-Looking to take my six-year-old son to his first game on 9/23 (Rutgers).
-Need two tickets, but three would also be OK.
-Would prefer somewhere on the home (west) side of the stadium--I was in the MMB (91-94), so would prefer that view.
As I recall, Temptation following defensive stops was introduced in 1994 by marching band director Gary Lewis. He made sure to indicate that people should use a fist.
I do think the idea might have been inspired by the 1991 Florida State visit; they brought their band and a lot of fans, along with the chop.
The tradition of playing Temptation after defensive stops isn't even that old. It was instituted by then director Gary Lewis in either the '92, '93, or '94 season. I always thought he was inspired by the September '91 visit by Florida State & their band. Their tomahawk chop was, sadly, a little too popular in our stadium that day, but I think the arm motion that accompanied it inspired the current gesture. I even remember Mr. Lewis wanting to make sure that when non-playing members of the band as well as surrounding students made the gesture, it was with a closed fist, kind of like a "Hail!" but in slow motion.
I was in grad school there 2001-2005, and still stop by about once a month. Lots of condo buildings and the like have sprung up over the last 10 years. I agree that EV feels more like an extension of Chicago rather than its own entity.
It was a night game in Evanston. Thomas just sort of dropped the ball, as I recall. It was a crushing defeat.
I ended up going to grad school at NU the following fall, and the band would chant that score for years to come following that game. It was definitely a highlight for that generation of NU football fans.
They might have a few video snippets up later, but after last week's NU game, they didn't have anything in the way of a formal presser, since it's an away game.
I think the midday start and possibly frigid temperatures alone make this an unlikely scenario. Super Bowl and many bowl game performances of this grandure take place at night.
Also, given the time it would take for the set-up/tear-down of the stage, would the B10 even allow something like this?
I remember as a wee lad back in the early '80s that they might perform Temptation at postgame, but War Chant wasn't ready for the very earliest games of the season.
The drumline has really taken off since the first rewrite of the T & W parts in 1990 by Nick Petrella and the second rewrite (still used today) in '93 by Clif Smith.
From a team standpoint, they picked an offensive and defensive player. From a modeling standpoint, they picked two different-sized players. Seems reasonable.
I was at the Spring '94 commencement with the family of my best friend who was graduating. Couple that with the horrible weather and an epic hangover from the previous night's revelry, the "Cathy" commencement ranks as one of the worst afternoons of my life. Zingerman's was the right choice!
I, too, was a freshman in '91. I lived in 7816 Huber, and four of the five also lived on the 7th floor Huber--I think it was either the 77 or 79 hall, can't remember. I didn't have a whole lot of interactions with them, but I do recall that Jalen used to enjoy a game of Nintendo Tecmo Bowl every now and again with an acquaintance of mine who lived on Jalen's hall.
Ray Jackson lived with someone on the 8th floor; I always felt a little bad that he was the one relegated to a different location.
Juwan was a really friendly guy, seemed to be smiling all the time. I don't remember any interactions with the other four.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be letterwinners who are in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher.
For All-American
The nominees must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution. Nominees must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s games at the position listed on the nomination form (where applicable). Nominees are ineligible until the completion of one full calendar year at his/her current institution and attainment of sophomore athletic eligibility.
Ross is our top 2012 prospect for several reasons. Very impressive kicking FG's off the ground for a high school junior. Booming kickoffs off 2" block, still adjusting to 1". Also a pretty consistent punter. Sound technique with both. Confident, yet humble, respectful, coachable, and hungry to be the best.
I am not a frequent poster, and the few posts I make I try to craft rather carefully. There are a lot of intelligent, thoughtful people here, so I believe it's worth some time trying to create clear and accurate comments or topics. I don't have a strong opinion either way about the tweets; I saw them in my feed and thought they were interesting, given Troy's experiences at Big Ten media days.
