Band Not Going To Dallas
Dave Brandon creates the future: the tag: the picture
The Michigan Marching Band has been informed that they won't be going to Dallas, presumably because it puts a dent in the pile of money Michigan will get by selling a home game. Sorry, people who bought tickets. Yes, seats for the band are in the contract. Yes, you've been duped. No, you can't get a refund unless you pay $500 to get on the refund waiting list.
Think about that as you look at a home schedule on which Michigan State is the featured attraction. Dave Brandon couldn't even get the Nebraska game to not be on the road in the same year OSU and ND are. He sold a home game to Jerry Jones because it sounded like a lot of money, then we found out that because the minimum ticket price was $125 he could have scheduled a home and home instead. Jerry Jones is probably laughing his ass off somewhere.
Anyway. I think we should start a Dave Brandon for Governor fund. I'd vote for him! With no ulterior motives whatsoever! #DB4MGov!
Everyone relax! My boom box is loud as hell and I have some fight songs on cassette tape. Problem solved, and you're welcome. Dave IS helping us get kick ass recruits, so quit your bitching. He is a big reason our facilities are better and that shit head (RRod) is gone.
While I can't agrue against the fact that the band isn't going (which is awful everyway you slice it), people should know the facts about the money. I'm a sport management major (yes it's an actual major now, it's no longer a joke major for athletes) at Michigan and David Brandon came and spoke to a group of students about a variety of topics, one of which was the game in Dallas. He had no intention of ever playing a game there but Jerry Jones and espn said name your price so he did. He said he gave them about what Michigan made on UTL plus a little and to his shock they agreed to pay us that and more. So yes we did lose a home game but we're making just as much/more than what we would've made. Brian should check his facts before he goes on a rant saying David Brandon is making us lose money on this game because it's quite the opposite.
If he "named his price" then why did he not include items like the band so that it would not turn into a de-facto road game against a school that is twice as close?
You're missing the point. When you name the price for a game like this in college football, you include the ****ing bands in the proposal. That should be the end of the discussion.
They not only are part if the tradition, but they're also part of the overall image, or 'brand' if you like using that word. Companies spend millions of dollars trying to find jingles that will get stuck in people's heads and make them think of a product, and Michigan has its own built-in (very highly rated) 'jingle' that happens to be near and dear to a number of us. Heck, there's video of me playing "The Victors" on a tiny xylophone as a 7-yr-old, and I barely even knew what football was at the time ('80's child from New England), I just liked the song that much. How much better does marketing get than that?
Michigan's going to play "the biggest non-conference game of the season," and one of our greatest traditions and marketing tools won't be there getting national TV time. Seems worth a #WTF to me.
If the outrage is big enough, and that is what it looks like it is going to be - Mr. Brandon (and the entire Athletic Department) will have to change their plans and send the Band to Dallas. Maybe a donor will foot the bill? Or maybe a student group or the band members will raise the money? Who knows, but I think it will happen. David Brandon might have the pimp hand, but the pimp hand's pimp (body?) is one of the strongest fan bases in the nation that spend the cash to make the pimp hand so powerful.
in San Diego, but Jerryworld? No, we want to save on cash.
What the fuck is the world coming to?
I hate you Ron Burgund...Dave Brandon, I hate you!
If Brandon read past "Dear Dave"....,
This is unreal. DB doesn't get it.
The band goes to the game or season ticket prices go up even more?
both happen.
What a false dichotomy. Seriously, a stupid comment.
The AD ran a $11M surplus in FY12. They can afford it.
Shh, don't interrupt his shtick.
Yea, I haven't even gotten to the point where I hope the band gets funding, gets a sweet 747, and that fucker crashes right into an oil rig.
I love that!
"There's a surplus. We need to spend it immediately."
Nobody's proposing that we spend the surplus in its entirely on sending the band. Nice straw man, though.
If everyone's niche projects get funding, that $11M could be gone mighty quick.
April 19th, 2012 at 11:07 PM ^
This isn't "everyone's" niche project. This "niche" project is Dave Brandon's himself.
If Dave Brandon thought this was a bad idea for monetary reasons, he could've easily omitted the MMB from the contract in the first place and probably gotten away with it. But setting aside seats and then crying "no money" is what makes that surplus a very conspicuous thing.
