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skyscraper wrote:I like the idea of a third down song from the band. They are creative people and could come up with something distinctive.

It's kind of high school, but if it helps the team then I say live and let live.

How about Barbara Ann or Wipeout on third down?

How about the band with the biggest pair in the land and have them parachute in before every game.

Maybe they could all play from hot air balloons hovering over the field.

Maybe they could stand on the grass outside the south end zone fence. Can they be penalized if they aren't technically in the stadium?

They could play in my living room and no one would notice except maybe my neighbors.

mrydel wrote:If there is no rule why did our band get penalized for doing just that during the PE era?

Back in "the day", we played the whole time on offense -- softer while at the line, but still playing. And we toed the line on rules while playing on defense.

You know I am a huge supporter on the band, but I agree with everyone here. The Band should be playing more in the stands when the other team has the ball, and should have a signature 3rd down ditty or chord or something to play right up until the other team is down in their stance ready to snap. But the directors are gun shy, because of the penalty decades ago, the marketing people in their ear telling them when to play and not to play, and the feeling that even though the other bands are doing it, we would be the ones to get in trouble and the band would take the fall without any cover from the marketing/athletic department. The "don't interfere with signals" rule is especially unclear given that teams often don't huddle at all, making it difficult to tell when to stop playing.

I keep working on this, emphasizing that (1) clearly other bands feel comfortable sometimes stepping over the line and there have been no consequences, and (2) the coach actually has to make a complaint, and there would be a warning, and most coaches are not going to bother unless it's really loud because it just gets the opposing crowd pumped up when they announce the warning. But I don't think they will be willing to go out on a limb unless they feel they have express authorization from the marketing people that the Band won't get in trouble if it messes up and steps over the murky line.

smusic 00 wrote:They could play in my living room and no one would notice except maybe my neighbors.

You want to test that theory?

Mrydel has the right idea. Charge 'em $250 a ticket and let's see how much noise they make.

Band reconfigured their seating (most of brass down front) and will experiment with a mic today

SMU News ‏@PonyUpSports 13m13 minutes ago
New location of SMU band and student section is sooooo bad. Away team set up so much better. Can't hear a thing. Makes no sense @AD_RickHart
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Even SMU News is tweeting how bad the band placement is. We can fix this...we are smart.

Twitter account is not official SMU. Glad tweeting about the band during the game is more important than the actual FOOTBALL game going on down below. You guys make it too easy sometimes. Believe it or not, the band is not more important than the football team, the fans and the game presentation as perceived by the fans. It's not all about your little Manson Family group. And I've shamed myself by actually looking at ponyfans while attending a game and responding to more band claptrap. But again, you show your true colors by putting yourselves above the actual TEAM playing on the FIELD.

Nedward wrote:Twitter account is not official SMU. Glad tweeting about the band during the game is more important than the actual FOOTBALL game going on down below. You guys make it too easy sometimes. Believe it or not, the band is not more important than the football team, the fans and the game presentation as perceived by the fans. It's not all about your little Manson Family group. And I've shamed myself by actually looking at ponyfans while attending a game and responding to more band claptrap. But again, you show your true colors by putting yourselves above the actual TEAM playing on the FIELD.

Wait...offensive players haven't been tweeting during this game? Then what explains their play?

It is funny, thought, how the band seems to have a self-defense network.

It was pretty lame that we have to use the score board to hear the band on the home side... Very weak

The fact that someone ok'd moving our students and band to the seats we used to give to visiting students and fans is disgusting. Monumental ineptitude. Perhaps they have immanent plans to finish the bowl after this season...that's the only excuse I can see. I feel like a visitor in my own stadium: can't hear our mic'd band, visiting band dominates, visiting fans buying out what used to be the young alumni end zone seats.