The title is not perfect, but I did not intend it to be misleading. I thought it was close enough. The long title would have to be, "Troy Woolfolk is displeased with journalists reading his tweets, making assumptions based on those tweets, and then reporting those assumptions in print using Troy Woolfolk as the source."
Thanks for the details. I wasn't so much giving Zook credit as I was looking for any shred of evidence that things can better for us. I can see Brandon giving RichRod a similar ultimatum to the one Zook received, and since Rodriguez seems generally hands-off with the defense, given the right coordinator and staff hopefully things can improve.
Not to compare us to Illinois...but Zook was on a much hotter seat than Rodriguez this past offseason. He canned much of his staff, brought in new coordinators for offense and defense, and the changes appear to be paying off. Please note: I have not done the requisite research to look at years of experience and returning starters on both sides of the ball, but Illinois at least appears to be improving as the season wears on. And they're doing it with a freshman quarterback.
If RichRod stays and cleans house on the defensive side of the the ball, let's hope for the "The Ron English Effect," as Brian puts it, as I would argue it appears to be happening in Champaign-Urbana.
MBandMarch: I think we agree in many ways, actually. As you probably noticed from my earlier comments on this thread, I'm not here to bag on past directors, I'm just interested in hearing what people think. I said that I'd heard stories about Becher's coach-like approach; I didn't comment on his musicianship. I commented positively on Lewis's drill and musicianship. I didn't comment on Sedatole at all, so take that for what you will.
I disagree with your reasoning as to why directors leave. As I understood it, and which you seem to confirm, Becher was asked to leave because he wasn't cutting it in terms of his musicianship in the School of Music. Let's look at the seven directors that have followed, and where they are now:
Luckhardt: Assoc. Dir. of Band, U. Minnesota. Does not conduct the marching band
Lewis: Director of Orchestras, U. Colorado. No involvement with marching band.
Grogan: Posts with New Jersey Symphony, Montclair State orch director. No marching band.
Sedatole: Director of Bands, MSU. No marching band.
Tapia: Formerly orchestra director, now co-chair of Syracuse School of Music. No marching band.
Nix: Completing a doctorate in band conducting at Miami University. Looking for non-marching jobs.
Boerma: Former director of bands, Eastern Mich. U, currently heading up MMB.
The fact is that for many college band directors, a marching band job is looked at as a stepping stone at best, and a job not worth applying for at worst. I don't think Michigan has any intention of hiring a director who wants to bring back traditions, or even stay in the position for any length of time. It is not a tenure-track job, so few are going to stay past two three-year contracts, in my opinion. The people that have been hired have left to pursue careers at the highest levels of academia in band or orchestra.
If you think the solution to the MMB's systemic problems is to hire a "lifer," so-to-speak, I think you are going to be disappointed. The days of Revelli and Cavender are over. I don't think this is good, but, just like the impending dissolution of the great tradition that is The Game, it's the way things are and will continue to be.
If we can't end the regular season with Ohio State, let's hope they pit us against Nebraska. Playing MSU to end the season would give MSU a higher status than they deserve, IMO.
I live in Chicago, and without the explosion of M blogs, esp. this one, there is no way I would have kept up and even increased my fanaticism. With resources like HTTV, I know more about football than ever. This sounds like the ultimate brown-nosing, but it's true!
I think the numbers going up in the late 90s also might have had to do with the 1997 football season. In general, I think numbers were increasing slightly during the Lewis years. From 1991 to the beginning of 1996, numbers went from 325 to 375.
If you're suggesting that the band do the whole of pregame Victors at slow stride, that would present some problems. First, the half-speed lock step works at the break-up strain, but during the rest of the work it would look strange--the music is moving at such a contradictory pace to what the band would be marching. Second, remember the "100 Yards"--when the rank leaders would show off at the end of band week with 100 yards of slow stride? I think the band would have struggled doing that much slow stride 20 years ago, and they certainly aren't going back now. Finally, since the band would be taking half as many steps during pregame, they'd never make it down to the north end zone in sweep lines. Believe me, cutting the lock from pregame was a tough decision, and I don't think pregame is perfect now, but I just don't know what the best solution is.
