At the end of the day both sides of fans are humans and will try and protect the children and elderly. Not every fan is a 45 year old has been tavern fan out to get the other side. Lots of innocents in that herd of fans but the Iowa band didn’t care about that.
ISU press conference about band situation
- Thread starter spierceisu
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At the end of the day both sides of fans are humans and will try and protect the children and elderly. Not every fan is a 45 year old has been tavern fan out to get the other side. Lots of innocents in that herd of fans but the Iowa band didn’t care about that.
I am pretty sure we would have been kicked out of the marching band back in the day if we did something as stupid as trying to get into the opponents' locker rooms.
And rightfully so.
It is possible the HMB kids were in a gloating mood after winning that game, yes.
But the larger flaws and negligent actions go back to whoever ordered them to go out that gate and whoever ordered the drumline to play anything more than tempo.
Those who created the situation deserve a lot more blame than the victims here -- the HMB members following standing orders/normal procedures and the Iowa State fans all collectively shoved into a combustible situation that should have never happened.
"I have to blow a trombone in the face of a 10,000 person shoulder to shoulder crowd" is just not a rational argument no matter how much band experience someone has.
Oh ****, now we are comparing Ames to Normandy. And The CyHawk to Dday......wooof.
We know the HMB's leadership led them into that bottleneck and ordered their drumline to play cadences and a roll-off into fight songs. Such actions created the situation in the first place, and that leadership consists of experienced adults on university payroll.
What we know of what the HMB members did is perfectly consistent with the instructions and orders they would have had going into the game and with what they should do and always do when parading -- follow the leader and do what the drumline tells you do to. Do not break ranks, let people through, and stay close to each other and stay together.
Those HMB members are also 18-22 year old undergraduates, many of which had probably never seen anything like the game in Ames and road environment at Jack Trice.
I am not saying the band members are blameless, but following orders and normal procedures is a little different than somebody maliciously and gleefully taking a shot at a Cyclone fan with a trombone because they could rather than it just being an accident. Considering those instruments are rather expensive and most kids own theirs, I doubt many would do that.
I think we are talking past each other somewhat, but I am trying to concentrate on the facts rather than speculate on intent. I know which side I am going to ask the most questions of.
Just for the sake of brevity I vote instead of saying "ordered them to go out that gate and ordered the drumline to play anything more than tempo" we call it "ordered the Code Red".
The next one will be the next time Iowa football plays at ISU. I don't think it would be MBB at ISU, as the Cyclone Alley massacre only had steps 1-2 and possibly 4.
We all mixed it up with Hawkeye or Husker fans when we were 18-22.
We all knew what we were doing.
Anybody blaring their instruments in that crowd knew what they were doing.
From now on, the opposing bands, especially Squawks, should remain seated until the stadium clears, and until an Iowa State official has deemed it safe and clear for them to leave their seats and exit. Then and only then should they be allowed out of their seats, unless escorted by an Iowa State official.
End of story, problem solved. They want to act like children, they want to cry like children, they want to be completely protected.
PROBLEM SOLVED.
End of story, problem solved. They want to act like children, they want to cry like children, they want to be completely protected.
PROBLEM SOLVED.
I think #3 might have a little accusation of racism the way this one fake involved sexual assault of someone being guarded by police.
Barta claims some sort of racist hate crime, turns out it's an Iowa student. Bookmark it, that's my guess for Fake Barta Accusation #3.
Agree to disagree. I think as adults they have the ability and discretion to view a situation and realize that their actions are not improving a situation. I think at some point you can see that the "orders" are not improving the situation and disobey them.
At the end of the day this is a band, not the military. Lives are not at risk. Disobeying orders is not going to lead to loss of life or limb. If you can see what you are doing isn't helping a bad situation, stop doing what you are doing.
Or they could exit like normal people without playing their excessively loud by nature instruments.
When football players leave the building they don't tackle people they see. Wrestlers don't leave the match taking down random strangers.
If nobody orders the Code Red, then they are not in that tunnel nor playing.
I think we are talking past each other.
I just have more sympathy for the kids doing what they always do, probably in a bit of a euphoric moment after winning that game, in a situation they probably did not understand.
Whoever created that situation, though... yeah, not so much.
I feel like you are intentionally being obtuse. If you are in a marching band, formed up into a parade formation, and given the command of forward march, you stay in formation and follow the leader and take commands from those who are in charge. This is almost certainly what happened with the Iowa band that night.
If you are just told "get yourself back to the bus", then yes please go ahead and go by ones and twos and walk however you want and get to the bus.
Yes, the individual members do have the responsibility to not hit people with their horns and to be polite and respectful. If I was in that formation, I would have played quietly or not at all and I would not have hit someone with my horn, but I also would have politely but firmly blocked anyone from entering the formation. They do not have the responsibility, nor is it reasonable to expect them to peel off by themselves while marching in formation and try to get to a location they may or may not know.
At this point, it doesn't really matter and I really don't understand the hatred a handful of you seem to have for college marching bands. A handful of band alumni are on here trying to help people understand what is and is not normal for a college marching band so that we can sort out what the Iowa band did that was wrong and also point out which of their claims are BS. We all just want to criticize the right things together. Much as I hate the hawkeyes, I'm not going to criticize their band for doing things that any normal marching band would do. I will criticize them only for what they did that was wrong and inappropriate.
I would suggest, the visiting MB stay home. Save the money for the department.
And remember, the band approached the crowd. This isn't the case a hostile crowd came upon a band in formation that fought to not break ranks.
This is a case in which a hostile band of over 100 18-22 year-olds carrying metal objects, approached a crowd, physically ramming though, while fighting under the guise of trying to stay in formation..
Nobody is saying they hate the band... They are simply saying use your fu***** head!
Out of curiosity, for those former band members, what are your thoughts on the concept of just not sending bands to away games? From the sounds of it, sending you to away games involves much more danger than I had ever known.
