Pregame band, video, banner
Watching on TV last Saturday as the team came down the tunnel, then stopped and waited for the video to finish before touching the banner, had me thinking again about the pregame procedure.
This is admittedly a "Things were better in my day" post. The video is fine and all (needs more Ufer imo) but I liked it better when the band played the anthem at the end of their routine and got off the field. Then the suspense would build as you waited for the teams to come out, and they'd get right into warming up for the kickoff. For a big game like OSU, the electricity was great in those few minutes. I feel like that tension was lost with it being choreographed -- video, players run out, then the anthem played. I was a regular in the 80s and 90s, only been once in the Harbaugh era.
I'm curious what others think about this...
September 5th, 2019 at 1:25 PM ^
What do we need a video for? We have the Michigan Marching Band!
September 5th, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
+1,000,000
September 5th, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
Yeah but what about having a giant wolverine with eye lasers?
September 5th, 2019 at 2:22 PM ^
Only if it growls every time we get a first down.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:12 PM ^
We could flood the field and have Murder Wolf jump out of the water.
Then quickly drain the field so we can start the game.
September 5th, 2019 at 8:21 PM ^
Someone needs to start marketing those murderwolves.
September 5th, 2019 at 4:52 PM ^
Mixing mascot with a "Village Of The Damned" aura that you could use to play mind games with the opposing team MIGHT get the ear of a few of the mascot holdouts.....a few of the countless millions of mascot holdouts.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:25 PM ^
Agree...
September 5th, 2019 at 1:33 PM ^
Not sure how long the team was waiting in the tunnel, but the video stopped and restarted from the beginning. Still shouldn’t matter, for in house presentations, you want the team waiting there, not just coming out of the locker room. Would be anti climactic
September 5th, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
Does James Earl Jones still narrate the videos? If so, I'm cool with the most distinguishable voice in entertainment being part of the pregame. Maybe do it earlier in the festivities.
It's still a shame that he was never the voice of CRISP.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
I don't have a perfect memory of how it was when I was in school. The only thing I know for sure is we didn't have the video of the players waiting inside the tunnel and I don't want that now. Also, while the This Is Michigan video, or whatever is, is fine, its ending is too close to the start of The Victors. I want the buildup to be all crowd noise, similar to the OP's recollection.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:43 PM ^
I'll let you know next week.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:47 PM ^
Video with James Earl Jones narrating is badass but should be played either well before MMB and touching the banner, or like 2-3 minutes after they touch the banner.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:53 PM ^
Would that make it right before kickoff? I don't think I've been to a home game since 2003.
That would be kinda cool. I'd like to hear from Darth Vader right before going to battle.
September 5th, 2019 at 2:44 PM ^
yea they touch the banner then its like 5-8 min or so to kickoff
September 6th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
Will Pitbull be on that banner too?????
September 5th, 2019 at 1:53 PM ^
I agree. But as much as I have criticized the student sections in recent years, I don't get into the stadium as early as I used to.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:59 PM ^
I think it's fine. There has always been a bit of a wait for the team entrance, and contra the OP, it was often a dull drag when the band wasn't on the field. Yeah, before OSU, there was electricity. But that's a given. Against MTSU, the video is something to build some excitement, and it works just fine.
September 5th, 2019 at 2:04 PM ^
I would rather have non-excitement for 5 or 6 out of 7 games just to have the organic excitement for the 1 or 2 games a year where the excitement is genuine. This way the OSU game feels just like the MTSU one.
As I and others have said here, keep the video but have some separation from coming out of the tunnel. Let the moment breathe.
September 5th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
I too am getting old, OP.
Sucks.
September 5th, 2019 at 2:23 PM ^
I like the video for the team entrance. I think the band intro video is a bit over the top.
September 5th, 2019 at 2:27 PM ^
That video chokes me up every time. But i'm not playing, so whatever they need to get the players amped up in whatever order - I'm all for.
September 5th, 2019 at 2:32 PM ^
Just want to point out that I'm in my 40s and only know Bob Ufer posthumously. Never heard him call a game. All I know of him are the historic calls that immediately indicate the audio in question is (for lack of tact) old as shit. Never to be forgotten, always included, but I don't think we need more Ufer.
I know that will upset some. I understand. This is Michigan and we cling to history with a death grip. But time marches on and Ufer resonates less and less with Michigan fans every year.
Like Tigers fans who love to wax poetic about Kaline and Willie Horton and Denny McClain and the '68 Series. That sounds like it was an incredible era to live through, but those are just ghosts to me. Part of our history, sure, but not part of our present.
I think the same can be said for the stadium experience. It changes. Such is life.
September 5th, 2019 at 2:52 PM ^
Burn the heretic!!!
September 5th, 2019 at 3:00 PM ^
When you’ve got such strong tradition, why just throw it away for the sake of change?
September 5th, 2019 at 5:08 PM ^
Because if it ain't broke, br... never mind, I can't even complete the Brandon joke without throwing up a little in my mouth.
September 5th, 2019 at 5:41 PM ^
Good thing the Brandon's could live... Happily Ever After.
Far from the rest of us.
September 6th, 2019 at 10:25 AM ^
I personally think people combat their small annoyances with "but...tradition!". I don't think a video before games is throwing away tradition. I don't think "no videos" is a tradition more that it was a limitation of technology at the time. Hell, you could argue Michigan Tradition is be bigger, louder, and more intimidating than anyone else...and pregame hype videos are just the 2019 version of continuing that tradition.
To me, Michigan Football tradition is a) the winged helmets...don't fuck with them b) the big house has no ads; it's our church c) hail to the victors...always played by the band.