I have heard some great Becher stories. Sounds like he was almost like a football coach out there, really got the band motivated. Gary Lewis was amazing musically--he had amazing ears and also wrote great arrangements and great drill. That's why he runs the orchestra at Colorado-Boulder now:
I think the reserves have always contributed to the sound in the stands. I was just pointing out that the total size of the band has fluctuated quite a bit over the last 20 years. The size and instrumentation of the band has not changed at all in 30+ years for pregame (other than the evolution of percussion, alto horns to F Horns (mellophones) and the addition of a small number of bass trombones). Halftime band size has grown somewhat, but not drastically. There are more people who march at halftime (maybe 275) than march at pregame (225ish).
The sound debate, as near as I can tell, seems to be split between those who were fans of the Jamie Nix years (01-06) and Scott Boerma (07-present). To present an analogy that has at least some truth to it, many seem to see Nix the way folks in the late 80s saw Becher (rah-rah, intense, fun music and shows), and those fans of Nix seem to see Boerma the way fans of Becher saw Lewis (more focused on musical excellence at the expense of entertainment value, diverse types of show).
I think each director brings their own style and approach, just like any coach would, and their are plenty of fans and detractors of each style. I still believe that the MMB strives for excellence, and that its members are fiercely dedicated to the band and the team. That is the most important thing, as far as I'm concerned.
I can't speak to the situation with the reserves, but I can say this: instrumentation for the band has stayed remarkably consistent over the last 2o years, no matter the size of the band. I've thought about doing a diary on this, but percentages of brass, woodwinds, and percussion when taking the whole band membership into account, have barely changed since 1991. In 1991, membership was around 325, and went up as high as 420 in 1999. Things seems to have been tailing off since then, but I'm not in a place to speculate why. The size of the band definitely impacts perceived volume of sound, but no matter what size the band is, it should be putting out the same kind of tone, due to the consistency of instrumentation.
Therefore, I generally disregard arguments I see (not today, but I have in the past) that suggest the instrumentation is the culprit for the quieter band. The band's instrumentation is not likely to change; it is as much a part of the MMB sound as the modified British brass band instrumentation is to Ohio State's sound.
Not only did the artificial, rock-hard Astroturf help reflect sound, the fact that the field level was dropped 3 1/2 feet when they put in grass in 1991 really impacted the sound as well.
I'm curious, Bando C.--how many years have you been observing/participating in the band? It seems that your "lost touch" and "move towards . . . Drum Corps Style" observations have been popping up for 20 years, and are not unique to Boerma's directorship.
I would argue that there was a greater uproar--at least within the alumni base--during the transition from the Eric Becher era in the 80s to Gary Lewis and the changes he began in 1990. Lewis, as I recall, was the first to make extensive use of "glide step" in halftime performances--I'm sure someone out there who was in the MMB during that transition can correct me if I'm wrong.
In fact, one of the greatest changes in the band's style in the last 30+ years occurred in 1996 when, in Kevin Sedatole's first year at the helm, the pregame show was rewritten, high step was almost completely replaced with "traditional step" (ostensibly to honor Revelli's legacy, in practice to improve sound while marching), and the tempo of "The Victors" at pregame was increased significantly. That transition went a lot more smoothly among fans and alumni; perhaps it was marketed better, or perhaps because everyone was seven years removed from the last Michigan Man at the helm, tempers had cooled and suspicions had eased.
During the last 20 years, the band has suffered from the "not a Michigan man" syndrome to varying degrees--first when Eric Becher (a former MMB trumpet section leader) left after the 1988-89 season, and again when Bob Reynolds (a former alto horn line leader) retired at the end of 2000-01. I think the consistent influx of people from Texas has also made some nervous. Also, seven directors since 1989 has not helped keep things consistent.
