Emails regarding the band are being noticed
Just thought you should know that the emails regarding the band not going to Dallas are definitely being noticed. As a club leader I received an email specifically regarding this subject. It was making clear that no one should be using official university or club channels to express their dissatisfaction. I agree with them on that point, but it was clear from the tone and timing that the emails are getting to them (pissing them off maybe, but still getting to them).
If this had been a home and home with 'Bama instead of a one-off at Jerry World, would the band have traveled to Tuscaloosa?
Nope! So I don't see the big deal here.
April 21st, 2012 at 10:34 AM ^
It's not a true home game, but to treat this as the same thing as the trips to Oregon or Washington is disingenuous as well, as Michigan is giving up a home simply because Jerry Jones was willing to give the athletic department a huge amount of money.
-but that's a completely different scenerio than the one we're discussing and disgusted with. We would have had our band at home; 'Bama would have had their band for their home game, in this theoretical home-and-home series. But this, instead, is a one-time event (not to mention that it effectively replaces a home game on our schedule AND that the contract itself guaranteed both schools that their bands were included in the 'invite'), not at all, as Brandon wants to call it, a regular road game.
Kinda like comparing one apple to two oranges...
Why are we sure the MMB wouldn't have gone to Tuscaloosa? According to this:
http://mmb.music.umich.edu/node/43346
the band goes on one or two road trips per year.
An aside... let the record show I do not support DB's decision to not send the band. Utterly ridiculous.
This takes away from the experience for the players and we should never do that. Especially in a big stage game.
for manipulating the alumni, fans and donors, by "lying" that the AD can't afford to send the band and miraculously comes up with the funds at the last minute and the band is in Dallas.
So genius = lying and manipulating???? Sounds like politics to me. Tell the people one thing when you know it will incite a movement and get his way without spending the money has already has to cover it. MANIPULATION.
Not a trait that would inspire me as a fan. I have yet to hear one solid reason why the band isn't going. The AD has the money. It is a special event. Home much do all the "unique" unis that look like crap cost?
Sorry, but Brandon is losing respect and trust really quickly. He lost my respect and trust instantly.
As a former MMB member and current football season ticket holder who donates to both the MMB and the Athletic Department, I am planning to reduce my Victors Club donation in 2012 and increase my donation to the MMB.
If enough other people cut their Athletic Dept donation and sent the difference to the MMB (soon), the band could defray much of the cost of the trip using money originally earmarked for the Athletic Department.
I like irony.
April 20th, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^
In all honesty, I see the band as part of the team. They work just as hard as the players and for them to be told that they are not going is insulting. DB should be ashamed by this. The athletic department has a surplus of cash anyways.
April 21st, 2012 at 11:41 AM ^
If this had been a home & home, the Michigan band would not have travelled to Alabama. Pretty much the only road games the band goes to are Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State. All big games within a few hours drive and therefore easy to shuttle the band there on buses. Not only are there 250-300 kids in the band, but moving all of the instruments (esp. the tubas & percussion) is difficult and costly.
The one exception is the bowl game, but usually the bowls pay a ton of money to the school that partially if not fully funds the band's travel costs.
Now, don't get me wrong. I think the band should be there, as this is almost like a pre-season bowl game. It's especially a gut-punch to the band kids that they already have family with tickets to the game based on the indication that they were going. So i'm not defneding Brandon. I think the negative PR hit he's taking for this makes him look petty and cheap. But the reality is, if this were a normal road game there is almost no chance the band would be going. For those that remember all the road trips we took out West in the early 2000's (Washington, Oregon, UCLA) the band did not travel to any of those games.
April 20th, 2012 at 11:24 PM ^
This was set up on purpose, national stage, great programs, national audience. It's not just another game, or a home/home. Gotta hear the MMB play the Victors after a Denard TD. If Bama brings their band, and M doesn't, I'll laugh at DB for the bad move, and be pissed at the same time.
April 21st, 2012 at 11:46 AM ^
That's the thing--if Alabama has their band there and we don't, Michigan looks super-cheap. Never mind that it is a much shorter and inexpensive trip for the Alabama band. People watching won't think about that. They will just think that Michigan (and Brandon) is cheap. Which, given the payout for the game, he pretty much is. It's not like Michgan is getting 1 mil for the game and people want him to spend half of that on the band.