A surplus isn't something to piss away, no. I certainly wouldn't advocate pissing away a surplus on any random road trip. But gee, I'd say
FULFILLING THE CONDITIONS OF A CONTRACT BRANDON ARRANGED HIMSELF
is a rather justifiable reason to dig into money you know you have. Especially when it's a one-time expenditure that would consume less than 4% of that surplus.
April 19th, 2012 at 11:14 PM ^
Sticking to a budget can be tough sometimes.
Sorry champ. Maybe next year.
April 19th, 2012 at 11:31 PM ^
Sticking to a budget is tough if you're like me, a common shlub with a fixed income and a job in a high cost-of-living area.
Sticking to a budget is tough if you're Congress when just about anyone will want free money and no one likes paying taxes.
Sticking to a budget is tough if you're the owner of the New York Mets. Because, well, they're the Mets.
But, you know, you can kinda stop talking like the University of Michigan Athletic Department is on food stamps.
So you're saying that person has to be flat broke in order to make a budget and stick to it?
Have you ever heard of saving money to invest later?
You just got dominated intellectually, "sorry champ" seems out of place here.
This is the single most relevant fact for me. If the dept. was in the red or just slightly in the black, I could understand the decision with no difficulty. However, with that amount of dough on hand, there's little justification for not taking them, especially considering it was made by a guy who's all about "branding."
What the hell is a surplus for in the first place? This isn't just any road game, against just any opponent, in just any old season. It may not be a nice bowl game in a tropical location, but to treat it no differently than you would be playing in Urbana-Champaign or Minneapolis is a curious failure to take full advantage of a national spotlight.
Never mind that the payout M is getting for this is exponentially larger than the payouts for lesser bowl games, yet Athletics has expressly stated the MMB will always be included on those trips. Why should this be different? The money is there, and doesn't even need to be split to the conference before expenses.
April 19th, 2012 at 10:51 PM ^
It's not about affording it. It's about sticking to a budget. You obviously don't understand this.
April 20th, 2012 at 10:05 AM ^
It's really about either 1. not valuing the band, or 2. being a shitty negotiator. If you're going to sell what would be a home game to a neutral site, and you want the band there (as they would be at a home game), you build that into your cost estimates when Jones approaches you.
Does anyone know if the Oregon band was in Dallas last year?
April 20th, 2012 at 10:15 AM ^
The problem is that Brandon should have accounted for this in the budget before he ever signed off on the game. Now it just looks like he's cheaping out once he got all the tickets sold.
Also written in the contract is that seating is paid for the mascot. Brandon is drawing attention away from his evil plan with this, before the mascot unveiling in Dallas before the game.
He would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for us mgobloggers.
However unlikely it is, I'm going to imagine Dave Brandon reading these comments and just thinking, "Damn it! How did they know my plan?" Only to be reminded by his secretary that this is MGoBlog and nothing slips by us
I was in the band 5 years (a slow engineering student), and we only went to one regular season away game besides MSU, ND, or Ohio. That one game was to beautiful Urbana, IL, and it was a very forgettable trip. Regular season road trips are nothing like bowl trips. They're actually a bit of a drag. They are done as quickly and cheaply as possible.
I feel badly for disappointed MMB members, but they probably aren't missing anything approaching what they remember from the bowl trips.
. . . but I've also never been in a game quite like this. Traveling to East Lansing or Columbus was generally a drag, and Dallas is no paradise, but given the money's there and the contract's there and the team is traveling a long distance to play a very tough and high-profile opponent I daresay it's COMMON EFFIN' SENSE to bring the only group on the planet tasked with playing the University of Michigan fight song. This isn't some free vacation for the band; when I was in the band I wanted to go to away games to support the team. When Joe Pedoterno unilaterally nixed a trip to PSU we were pissed even though it gave us back our weekend.
This is Michigan, fergodsakes. We're not some damn FCS team scraping by; we've got a multi-million-dollar surplus and the band is the face of the university. You wanna talk money? What about showing all the fans in Texas and Alabama what the MMB is made of? What about giving the TV cameras more maize and blue uniforms to show? What about giving the team a sound, a piece of the crowd to rally around when Alabama starts attacking them? You have to be the worst bean-counter on the planet to not see the numerous upsides of bringing the band there.