I'm guessing that if you are a current or former MMB member, you're aware of most of this history, but I'm curious: to what degree and in what ways do you think the MMB has suffered in the past few years specifically? People can point to every director's tenure and pick out good and band things, and plenty of CD as well as video evidence exists for folks to argue their points.
Full disclosure: I'm not baiting you, I'm only asking because I have lived out of state for 12 years, and have only been back for a handful of games during the last decade. What I hear is from old friends and folks on the board, so I'm curious as to specific criticisms from those who have been there during director transitions and from season to season. You seem to have some clear opinions, and it seems that you might have bridged the Nix/Boerma transition. Thanks!
I was in the MMB from 1991-95. As I recall, band director Gary Lewis instituted the tradition of playing the short version of "Temptation" after defensive stops either in the 1993 or 1994 season. He strongly emphasized that surrounding crowdmembers (and any non-playing band members) should make a downward fist pump. The fist part was emphasized to distinguish the gesture from the Florida State "tomahawk chop" motion; FSU had visited Ann Arbor in 1991 and that could be the inspiration for the gesture.
Many thanks--works like a charm! Stylish gets added to the pantheon of extensions that includes Tab Mix Plus, Greasemonkey, and Flashblock, among others.
MaizeMan10 and Rorschach: thanks for your replies. You're right: I inadvertently left "parking lot" Victors entirely out of the conversation. Regarding "pregame" Victors: it was, in fact, as I described it from the 1970s through the 1995 season. Back in the day (up until '96, that is), the pregame version of "The Victors" ended after the first trio, and immediately transitioned to the opposing team's fight song, the first half of which was performed while marching. In 1996, the pregame version of "The Victors" was updated to add the breakup strain and the repeat of the shortened trio, and that version, with a few minor changes, lives on today.
Lots of changes occurred in 1996: the introduction of traditional step (all of pregame used to be lock-step, which was more commonly called high-step), a faster tempo for "The Victors," etc. It was all meant to pay homage to the Revelli years, and to allow the band to play and sound better while marching.
Recent Comments
-Looking to take my…
Hello!
-Looking to take my six-year-old son to his first game on 9/23 (Rutgers).
-Need two tickets, but three would also be OK.
-Would prefer somewhere on the home (west) side of the stadium--I was in the MMB (91-94), so would prefer that view.
I do remember a large contingent of students mocking the FSU chant in 1991 by adding the lyrics:
F*** the Seminoles
Suck our genitals
Kind of a tortured rhyme, oh well…
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I do think the idea might have been inspired by the 1991 Florida State visit; they brought their band and a lot of fans, along with the chop.
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Sounds like it features Ligeti's "Requiem," prominently featured in Kubrick's movie.
Seconded. One of the best burgers in Chicago, behind Owen & Engine.
Keep this up--I'm sure it takes up extra time and obviously takes up extra visual space, but it is helpful for some of us slow learners...
Tweet from Johnny of RBUAS. Think it belongs in this thread:
https://twitter.com/RBUAS/status/267359987620261891
The tradition of playing Temptation after defensive stops isn't even that old. It was instituted by then director Gary Lewis in either the '92, '93, or '94 season. I always thought he was inspired by the September '91 visit by Florida State & their band. Their tomahawk chop was, sadly, a little too popular in our stadium that day, but I think the arm motion that accompanied it inspired the current gesture. I even remember Mr. Lewis wanting to make sure that when non-playing members of the band as well as surrounding students made the gesture, it was with a closed fist, kind of like a "Hail!" but in slow motion.
I was in grad school there 2001-2005, and still stop by about once a month. Lots of condo buildings and the like have sprung up over the last 10 years. I agree that EV feels more like an extension of Chicago rather than its own entity.
It was a night game in Evanston. Thomas just sort of dropped the ball, as I recall. It was a crushing defeat.
I ended up going to grad school at NU the following fall, and the band would chant that score for years to come following that game. It was definitely a highlight for that generation of NU football fans.
