Friends and fans of TBDBITL,
The Ohio State Marching Band has been bullied all season long by the athletic department into reducing the amount of time we spend on the field at pregame and halftime, and also told to not play our horns in the stands while the stadium plays music over the speakers. And because of this season-long treatment, we need your help.
To get an idea of the treatment we have received this year, I just wanted to bring to your attention some events that will not be taking place this weekend at the game. Traditionally, following Script Ohio, the band would play Carmen Ohio. However, due to the Ohio State Athletic Department (Gene Smith, Diane Sabau, Mike Penner) the band has been FORCED to cut this for a SECOND week. However, there is another, more important segment that will be rushed through...
The introduction of non-returning 4th and 5th Year marching band members will be accelerated due to timing. However, the team will get 7+ minutes for introductions, as well as 2+ minutes for videos and can music played through the stadium. Please help out our 4th and 5th years that have worked so hard for the past few years to get the RESPECT that they deserve from the Athletic Department that they are taking away from us. And let's not forget that when the football team falls short, many fans fall back on the band stating, "At least we still have the best damn band in the land." And that has to count for something
I am asking that Alumni, fans and current members of the Ohio State University Marching Band write RESPECTFUL and MEANINGFUL Letters to the people mentioned above along with President E. Gordon Gee, and hopefully we can get this fixed before Penn State. Thank you very much for your help, and please be respectful in your messages to the athletic department.
Here is a link to the Athletic Directory for quick reference. Thank you once again for all of your support. http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/staffdir/osu-staffdir.html
Sounds like you guys are going to be able to play Carmen, Ohio after all.
...and also told to not play our horns in the stands while the stadium plays music over the speakers.
Seriously? The wandering horns in the stands in the second half have been part of the game experience since I was a student.
I'm not one of those fans who is knee-jerk against any change whatsoever, but I pretty much dislike everything I read in this post. TBDBITL was here before Gene Smith, and it wil be here after he's gone--as I suspect we will all soon find out.
The most "loud mouth, disrespect" poster on 11W.
This year's Wisconsin game was one of the best experiences I've had in the Shoe, but I noticed that there was a LOT of shitty pop music being blared over the PA throughout the game. Why, I wondered to myself, would anyone want to inflict 45 seconds of Katy Perry on us when we have a world-renowned marching band sitting in the South Stands? Has the Athletic Department signed some sort of terrible agreement with UMG? Is this some kind of ploy to confuse the Badgers? DID SOMEONE INVITE JIM BOLLMAN TO SPOTIFY? Shameful shit right there.
Also, as long as I'm complaining about the stadium, how much would it cost to get some new TVs in B-deck? I mean seriously, those things have to be 20 years old.
Changes I would make:
1. No "Seven Nation Army" BS before the kickoffs. I used to love the opening kickoff sequence of the "OH-IO" morphing into an all out "Oooooooohhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!" as the teams prepared to kickoff.
2. More band, less hip hop. We have The Best Damn Band In The Land. They're as much a part of Buckeye Football as Woody hayes.
3. Sometimes, you don't HAVE to play music during timeouts if the band is taking a break. If the O-H-I-O cheer breaks out around teh stadium, let it go. Don't play music. That around the stadium O-H-I-O was my earliest memory of a Buckeye football game and is what really got me hooked for life.
4. Everybody has their thing. We don't need to copy other people. Camp Randall has the Jump Around. Tuscaloosa has the Rammer Jammer cheer. In Happy Valley, they've worked the Party Rock Anthem into some timeouts, and it actually works well with their student section set-up and their sound system (and the fact that no one wants to hear their band).... It looks cool when PSU does it, it looks dumb everywhere else I've seen it. We have Hang On Sloopy. We have the Neutron Song (which I haven't heard in awhile, but should be played more). I guess what I'm saying is, we don't need to be like the NFL and have the same songs played at every stadium during the same parts of the game (ever notice that? No, Welcome to the Jungle is not exclusive to Cincinnati, it is played in over a dozen places prior to kickoffs).
Stick to what works, and that's tradition. Long live TBDBITL, down with hip hop and pop at Ohio Stadium.
This needs to be sent to everyone in your email inbox. Send a message to Gordon Gee and Gene Smith and let them know this is a travesty. These seniors deserve the same recognition as the football players.
Side Note - Gene Smith needs to go away, and all music in the stadium needs to be played by The Best Damn Band In The Land!
-The Aristocrats!
This is all part of the bigger problem in my eyes. We now live in a society that has to be entertained at all times. I remember going to basketball games in the early 90s with my Dad and having an atmosphere where there was ZERO piped in music, no videos, no forced cheers, no t-shirts being thrown, and it was so loud at times you couldnt hear yourself think. I feel like over the last few (maybe 10) years the atmosphere at the stadium and basketball games has taken a gradual shift to a professional atmosphere. If I wanted a professional atmosphere I'd have Browns or Bengals tickets. I'm pretty sure Saturday at halftime we are being treated to some contest where some jagoff tries to kick a field goal to win a toyota (or something like that). The kids in the band work too damn hard all season to be the oens who get the short end of the stick. It would be nice if this thread got bumped to the front page or at a minimum buckshots. I will close this rambling with this: If the question involves Ohio State, regardless of what the question is, the answer is money.
As asked by some current band members, I just want to be clear in that this letter doesn't reflect the views of the band staff and I am not speaking as the band. This is a movement started by students in hopes of instituting change in how the AD works.
I've been saying this since the neutron man passed. Between the 3rd and 4th qtr everyone should stand up, look to the neutron man's section, wait for the band... Then the band plays the neutron man dance song and everyone goes crazy as he did. That would be awesome.
Ovalbrewing,
Hang On Sloopy is the traditional piece played between the 3rd and 4th quarters.... I wouldn't mind the Neutron Song being played at the first opportunity in the fourth quarter though. It SHOULD be played.