Is DB really that unbelievably stupid?? He's the AD for the University of Michigan and doesn't understand what the band means to the school, the coaches or the team? Brady Hoke himself said he liked to listen to the band and he hired the guy!!
Agreed. I'd want to go if I were still in the band. And I think it's the better move for Brandon. But he's following a decades old M precedence of not utilizing the band to the fullest, IMHO.
I am trying to find the Bo quote that is something to the effect of: "We will never travel for an important game without bringing the Michigan Marching Band".
I already sent one email to DB from each of my email accounts. In the next set of emails, I want to add the Bo quote with proper attribution.
There is no way Bo ever said that, unless it was in jest or playing to a particular audience. Bo was the one who hired a band instead of bringing the basketball band to early tournament games. I was in the MMB when Bo was coach. He was always cordial to us, but he obviously was NOT passionate about us going to the games.
I think it's in the Mitch Albom book, if memory serves. Or that Tradition book In a caption on an MMB photo. He definitely said something to that effect, though your anecdotes are noted.
Well, in spite of the negbangs for sharing actual history: when a group of us went (at our own expense) to a road game, Bo was mad that we played within earshot of the team when the team was supposed to be "quietly reflecting" before the game. I'm not complaining about Bo, I revere the guy. But I was in the band for five years, on band staff for three years, and Bo always, consistently, merely seemed to tolerate us.
It's n important synthesis to the fans, but it's often one more of toleration to the principles. All parties speak politically correctly in public, but it has it's ups and downs. Sometimes the band acts like 100,000 people come every Saturday to see them; and at other times I'm sure they don't feel appreciated right back (oh, like...now).
Story from the 1993 season- don't recall which game, but prior to halftime the band was encroaching on the team getting ready for the halftime show. Well, it was one of those situations where the game wasn't stopping, and the last minute was getting extended. But by then the band was already getting on the team cords and such. They were basically told to get the F back, but the drum major basically acted like he didn't hear them, and kept with what he was doing, ignoring the team. So one of the team mangers came back and knocked him on his ass to get him off the coach's cords. Then he suddenly thought it was a good idea to have the band get back till play was done.
Not saying it's always contentious, but just because Denard shows up at track meets doesn't mean the athletic department is always one big happy family, or that they all see each other as equals. On one side it can be very Animal Farm; on the other jealously can be rampant.
April 19th, 2012 at 10:25 PM ^
Well put. There's more contention than outsiders realize, but in the end we all just want success for all things Michigan.
Moving up a comment from Carl Grapentine below:
In 1980, the band was not sent to the Notre Dame game. We lost it on the last-second 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!
CJ Grape
It's annoying, it's stupid and he needs to get over himself. Look at Michigan pre and post Brandon. Brandon hired Hoke. Look at Michigan football pre and post Hoke.
I'm sorry, but this one has "douche" written all over it.
Does it deserve to be mentioned or discussed? Sure. But why be a total dick to a man that has done GREAT things for the University of Michigan? Is he too much of a business man? Maybe. But look at his before and after...
Quit whining. Quit being so emo. Quit exaggerating dumb shit to get upset over.
Or do...it's your site.
Um... Brian isn't alone here
That's true, but (at least)75% of the people are just blindly following Brian's lead. Brian knows where his bread is buttered.
Really? This started blowing up on the board and on Twitter before Brian posted it to the front page. But keep making things up.
Maybe those people weren't influenced by him, but the people here were.......
Maybe some, but if you looked at DB's mentions on twitter before Brian really said anything, you would have seen that things weren't going to end well regardless.
isn't the only forum for drama queens to rend their clothing over a relatively innocuous issue. Interesting.
April 19th, 2012 at 11:22 PM ^
"I hate it when people agree with somebody else. They should think for themselves."
"But I did think for myself, and I agree with them!"
"Of course you do. Sheep."
Seriously, a lot of people agree that a^2+b^2=c^2. Too bad they're all just following that Pythagoras guy. What a bunch of losers.
April 20th, 2012 at 12:03 AM ^
No, loosers.
the man has to generate traffic in the off-season. Look at all these comments
dolla dolla bills, yo
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