It still works.
1. Go to the iTunes store.
2. Search for 'wtka"--you'll get two results, "wtka" and "WTKA Podcasts."
3. Select the first, "wtka."
Good luck!
The MGoBlog app uses "posted from iPhone" as the default subject when making a post.
They might have a few video snippets up later, but after last week's NU game, they didn't have anything in the way of a formal presser, since it's an away game.
You are correct:
http://mgoblog.com/content/unverified-voracity-shows-you-how-win
I think the midday start and possibly frigid temperatures alone make this an unlikely scenario. Super Bowl and many bowl game performances of this grandure take place at night.
Also, given the time it would take for the set-up/tear-down of the stage, would the B10 even allow something like this?
I remember as a wee lad back in the early '80s that they might perform Temptation at postgame, but War Chant wasn't ready for the very earliest games of the season.
The drumline has really taken off since the first rewrite of the T & W parts in 1990 by Nick Petrella and the second rewrite (still used today) in '93 by Clif Smith.
...or I'll eat your soul." I was not expecting Tenacious D to begin my morning; Heiko, you win my everlasting allegiance!
Tim--looks like the "Stats" portion of the article is for Wayne Morgan--FYI.
From a team standpoint, they picked an offensive and defensive player. From a modeling standpoint, they picked two different-sized players. Seems reasonable.
Sunglasses, nothing but high step, it's all comin' back!
Well, we're harkening back to 1980s MMB, guess we'll see how they explain what era the uniform inspiration was drawn from.
I was in the MMB for the '92 season, I recall them coming over to sing with us after the big victory over Washington.
...that I ganked from the Slauson Swap Meet.
Anyone?
Bottom line, as long as we stay a strong #2 in the Big Ten and top 4 among public universities, I'm not worried.
I was at the Spring '94 commencement with the family of my best friend who was graduating. Couple that with the horrible weather and an epic hangover from the previous night's revelry, the "Cathy" commencement ranks as one of the worst afternoons of my life. Zingerman's was the right choice!
I, too, was a freshman in '91. I lived in 7816 Huber, and four of the five also lived on the 7th floor Huber--I think it was either the 77 or 79 hall, can't remember. I didn't have a whole lot of interactions with them, but I do recall that Jalen used to enjoy a game of Nintendo Tecmo Bowl every now and again with an acquaintance of mine who lived on Jalen's hall.
Ray Jackson lived with someone on the 8th floor; I always felt a little bad that he was the one relegated to a different location.
Juwan was a really friendly guy, seemed to be smiling all the time. I don't remember any interactions with the other four.
For Academic All-Big Ten:
For All-American
From Brandon Kornblue's website:
http://www.kornbluekicking.com/fab50.asp
I am not a frequent poster, and the few posts I make I try to craft rather carefully. There are a lot of intelligent, thoughtful people here, so I believe it's worth some time trying to create clear and accurate comments or topics. I don't have a strong opinion either way about the tweets; I saw them in my feed and thought they were interesting, given Troy's experiences at Big Ten media days.
Plus I thought the "Rambo" quote was apropos.
No harm was meant by the post. I don't think "misinterpreting" is perfectly accurate, either (see my response above), but I agree it is closer.
The title is not perfect, but I did not intend it to be misleading. I thought it was close enough. The long title would have to be, "Troy Woolfolk is displeased with journalists reading his tweets, making assumptions based on those tweets, and then reporting those assumptions in print using Troy Woolfolk as the source."
Thanks for the details. I wasn't so much giving Zook credit as I was looking for any shred of evidence that things can better for us. I can see Brandon giving RichRod a similar ultimatum to the one Zook received, and since Rodriguez seems generally hands-off with the defense, given the right coordinator and staff hopefully things can improve.
Not to compare us to Illinois...but Zook was on a much hotter seat than Rodriguez this past offseason. He canned much of his staff, brought in new coordinators for offense and defense, and the changes appear to be paying off. Please note: I have not done the requisite research to look at years of experience and returning starters on both sides of the ball, but Illinois at least appears to be improving as the season wears on. And they're doing it with a freshman quarterback.
