ISU press conference about band situation
- Thread starter spierceisu
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What happens when two marching bands try to cross eachother's paths?
Do you really not think there was a point where they realized that the combination of the small area, unyielding band, swinging of instruments and playing of the fight song was a bad idea? You don't think they could have realized "yah, this was probably not smart, let's at least lay off the fight song and just try and get out of here as quickly as possible."
Again, you can't just say this is just normal band procedure and think everyone will say "ohhhh, now I get it." They shouldn't have been there. They shouldn't have played the fight song. They shouldn't have swung their instruments. And once they realized they found themselves in a bad position, they shouldn't have continued to do all of those things. Your position basically absolves them of any personal liability for their actions in the name of "band procedure" and that's wrong.
If the band director ordered you to march into oncoming traffic would you? If the band director ordered you to march off a cliff would you? Of course not, because at some point following directions becomes dumb and dangerous and your own free will takes over to say "I'm not going to do that dumb and dangerous thing".
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Welcome to 2019 where people think it’s fun to make false claims about things that never happen.
This could have all been avoided if the Cyclones would have won the damn game. The Iowa band would have left the stadium so fast to get back to IC and stayed clear of all fans.
It's not hate but just weird to mix what you're telling us is a mindless automaton military group with 10k ticket buying individuals.
If the band leaves with 10k ticket paying spectators they need to act like a typical spectator, not like some military group with special rules and codes.
If they leave their own private way or at a later time they can act like a military regimen without interacting with others.
I suspect if they weren't being colossal ****$ they could have held rank, not played in people faces, and it would have been fine.
It can be pretty nasty, but it is really no worse than you might experience as an opposing fan at a given venue. Iowa City is way worse than anywhere else, however, and I have been to most Big 12 schools and most of our games on the East Coast since 2011. I almost got jumped in Hartford, Connecticut by a few guys once when a cop surreptitiously walked by -- minding my own business, just in the wrong color for drunk guys frustrated with a loss.
I would have been far safer with 350 friends than on my own.
Why? Because it is part of the traditional and pageantry of college football, a fun road trip with your best friends, and I will remember seeing Memorial Stadium, Kinnick, and whatever the embarrassment they call Kansas' stadium for the rest of my days.
Those situations are tense but manageable if you have appropriate procedures and leadership, which the HMB evidently did not in attempting to battering ram themselves through a crowd while still doing cadences and playing their fight songs.
Again -- how and why did those two groups end up in such close quarters?
A handful of people are making decisions for a college marching band. The rest of the kids are along for the ride and got thrown into a bad situation without any fault.
Are you being intentionally obtuse? Again, that is not what occurred.
This is not a crowd approaching the band. It is the band trying (hostility) to go THROUGH a crowd that was already there. The band does not have the right to firmly block (or touch) anyone as the band wrongfully tries to push through, nor is it reasonable or acceptable to think members should NOT peel off when going through an existing crowd. You're in the band, not the Putin's personal detail. You can't touch or force people out of your way just because you're in the band. If your entitlement is a prevalent attitude in bands, then assault by band members is likely, although not worth making a PR campaign about.
Are band members and directors really incapable of understanding these differences nowadays? You are embarrassing all of us band alumni that understand the situation.
I don't have a hatred for marching bands, I generally enjoyed my time in one.
I disagree with for your lack of perspective and rational, both of which are at the core of your excuses for the band's inappropriate and potentially criminal behaviors. There are rules, and even when in the band.
Watch the video. Where are individual band members supposed to go, exactly? They're already tightly packed against a wall.
I'd be against that, as a former member.
An extra chance to perform is always a fun thing as are the trips.
Though part of me does wonder if we should switch it out so instead of going to @iowa the band goes to @KU.
Is this a serious question?
No where, and certainly not through other humans or by using your instruments as prods and intimidation. You know, stop moving and wait your turn like most of us that have ever existed a stadium are familiar with.
I was pro-band until I learned today that marching bands have no choice but to plow through a thick crowd of 10k and blare music in their faces if they are told to with no free will or ability of intelligent thought.
After getting that new piece of information I'm turning slightly anti-band since it sounds like the definition of a public menace.
(of course there's the overwhelmingly likely possibility that is pure BS, and in that case I'm still pro-band)
I think the one that runs into the other's body disappears and the band left gets larger.
Again, you are misunderstanding what we are saying. Let me address each of the problems you are talking about:
1) Marching the band into a crowded area - This was wrong. It is the fault of the band's leadership as already discussed. This is not the fault of the individual members. It is not inherently dangerous to anyone to do this as long as everything else goes right, but it is a stupid idea that is going to clog up traffic. This was not a fatal error, the band could have simply just walked together as one unit without playing and moved with the crowd as it slowly filtered out and there would have been no real problems.
2) Unyielding band - There are two aspects to this. One, that the band kept marching forward and shoving people out of their way. This was wrong and again it was the fault of the leadership up front. This is what caused the real problems. The responsibility of the band leadership was to slow the band down or turn them around after seeing the crowd ahead. Two, keeping people out of their ranks. This was the correct behavior for everyone involved because it keeps the band together, keeps people from getting mixed in and possibly knocked over, gets the band out of there faster and eliminates the potential for conflict faster, etc as already discussed.
3)Swinging their Instruments - This was wrong by the individual members of the band. Band members practice these horn moves while playing certain songs to the point where it is muscle memory so I could understand them starting the movement by instinct, but with the tight space they should not have done it or stopped immediately if they accidentally started by reflex.
4)Playing of the Fight Song - This was primarily wrong by the Iowa band leadership. They are the ones who called up the song and the ones who had the ability to call a stop to it. They failed to do that and are in the wrong. This was also partly wrong by the individual band members. Again, the band practices following these commands to the point that they are muscle memory so I can understand if they instinctively started to play on the command, then stopped or toned it back. If they were obnoxiously playing in someone's ear, they should have quieted down or stopped playing. If it were me in that position, I probably would not have played because it's just a stupid idea to call up the song then.
Another point to bring up is that most of these things, taken by themselves, are really not egregious. Walking into a crowded area - fine. Playing music - fine. Walking as a tight group and not allowing people through - fine. Doing standard horn moves - fine. Put them all together and they create a problem. The Iowa band leadership should have known this, the individual members should have also realized this and done their part to minimize the "damage", but I am not going to blame the individual members as a whole unless they individually did something wrong (hit someone on purpose, didn't apologize if they hit someone by mistake, etc).
It's as if just standing still like EVERYBODY ELSE waiting to get out isn't even an option.
