Michigan Marching Band not going to any road games in 2019?
According to the MMB calendar on their website has all of their home game dates on there but the week every road game says "open weekend".
Both rivalry games and ND are at home.
Wisconsin, Illinois, Penn State, Maryland, Indiana are the road games.
If they go to Illinois, they will outnumber the Illinois fans. Bad look.
Penn State is really the only worthwhile option with Wisconsin, I believe, being a no-can-do for the band. Maybe the figures with a Penn State trip didn't work out. At least all the big games are at home!
Penn State has a tendency to be an asshole about this (big shocker, I know) what with them saying no to us when we wanted to send the band there in 1997 and 2006 for massive games. After a while, it's probably easier not to deal with them. Plus, it's a loooong bus trip for the musicians.
The two straight trips to East Lansing a few years ago completely screwed up the schedule so odd numbered years may have no road trips for the band anymore.
Weren't there issues in the past with the Penn State fans throwing stuff at the team buses?
I remember their student section pelting our players with snowballs in '95 from the stands on to the field. Mercury Hayes and Amani Toomer got the brunt of them. It got so bad that JoePa himself had to run down the field and signal for them to knock it off. I never heard anything about the team busses, though.
Fuck Penn State.
There were definitely liquid-filled balloons thrown at the Buckeye Band at the OSU @ PSU game in 2005.
Now, depending on who you listen to --- those were either water balloons or urine balloons. I have no idea, I wasn't there. But the story that it was the latter has circulated over the years.
That may be the story you're thinking of.
The problem in 2006 was that word came to the MMB somewhat late (it was during the late summer, if not right around beginning of the season, IIRC) that the football administration wanted the band to go. PSU didn't want to put bands on the field level (which, really, is the safe choice, TBH). Since the tickets had already been released to Michigan to sell, and were sold, they didn't have space in the stadium for the band to sit. The MMB had already made all the arrangements, the buses were rented and hotel rooms secured, but it ended up being a no-go. Don't think it was ever formally announced, but the rumblings eventually got out that there were plans afoot that didn't work out.
It wasn't necessarily PSU's fault, nor was it Michigan's fault. Believe it or not, visiting band arrangements can be complicated, especially when it's the biggest game on the schedule.
The MMB was supposed to go to PSU in 2001, but the Cold War was announced, and the MMB ended up sending a small pep band instead. So the problem isn't necessarily that PSU is difficult. It's just that the MMB has prioritized MSU/ND/OSU for years, at the detriment of sending the band anywhere else.
Why is Wisconsin not a good game for the band? I fondly remember the Wisconsin band making road trips to Ann Arbor. It is a pretty campus, and should be doable. Don't get it.
The MMB hasn't been to Madison since the 80s, nor has most any other visiting band. There's a long history at Wisconsin of visiting bands being treated quite poorly, combined with the Wisconsin Band acting, well, like jackasses any time they go anywhere. We'd have to pretty much lock down anything that could be carried any time they came to town. Plus, that's a long trip for a weekend.
More likely scenarios might be Illinois or Northwestern if they were perceived to be more competitive games.
But, as with anything else, if you're so passionate about the MMB going to away games, show them the money.
It is not just about money.
As I said below, you cannot travel your band if you don't have a request and agreement in place by a certain date...that date passed. The band schedule is set unless there's an agreement that was already in place and for whatever reason...teams are waiting to make some announcement about it.
Also, the home institution can deny any request now. So Michigan can't tell any B1G school they're coming. The home school can also tell you where you're sitting and what you can bring (looking at you, Purdue).
Someone made a joke about outnumbering the Illinois fans...the Illinois admin could easily agree with the poster and just say "no" and the B1G policy backs them up.
The B1G also changed the rules on when piped in music had to stop when teams are on the line of scrimmage. Some schools don't stop it until the ball is snapped, others when they break the huddle, others when everyone reaches the LOS. There was no consistency.
There are a few game atmosphere changes that were made for logistical or competitive balance reasons. Credentials, band, music, visiting team comp tickets, etc.
Wisconsin has a new band director which may bring them back into consideration
I'm sure no one else is excited to go there anyway.