If RichRod stays and cleans house on the defensive side of the the ball, let's hope for the "The Ron English Effect," as Brian puts it, as I would argue it appears to be happening in Champaign-Urbana.
MBandMarch: I think we agree in many ways, actually. As you probably noticed from my earlier comments on this thread, I'm not here to bag on past directors, I'm just interested in hearing what people think. I said that I'd heard stories about Becher's coach-like approach; I didn't comment on his musicianship. I commented positively on Lewis's drill and musicianship. I didn't comment on Sedatole at all, so take that for what you will.
I disagree with your reasoning as to why directors leave. As I understood it, and which you seem to confirm, Becher was asked to leave because he wasn't cutting it in terms of his musicianship in the School of Music. Let's look at the seven directors that have followed, and where they are now:
...either Nebraska or Penn State would be the next best options. Probably Penn State would be a little better. Just NOT MSU!
If we can't end the regular season with Ohio State, let's hope they pit us against Nebraska. Playing MSU to end the season would give MSU a higher status than they deserve, IMO.
I've never heard him interviewed before, he seemed to have really thoughtful things to say rather than terribly cliched nonsense.
I was wondering about RVB as well. The best I can hope is that no news is good news. There's nothing to suggest he won't be solid on the end.
God, I miss those. Does Charley's ship frozen twists the way Uno's ships frozen pizzas?
I live in Chicago, and without the explosion of M blogs, esp. this one, there is no way I would have kept up and even increased my fanaticism. With resources like HTTV, I know more about football than ever. This sounds like the ultimate brown-nosing, but it's true!
I think the numbers going up in the late 90s also might have had to do with the 1997 football season. In general, I think numbers were increasing slightly during the Lewis years. From 1991 to the beginning of 1996, numbers went from 325 to 375.
If you're suggesting that the band do the whole of pregame Victors at slow stride, that would present some problems. First, the half-speed lock step works at the break-up strain, but during the rest of the work it would look strange--the music is moving at such a contradictory pace to what the band would be marching. Second, remember the "100 Yards"--when the rank leaders would show off at the end of band week with 100 yards of slow stride? I think the band would have struggled doing that much slow stride 20 years ago, and they certainly aren't going back now. Finally, since the band would be taking half as many steps during pregame, they'd never make it down to the north end zone in sweep lines. Believe me, cutting the lock from pregame was a tough decision, and I don't think pregame is perfect now, but I just don't know what the best solution is.
I have heard some great Becher stories. Sounds like he was almost like a football coach out there, really got the band motivated. Gary Lewis was amazing musically--he had amazing ears and also wrote great arrangements and great drill. That's why he runs the orchestra at Colorado-Boulder now:
http://music.colorado.edu/faculty/gary-lewis/
I think the reserves have always contributed to the sound in the stands. I was just pointing out that the total size of the band has fluctuated quite a bit over the last 20 years. The size and instrumentation of the band has not changed at all in 30+ years for pregame (other than the evolution of percussion, alto horns to F Horns (mellophones) and the addition of a small number of bass trombones). Halftime band size has grown somewhat, but not drastically. There are more people who march at halftime (maybe 275) than march at pregame (225ish).
The sound debate, as near as I can tell, seems to be split between those who were fans of the Jamie Nix years (01-06) and Scott Boerma (07-present). To present an analogy that has at least some truth to it, many seem to see Nix the way folks in the late 80s saw Becher (rah-rah, intense, fun music and shows), and those fans of Nix seem to see Boerma the way fans of Becher saw Lewis (more focused on musical excellence at the expense of entertainment value, diverse types of show).
I think each director brings their own style and approach, just like any coach would, and their are plenty of fans and detractors of each style. I still believe that the MMB strives for excellence, and that its members are fiercely dedicated to the band and the team. That is the most important thing, as far as I'm concerned.
