Michigan Band at Notre Dame

Submitted by cjgrape on

Something will be missing. Oh, the winged helmets and the golden helmets will be on the field. The leprechaun, too. But for the first time in the 40 years that Michigan and Notre Dame have been playing, the Michigan Band will not be allowed to march its traditional pre-game show. Notre Dame said there wasn't enough time to include the Michigan Band! And for the first time, the Michigan Band will not be seated on the sideline opposite the ND Band. They've been banished to the very top rows of ND Stadium. Do you know how long it will take to get 350+ band members with instruments to make their way down to the field for halftime? This is not right.

I Heart Huckleby

August 31st, 2018 at 1:45 AM ^

This is seriously a bush league maneuver by ND. I mean, if it were just moving the band to Bolivia that would be a minor annoyance -- although relocation is apparently just standard operating procedure these days.

But not planning ~5 minutes for them to do a basic Entry/M Fanfare/Victors/Varsity pregame is a total trash move.

I'm curious when the powers that be @ ND let them know this was the case? And whether MMB was already working on a halftime show that they now have to scrap?

BobRodes

August 31st, 2018 at 5:56 PM ^

I was very skeptical when I heard this, but if your daughter is in the MMB then you know more about it than I do. I'm sorry, and I don't like it any more than you do. Especially if it's true that they're putting the band up in the nosebleed seats as well. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. 

scanner blue

August 31st, 2018 at 1:22 AM ^

They're doing a tribute to Leonard Bernstein a few weeks after his 100th birthday. Heard them playing "Tonight" and "Officer Krupke" from West Side Story while Brian was fielding questions at the MGoEvent.

maizenbluenc

August 31st, 2018 at 6:03 AM ^

They get home games twice, they announce the cancellation on the field just before the game, now this. Some one remind me of why we wanted these jerks on the schedule again?

1VaBlue1

August 31st, 2018 at 6:30 AM ^

A classless move, so it fits right into ND's identity.  Seriously, why would we be surprised about ND, of all schools, pulling something like this.  Face it - Michigan's rivals are all low class, POS institutions.

Of course, Gameday will chalk this up to 'rivalry hijinks' and laugh it off...

BobRodes

August 31st, 2018 at 8:58 PM ^

Yes, I'll face it, because I won't shrink from the truth. The Michigan fanbase is the only perennially high-class fanbase in all of fandom. All the rest of us are low class, POS institutions, just as you say. But hey, someone has to be the paragon of excellence by which all others are measured and fall short, and it's to the Wolverines' credit that they take up that heavy mantle of responsibility.

I still hope we win tomorrow, though. :)

Michigantrumpet82

August 31st, 2018 at 7:16 AM ^

40 years ago at ND - when the series was first restored - George Cavender had instruments up, playing after every single down. Must have played Victors Trio a hundred times. Schembechler commented how that fired up the team. A great game and great victory. Let’s do it again! 

Bando Calrissian

August 31st, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^

Oh so predictable. It's always something with the Notre Dame band. I think they only gave us like 2 minutes for pregame when I went, then had their band do like 15 minutes of every patriotic song you could think of, almost like they were filling time. This was only a couple years after there was some back-and-forth kerfuffle on how many people ND was allowed to bring to A2. I seem to remember they insisted on bringing so many people they had to put some of them in Crisler during the game.

Silver lining for the seating, though--at least they'll be able to see the game. Field level there is brutal for seeing anything.

WolverineHistorian

August 31st, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^

Neither thing makes any sense.

How can there be no time for a pregame show?  At the big house, prior to the pregame show, they play music over the speakers and flash rosters on the scoreboards.  I kind of figured it was like that everywhere.  It's a dead period waiting for the flash and fanfare to start.  And...there's no time?  

And why exactly can't the band sit on the field like they always do?  What's going to be in its place?  Moving the band to the stands means 350 something less fans get to attend the game.  

Bando Calrissian

August 31st, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^

The pregame thing, Notre Dame never gave opposing bands that much time anyway. The MMB pregame show there was basically get on the field, play the M Fanfare, march down to the end zone, come back to midfield with one chorus of The Victors, then get off the field as fast as you can. 2-3 minutes, maybe. ND's pregame show is long. Like, epically long.

The seating thing makes zero sense, unless they're trying to invoke safety. There wasn't much room in that corner, you're right on field level, and players did crash into the band a lot. (Wasn't it Golden Tate that did a bellyflop into the MSU band?) The year I went, we had a band member slightly hurt from a player barreling through. That being said, putting them at the very top is the stupidest of stupid. You're going to have like 10-20 minutes on each end of the band going up and down stairs. Bet they'll miss good chunks of the 2nd and 3rd quarters...

Blueverine

August 31st, 2018 at 9:26 AM ^

While it's complete bullshit, I'm guessing the two screw jobs go together. By having the band sit in the top rows, it would cause too much trouble to get them up there right before kickoff. Can you imagine the drama with a bunch of drunken domers screaming at our band to "move, sit down, GTFO here"? Just a crappy combination of incompetence and zero class.

Hawaiian War Chant

August 31st, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^

Nothing can get me down. Looking forward to see the MMB with my daughter take the field in SB!  The best time of the year. Great time in SB so far, it’s such a beautiful campus.    

Go Blue!