As a prior member of the Marching Band I admit I am going to be biased. Extremely biased and damn proud of it.
So be warned up front............
First off rowdiness is NOT what a college marching band is supposed to be about. If you want that go someplace else, where the bands get out of hand and disgrace themselves and their university. The OSUMB is there to show support for the team/university, help rally the fans and the team, represent The Ohio State University, and put on one hell of a show. With that said it should be noted that over the years coaches have expressed to the directors, their opinion on when the band should play. There is a great story about Woody running over to the band during a game and yelling "Dammit! play or go home!" This is a chant the band still uses when we want to play more. The directors control when the bands play. So if they were not playing at a time you thought they should be, it could be due to something Tressel had said to the director.
The band is also not there to piss off the opposing fans. If the band cheering and playing does that, GREAT!. Feel the electricity that is Ohio Stadium. Know why teams should fear coming here to play. The band is a representative of the University, and just like players conduct themselves properly or risk getting penalized, the band follows that same model. I have seen the opposite of this and it is not pretty. It demeans the program and the university. That is something TBDBITL should never do, or else they risk losing that title.
It might be nice if the band played more, but what I would rather see is the fans cheer more with the band when they do play. Tell me, do you cheer during the "Go Bucks" cheer, or when the drums play their "O-H-I-O" cheer, or only during "Sloopy" and the "Hey" cheer? Judging from the fans around me on Saturday it would be the latter. I thought the crowd was great on Saturday, very loud, and behind our Bucks, but I am troubled when people turn around and look at me while I am cheering with the band or chanting "Let's Go Bucks". It's like they don't know what the hell I'm doing. I'm cheering, maybe a big play didn't just happen, or we might have just gotten burnt on a pass, but I am a full-scarlet-&-grey-blooded Buckeye and I will cheer for them regardless of what is going on. I want the team, and everyone around me to know I am there, happy to be there and that I am a Buckeye (and we are killer nuts). To me, cheering and yelling and taking advantage of every time the band plays to do it some more, just makes the game more fun. It also gives me a feeling of pride. Not just cause I was part of that when I was in the band, but that I am part of it as a fan, and that I am a Buckeye, and that is something I am damn proud of. Maybe, just maybe the band would play some more, from your perspective, if you and all the fans around you did the cheers with them. Imagine the entire stadium doing "Go Bucks", like it does "O-H-I-O" during "Sloopy". How powerful would that be?
As for our fans only knowing about the band because of Script Ohio, ummm... maybe you should get to the game before kickoff. Watch the Ramp Entrance, watch the Drum Major do his goal post toss (which if he makes is said to foretell a Buckeye victory. See sidenote below), watch them play the other teams fight song as a salute (class action in my book), watch as they form a tunnel for the team to come out of, feel the vibe flow off the people in the stands who get that this is special and a unique experience. The band has been around for 125 years, 10 more than the football team. There is a TON of history there, and traditions that go back almost to the formation of the band. This is not a one gimmick band, who people happen to know about. This is an organization that has contributed and become a part of Ohio State Football. I can not imagine Football Saturday without the band. Ask Tressel, neither can he.
When you boil it all down, during the four quarters of the game the band is just like most fans in the Stadium. They are there to cheer and yell for their team, the difference is sometimes they get to do that with instruments.
Sidenote: if you look around the big ten you will see a lot of commonality between some of the bands. M*ch*g*n's drum major also does a goal post toss. On Saturday he threw it up, it started to come down and hit the greased up cross member and bounced back behind him. Big old miss!! I hope that he ended up with a greasy baton. Serves him right for coming into our house and trying that.