I can't speak to the situation with the reserves, but I can say this: instrumentation for the band has stayed remarkably consistent over the last 2o years, no matter the size of the band. I've thought about doing a diary on this, but percentages of brass, woodwinds, and percussion when taking the whole band membership into account, have barely changed since 1991. In 1991, membership was around 325, and went up as high as 420 in 1999. Things seems to have been tailing off since then, but I'm not in a place to speculate why. The size of the band definitely impacts perceived volume of sound, but no matter what size the band is, it should be putting out the same kind of tone, due to the consistency of instrumentation.
Therefore, I generally disregard arguments I see (not today, but I have in the past) that suggest the instrumentation is the culprit for the quieter band. The band's instrumentation is not likely to change; it is as much a part of the MMB sound as the modified British brass band instrumentation is to Ohio State's sound.
Not only did the artificial, rock-hard Astroturf help reflect sound, the fact that the field level was dropped 3 1/2 feet when they put in grass in 1991 really impacted the sound as well.
I'm curious, Bando C.--how many years have you been observing/participating in the band? It seems that your "lost touch" and "move towards . . . Drum Corps Style" observations have been popping up for 20 years, and are not unique to Boerma's directorship.
I would argue that there was a greater uproar--at least within the alumni base--during the transition from the Eric Becher era in the 80s to Gary Lewis and the changes he began in 1990. Lewis, as I recall, was the first to make extensive use of "glide step" in halftime performances--I'm sure someone out there who was in the MMB during that transition can correct me if I'm wrong.
In fact, one of the greatest changes in the band's style in the last 30+ years occurred in 1996 when, in Kevin Sedatole's first year at the helm, the pregame show was rewritten, high step was almost completely replaced with "traditional step" (ostensibly to honor Revelli's legacy, in practice to improve sound while marching), and the tempo of "The Victors" at pregame was increased significantly. That transition went a lot more smoothly among fans and alumni; perhaps it was marketed better, or perhaps because everyone was seven years removed from the last Michigan Man at the helm, tempers had cooled and suspicions had eased.
During the last 20 years, the band has suffered from the "not a Michigan man" syndrome to varying degrees--first when Eric Becher (a former MMB trumpet section leader) left after the 1988-89 season, and again when Bob Reynolds (a former alto horn line leader) retired at the end of 2000-01. I think the consistent influx of people from Texas has also made some nervous. Also, seven directors since 1989 has not helped keep things consistent.
I'm guessing that if you are a current or former MMB member, you're aware of most of this history, but I'm curious: to what degree and in what ways do you think the MMB has suffered in the past few years specifically? People can point to every director's tenure and pick out good and band things, and plenty of CD as well as video evidence exists for folks to argue their points.
Full disclosure: I'm not baiting you, I'm only asking because I have lived out of state for 12 years, and have only been back for a handful of games during the last decade. What I hear is from old friends and folks on the board, so I'm curious as to specific criticisms from those who have been there during director transitions and from season to season. You seem to have some clear opinions, and it seems that you might have bridged the Nix/Boerma transition. Thanks!
I was in the MMB from 1991-95. As I recall, band director Gary Lewis instituted the tradition of playing the short version of "Temptation" after defensive stops either in the 1993 or 1994 season. He strongly emphasized that surrounding crowdmembers (and any non-playing band members) should make a downward fist pump. The fist part was emphasized to distinguish the gesture from the Florida State "tomahawk chop" motion; FSU had visited Ann Arbor in 1991 and that could be the inspiration for the gesture.
Many thanks--works like a charm! Stylish gets added to the pantheon of extensions that includes Tab Mix Plus, Greasemonkey, and Flashblock, among others.
I installed Stylish and searched at userstyles.org for an "mgoblog" script--to no avail. Where do I find the script you mentioned above?
Have you returned from your self-imposed exile? Always good to hear your opinions.