Everything else is nostalgia from my specific time in Ann Arbor...much of which has already changed a mere 10 years later. But the three things above are, like, CORE pillars. I can accept change on the fringes.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:02 PM ^
That's all well and good. I think people can still have their preferences even as they accept that changes happen.
If I'm grateful for one thing from the Dave Brandon era it's that I realized I was going to have to stop caring so much about things like the uniforms.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:13 PM ^
More Ufer.
September 6th, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
MEMO TO REGGIE DUNLOP:
Lucas McCain was "The Rifleman",
Denny "The Menace" Dale McLain (no big C) is still slinging earthly razz-ma-tazz....
50 years ago this season Michigan beat Ohio State 24-12.
It was Woody's best team ever and in football lore billed as THE UPSET OF THE CENTURY!
There was no video that day and the band raced the team onto the field as the goal posts countdown soon began as a frenzied New Year's Eve atmosphere suddenly exploded on the field......
It was madness and Bob Ufer played Patton's horn like it was an electric guitar.
You might not need "more Ufer" but do not try to change history because you weren't there or many big books in the library will hold no meaning for you.
Bob Ufer provided significant leadership in promoting the spirited Michigan football culture and game day atmosphere. Do not attempt to subtract from his legacy to any one who was a part of those magical days.
The "stadium experience" was sensational with all the quirks in place (including passing up coeds and tossing them 'over the top'.
Bottom line...........The Reggie Dunlop evaluation of Bob Ufer is without value. How can you review anything equipped with only scant knowledge and a "shoot-at-the-hip" Touch the Pitbull Banner mentality?
Talk about something you know about.
Such is life.
September 5th, 2019 at 2:33 PM ^
Is the drone leading us out on to the field next week?
September 5th, 2019 at 3:02 PM ^
The pregame routine of the band clearing off the field before the team came out of the tunnel ended after September 11, 2001.
After 9/11, it became standard for the teams to be on the field during the anthem. Hasn't gone back to the "old" way since, at least not that I can recall.
September 5th, 2019 at 4:40 PM ^
This is correct.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this came from the Big Ten office--perhaps they just thought it looked better if teams were on the field for the anthem.
The problem with getting all of these things arranged is the coin toss--you can't show the James Earl Jones video during the coin toss (the referee needs to have his mic on), and you can't start it too close to the kickoff or you might have to shut it off before it ends (it's a long video), and I don't think there is enough time between the anthem and the coin toss. So pre-anthem is pretty much the only choice.
September 5th, 2019 at 4:47 PM ^
IIRC, for that first game after 9/11 (which was postponed a week), Lloyd decided the team should be out there for the anthem, and it never went back to the way it was before. Don't think it was any mandate from the conference, Lloyd definitely talked about it.
EDIT: Confirmed:
"For many years before Sept. 11, due to television broadcast requirements and timing of pregame activities, the team didn't come out onto the field until after the band played the Star-Spangled Banner. Carr told then-athletic director Bill Martin before the game that the Wolverines should never again be in the locker room during the national anthem, and the players have stood on the sideline ever since."
https://mgoblue.com/story.aspx?filename=remembering_9_11_ten_years_later&file_date=9/7/2011
September 5th, 2019 at 4:52 PM ^
OK, thanks. I just guessed that since the conference gets to have some control over pre-game protocol, they might have made the change themselves.
September 6th, 2019 at 2:31 PM ^
This confirms my recollection as well.
Interestingly, from last Saturday, MTSU was NOT on the field for the Star Spangled Banner. Seemed weird.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:39 PM ^
Has anyone seen mgoblue97?
September 5th, 2019 at 3:07 PM ^
We need a giant marshmallow of destruction that looks like pit bull licking his chops.
Fear and intimidation.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:11 PM ^
That reminds me: I wish students could throw marshmallows onto the field.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:48 PM ^
Put me down as someone who thinks the MMB having an intro video is unnecessary. The best part was the total lack of anything, the DM emerging from the tunnel, and the Voice of God himself breaking the silence.
But I have little faith in anything regarding game atmosphere, so just bank on the most illogical outcomes.
September 5th, 2019 at 5:30 PM ^
It makes no difference to me if they went back to the old way or continue doing what they do now. The suspense is going to build regardless. I generally am old fashioned at heart but this is something I'm not going to lose any sleep over. I'd wager most schools did what we did and started having the players on the field for the national anthem after 9/11.
Also, James Earl Jones is badass and with him being a famous alum, I'm kind of shocked he didn't do some kind of voice over intro earlier - even when we didn't have video scoreboards pre-1998. That feels long overdue.
September 5th, 2019 at 6:19 PM ^
Replace the video with Bo's "The Team" speech.
That'll fire everyone up.
September 6th, 2019 at 5:38 PM ^
They already do that before the fourth quarter usually - right before the MMB kicks into Blues Brothers.
They may have moved it to slightly earlier though because of the big The Team x3 banner in the student section - they don’t want it to be a nightmare to get the banner rolled back up while the students are dancing I think.
September 5th, 2019 at 7:10 PM ^
That stupid groundhog video needs to go immediately.
September 6th, 2019 at 5:35 PM ^
I think the current format is good, except the team shouldn’t leave the locker room until after the video is over to preserve that beautiful tension feeling. One MMB snare just slowly pounding in the background while the team makes the walk down the tunnel, then the climax is reached with The Victors...
The problem is that won’t happen because Harbaugh likes the James Earl Jones video so much he wants his team to watch it - he commented about it on the AED podcast one week. I think it’s the best video ever too, but I do wish they could play it before the team comes out of the locker room.