim and trim.
Plus with his attitude towards the MSU female student population during the Nassar and ESPN OTL scandals, it's not so hard to envision him with a young girl chained at his feet sporting the Princess Leia gold bikini.
Bravo. Insert giff of Orson Wells clapping.
At least they don't have to march the whole way, they'd get frostbite.
Yeah, we've had quite a few occasions to be annoyed/angry at the trustees lately. I'm not surprised. Not happy about it, but not surprised.
At least they are sending the band, and not opting to leave them at home as a cost cutting mechanism only to reconsider after public outrage, and then sending them, but only allowing them to spend one night and having them leave mere hours after the game is over.
So at least there is that.
And they're also not hiring a local band as replacements, so there's that, too.
Yep, I was at that game. And I kept saying to my husband, why does the fight song sound so weird?
Must they charter a plane (or a bus for that matter)?
Seriously; I'm sure there's 3,000 pages of bureaucratic bullshit regulation around this but why can't the trustees just go commercial? Even if msu has to pay for it, there are other airplanes in the world.
I'll just go with "because they're pricks".
Going to be a long, shitty ride home for those kids when they lose.
I must be going crazy but in what world does the band get to be on the charter plane? Send THEM commercial, sure, but all expenses paid for the band....on a charter.....?!?!
I'm pretty sure they sent the band on the team plane to DC for the Sweet 16 and E8. And as Bando points out the NCAA mandates how many band members can be sent with each team so everyone knows the exact numbers well in advance.
You gone crazy. But yes, bands do sometimes travel with the team on chartered flights. E.g., UM's band was on the plane during the 2017 aborted takeoff for the flight to the B1G basketball tournament: "The air traffic control tower at Willow Run Airport was evacuated due to high winds when a plane carrying the University of Michigan basketball team, staff and band members aborted its takeoff." (emphasis added) https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2017/03/air_traffic_control_tower_had.html
You realize the band.has instruments to take along with their personal luggage? After the BTT crash in 2017, the band had to arrange three separate commercial flights for the 29 members and 3 staff members (one for each flight). It was a nightmare trying to coordinate how to distribute the instruments and luggage to comply with airline regulations that aren't followed when we took charters.
Also, for as long as I can remember, the basketball band has always flown with the team to non-Indy or Chicago locations. The expenses were paid for by the NCAA.
Logistically, this is pretty amazing. The NCAA dictates how many band members you can bring to a tournament game. When organizing trips like this, athletic departments always know exactly how many seats they will need for the band and the director/staff. Same goes for cheerleaders. And yet this happens.
What a mess.
You expect a Sparty to math when their diplomas are written in crayon?
Spartans will.
05 Rose Bowl, UM had a 747 fly the alumni tour and other assorted bigwigs to LA first then the plane flew back to DTW EMPTY to pick up the band and cheerleaders. Those were the good days!
"Out of my way tuba-boy"
MSU Trustee probably.
“Actually, it’s Sousaphone not a tuba ... they’re similar but ...“
”yeah yeah whatever ... outta the way ... Minneapolis or Bust!”
Tuba players call it a tuba.
Northern Wisconsin is pretty. 10:1 that they stop at the Leinenkugel's brewery on the way.
When did Leinenkugel buy Natural Light?
Or pick up some New Glarus and Ale Asylum.
Or hell, if you get stuck in Chicago, stop by Three Floyd's. This trip has endless possibilities.
Surely they have enough money for another small charter.
Well...Engler will need at least two seats.
I think it was a neutral football game....but it didn't we once use a local high school band in Dallas because we wouldn't pay for the bands transportation ?
Not that I recall unless it was way before my time. You may be thinking of the Alabama game in Dallas in 2012 when, at first, D.B. refused to have the athletic department cover the cost of the band flying down for the game.
He faced a really heavy backlash from the students and alums, and then miraculously found the funding to send the band thereafter.
Let me guess: Engler found out one of the band members was openly sympathetic to the Nassar victims, and he then forced himself and the rest of the BoT onto the plane, before the band, as a big ol’ “fuck you” to that band member. Or to anyone who feels some semblance of sympathy to those victims.
That man, or excuse for a man, is a grim reminder of the world we live in. Good things do happen for bad people, and oftentimes we can’t do anything about it but just sit there and watch it happen.
Where's the gif of the msu band member making funny faces.
We need to support the Michigan State Fighting FUPAs.
He has to look in the mirror to see his junk cuz he sure as hell can't see it otherwise.
I passed Engler on the sidewalk in downtown Detroit in the late '80s before he was governor. He was short and dumpy then, but he was a slim reed compared to what he's ballooned to now.
Jesus Christ.
I can't imagine how he manages the normally very simple mechanics of bellying up to a urinal and taking a piss. It must take him five minutes just to fish around and find it.