When did halftime get hijacked?

[Stu]

4 hours ago, BigW said:

This whole thread reminds me of a story....

I don't know of any of you are familiar with Dr. Robert Foster at KU. great person, learned a lot from him in college when he conducted the PA Intercollegiate Band. He's a real honest-to-God Texan, his voice reminded me of Colonel Kong from Dr. Strangelove, but much friendlier. Learned how to PLAY Canzona from this cat. A true experience, and I am grateful.

He related this story years ago... how much is true, Lord knows, but I think it's a good story:

A friend of his was a well known and respected High School Director in Texas and the town loved his band's performances for Homecoming, but one year, things just didn't work out like they needed to, so... his 150 member band comes out at halftime for homecoming.

This Director also did the announcements for his band, so he goes through all of the normal announcements... then...he starts...

"I want to  recognize all of the effort that's gone into Homecoming this week. Would all of the Band Members who helped wonderfully decorate the Cafeteria for the Homecoming dance and missed band practice this week come to the sideline?"

30 kids step out to the front sideline.

"Would all of the Band members who worked so hard on the  on the Homecoming float all week and missed band come forward to be recognized?"

about 40 more kids come out.

"Would all of the Band members who worked on decorating the football field this week with all of the homecoming banners and ribbons and missed band this week come forward..."

25 step forward....

This goes on until there's one Freshman Cymbal player on the 50, peering from behind his cymbals in panic. The Drum Major is on the sideline from working on the Dance... so the Band Director begins to count off...

"ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR!" and the kid marks time and lets go with the biggest crash of his cymbals, then stops... the Director yells

"THERE! THERE'S YOUR (insert colorful adjective of your choice) HALFTIME SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!" and walks out of the press box.

First thing Monday, the director is called into the Principal's Office...

"John, you know I love yah, but yah know what you did at Homecoming, I can't let that go. I'm gonna have to let you go over this..."

To which the Director responds and smiles,

"I came in early this morning, the Office is empty, I cleaned my stuff out already!".. turned, and walked out the door, free as a bird.

Carla Jean Moss: "Sheriff, was that a true story?"

Ed Tom Bell: "A true story? Well ... um... I can't sware to every detail, but it's certainly true that it is a story."

[HockeyDad]

Guess what?  The football players help out and volunteer in other school activities too. So, not sure what the point of the story was, although it was funny. 

[CrownBariDad]

6 hours ago, 84BDsop said:

You forget that Stu is the be all, end all on this subject, and the opinions or real-world experiences of others holds no weight.

Beat me to it.  The pontifications were getting a bit much. 

[Stu]

12 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:

Guess what?

"Chicken Butt!" Hat-tip to SNL.

[Cappybara]

I’ve come to realize Stu is a real-life Dwight Schrute 

[xandandl]

1 hour ago, Cappybara said:

I’ve come to realize Stu is a real-life Dwight Schrute 

Doctor, 

You've been spending too much time in the Office. 

the rest of us had to look that up. :-p

 

[Tim K]

On 9/21/2017 at 3:46 PM, Stu said:

'Nice things' are what Ohio State and Grambling bands both do for supporting their football crowds and school spirit at halftime. Self-service is what many high school bands do by running-through their contest shows at halftime (which usually are rather esoteric to the football crowds and do not convey school spirit).

 High school and college football games are totally different entities. While I am sure there are some programs that make huge profits, most high schools hope to make enough to fund the athletic program or at least defray the cost. College programs, especially a program like Ohio State, with the crowds, the television rights, etc., is a huge source of revenue for the school. In some parts of the country, there are a handful of high school programs that attract huge crowds, like those profiled on the MTV series "Two-a-days," but they are the exception. Most high school games attract parents of athletes, students and faculty, and some townspeople, but most people do not go out of their way to attend games. College games attract all kinds of folks, including non sports fans like me who just enjoys getting together with friends, like in 1994 when I was in attendance to watch BC beat Notre Dame. College bands sole purpose is entertainment and in many cases is funded by the football program. In high schools in my area, and I am assuming in other areas as well, transportation for the band to games may be funded by the athletic program, but that's about it, so the band is not an employee of the football program. If the band competes, they probably do not have time to learn two shows. If you were to learn two quality shows, one that is competitive and another that entertains, when would kids have time to study? 

[GUARDLING]

2 minutes ago, Tim K said:

 High school and college football games are totally different entities. While I am sure there are some programs that make huge profits, most high schools hope to make enough to fund the athletic program or at least defray the cost. College programs, especially a program like Ohio State, with the crowds, the television rights, etc., is a huge source of revenue for the school. In some parts of the country, there are a handful of high school programs that attract huge crowds, like those profiled on the MTV series "Two-a-days," but they are the exception. Most high school games attract parents of athletes, students and faculty, and some townspeople, but most people do not go out of their way to attend games. College games attract all kinds of folks, including non sports fans like me who just enjoys getting together with friends, like in 1994 when I was in attendance to watch BC beat Notre Dame. College bands sole purpose is entertainment and in many cases is funded by the football program. In high schools in my area, and I am assuming in other areas as well, transportation for the band to games may be funded by the athletic program, but that's about it, so the band is not an employee of the football program. If the band competes, they probably do not have time to learn two shows. If you were to learn two quality shows, one that is competitive and another that entertains, when would kids have time to study? 

And, although school spirit is important bands are not just there for the football team I believe if they are physically there to support for whatever length of time during the game that should be sufficient but to think that the band is merely an extension of the cheerleader Squad makes one believe like in the past that they are only in existence for the reasons that some have stated. In my opinion it's thinking like this that has caused band programs to have to deal with this for many decades and has made it difficult to gain respect among school programs, this goes for the members as well as the program. In my experience it's been the opposite, the football players and programs have welcomed the band because until the band programs come into the field with the support, there's virtually few people in the stands, so my programs have been lucky enough to experience not only the respect but the support of the athletic programs. Now I know this is not the norm ,I only wish it were.

[Cappybara]

1 hour ago, Tim K said:

 High school and college football games are totally different entities. While I am sure there are some programs that make huge profits, most high schools hope to make enough to fund the athletic program or at least defray the cost. College programs, especially a program like Ohio State, with the crowds, the television rights, etc., is a huge source of revenue for the school. In some parts of the country, there are a handful of high school programs that attract huge crowds, like those profiled on the MTV series "Two-a-days," but they are the exception. Most high school games attract parents of athletes, students and faculty, and some townspeople, but most people do not go out of their way to attend games. College games attract all kinds of folks, including non sports fans like me who just enjoys getting together with friends, like in 1994 when I was in attendance to watch BC beat Notre Dame. College bands sole purpose is entertainment and in many cases is funded by the football program. In high schools in my area, and I am assuming in other areas as well, transportation for the band to games may be funded by the athletic program, but that's about it, so the band is not an employee of the football program. If the band competes, they probably do not have time to learn two shows. If you were to learn two quality shows, one that is competitive and another that entertains, when would kids have time to study? 

Absolutely. I don’t think Stu understands the difference between college and high school football. 

You can make the commercialization argument for college bands, but it’s absolutely ridiculous to do so for high school bands 

[Kamarag]

3 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

Absolutely. I don’t think Stu understands the difference between college and high school football. 

You can make the commercialization argument for college bands, but it’s absolutely ridiculous to do so for high school bands 

 

I hope no one ever shows Stu any videos of a band like West Chester University...he'll have an aneurysm.