The only rivalry game among those 5 road games is @Illinois on Oct.12th.
Certainly the MMB should be there, right?!
Travel budget eaten up by football teams overseas training trip.
Yep. We're gonna have to start selling tubas if they even want to get a bus ticket to Columbus next year /s
I love the MMB and love when they crank it up on the road when we are beating the home team, but I never quite understood why the visiting band would be able to play on the road. I have been to many Mich/Msu games at the Big House and I am always annoyed as hell when the Msu band plays their annoying fight song after something positive.
To put it in context, does anyone know on average how many road games does the band go to?
Whichever games have Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan State, or a bowl opponent on the other end of the field.
For almost twenty years, the MMB budget has called for trips only to MSU, ND, and OSU. When the schedule was upended a few years ago, we ended up with three trips in one season--no trips the next. I guess it averages out.
I think you mean both bowl: the semi-finals and then the finals.
Don’t forget the B1GCG (implied, of course)!
Since ND wasn’t on the schedule, we went to NW in ‘95, one of their Rose Bowl years. REALLY nice people there.Also went to MSU.
Quick cool story, bro: at one point in 2nd quarter the band was on the MSU 30 with M driving. Griese lofted a pass to the sideline, which I was in position to catch; problem was, Mercury Hayes and the MSU DB were also tracking the ball...at full speed, straight for me. I put my trombone in front of my body to protect myself from the blow, and all of us were knocked back 5 yards. You can hear the game commentators say “Whoa, looks like a trombone player got hurt on that play!” But the trombone took all the damage, and when I retrieved it, it looked like Dizzy Gillespie’s horn.
In the current world of NCAA CFB, where the billions in profits have to pretty much be spent on anything OTHER than paying players, you'd think some deep-pocketed booster would foot the bill for the UMMB to travel to the big key games each year.
If I was a billionaire with obnoxious piles of wealth sitting around, this is something I'd certainly consider doing, and I was never a band geek of any sort. I'd also look to subsidize student/alumni association travel junkets to key away games & not just the bowl games.
For that matter, I'm not sure why the AD & other relevant parties don't have specific non-profit fundraising infrastructure to pass the hat for certain key goals. If we don't skirt NCAA rules otherwise, we need to maximize the one legal advantage we DO have other most teams. Namely, the money cannon.
We already have naming rights to the coaching positions and to buildings on campus, so why not open up additional endowments or temporary funds for one-time fundraising goals? Basically, constantly fundraise by getting legally binding pledges if certain benchmarks within certain funds are hit. Then, when they are hit, call in the pledges & be able to raise $20M or $30M in record time from a previously identified pool of mega donors, rather than starting from scratch each time. Like a professionally run & laser targeted Go Fund Me for certain projects:
- The "Michigan Marching Band & Cheerling Squad Travel Fund"
- The "We Messed Up on a Coaching Hire & Need to Immediately Cut Him Loose & Hire a Superstar Buyout/Signing Bonus Fund"
- The "Let's Prevent OSU Fans From Making Michigan Stadium 40% Buckeyes During The Game By Buying Up Massive Blocks of Tickets on the Secondary Market & Selling Them Back at a Discount to Only Michigan Fans Fund."
The Marching Band has a website?
Are you asking if one of the most storied marching bands (of 400+ members) in the country has a website?
It is this thing full of creepy spiders, yeesh!
Yup! Though it's definitely geared mostly towards prospective, current, and former members. The obvious other major function is people wondering which games they are attending, and what the schedule is on game day. Their social media accounts also give you more of a perspective of life for students in the band.
The SEC has all away bands at games, one thing they for sure do better
I hate to do it to you, but this is crap. You are talking from your ass.
This is absolutely false. Anyone who has been to a crap ass vandy game knows that this is not true..
Are you comparing us to Vanderbilt football? I know for a fact that Auburn and Alabama send their bands. You need a fact checker.
Dave Brandon jacked things up with the schedule change. We should bill him for one away game for the MMB every year we have away games at home with the fake warriors and roid central.
Maybe the dates for the away games haven’t been finalized.
It's too late...the B1G change the rules for traveling the band. You have to request it travel a lot earlier now and both ADs now have to sign off.