Gold Star Marching Band

[X-Factor]

I have not seen this discussed yet but only because I assume people were too busy watching the game to notice what happened with our band.

OUR band was restricted from playing during the game on Saturday. After halftime there was well over 30 security personel hovering around the band and the NDSU section. Operations literally told the band they couldn't play because "You brought to many fans". No joke. Brewster and Co. were that freaked out about us being in their house.

Even without the band, I still think we were VERY loud! Good job Bison fans!

[NDSUguy]

This is not true. I was sitting in the 5th row just to the left of the band. They played into the 3rd quarter and for sure at the end of the game.

[El_Chapitan]

We were only allowed to play after touchdowns and field goals. ONLY After. Completely restricted.

[X-Factor]

This is not true. I was sitting in the 5th row just to the left of the band. They played into the 3rd quarter and for sure at the end of the game.

5th row. Well than, I guess I was a lot closer than you.

We were only allowed to play after touchdowns and field goals. ONLY After. Completely restricted.

This is what I meant to say but couldn't spit it out understandably

I thought it was disappointing that the band was restricted like that.

[BlueKeyAlum]

I liked the half time show of both bands and for those who stuck around, both bands performed together which was cool.

[CaBisonFan]

I have not seen this discussed yet but only because I assume people were too busy watching the game to notice what happened with our band.

OUR band was restricted from playing during the game on Saturday. After halftime there was well over 30 security personel hovering around the band and the NDSU section. Operations literally told the band they couldn't play because "You brought to many fans". No joke. Brewster and Co. were that freaked out about us being in their house.

Even without the band, I still think we were VERY loud! Good job Bison fans!

Punky was probably afraid that more little green men would descend on the baggie.

[CaBisonFan]

Punky was probably afraid that more little green men would descend on the baggie.

Addition: Through 25 years of high school band directing, I always found that a coach that had a bad program was the most feisty about restricting the band from doing their thing. They were on a power trip and wanted to control the entire environment. The winning coaches left me alone. They let me do my job...and they did theirs.

Punky is history in Gopherland. If they give him another year I'll be surprised. Hell...he can't even control his own team. He's in over his head.

[TheDoctor]

Addition: Through 25 years of high school band directing, I always found that a coach that had a bad program was the most feisty about restricting the band from doing their thing. They were on a power trip and wanted to control the entire environment. The winning coaches left me alone. They let me do my job...and they did theirs.

Punky is history in Gopherland. If they give him another year I'll be surprised. Hell...he can't even control his own team. He's in over his head.

What are they going to do? Pay 3 head coaching saleries of 1 million dollars a year in 2008? I think 2 is enough for them to handle right now!

[AmberValley]

X-Factor was right.

See today's front page of The Inforum.

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/ind...5&section=News

Bison band barely ‘herd’ during game
Amy Dalrymple, The Forum
Published Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Bison fans were tooting their horns after Saturday’s win over the Gophers.

But during the game, North Dakota State University’s band was all but silenced.

Band director Warren Olfert said he’s disappointed the University of Minnesota deviated from past practice and only let his band perform for 15 minutes total.

Olfert didn’t hear directly from the U of M athletic official who made the decision, but others told him it was because the Bison had too many fans.

“They didn’t want our fans to get fired up more than they should, so this guy decided to take the band out of the equation,” Olfert said

Scott Ellison, the U of M associate athletic director who made the decision, did not return calls seeking comment Monday.

Last year when the two teams met at the Metrodome, the NDSU Gold Star Band played each time the Bison had the ball and rotated performing during the timeouts, Olfert said.

NDSU was under the impression they’d operate the same way this year.

But right before the game on Saturday, NDSU drum major Mike Lehmann learned their play time was going to be limited.

The band performed theme songs from James Bond movies for three minutes during the pre-game performance and seven minutes during halftime, Olfert said.

They played “On Bison” each time NDSU scored a touchdown.

“Fortunately they scored fairly often,” Lehmann said.

But for the rest of the game, the 90 NDSU band members were spectators.

“To me, it was shock that we weren’t going to get a chance to play,” said Lehmann, a senior and third-year drum major.

The staff of the 305-member U of M band lobbied hard to athletic officials to allow NDSU to perform, Olfert said.

“They were just outraged,” he said. “They were furious that a visiting band would be treated like that.”

If NDSU had known ahead of time how limited the band’s play time was going to be, it might not have traveled the 250 miles, Olfert said.

Transporting the students with two buses and providing them hotel rooms Friday night so they could be at Saturday’s 7:30 a.m. rehearsal cost the band about $8,000, he said.

“That’s a real misuse of money from my perspective,” Olfert said.

Olfert said he plans to write a letter to the U of M protesting the decision, and he anticipates others within the music department will, too.

The NDSU students made the best of the situation, though, and took an opportunity at the end of the game while Bison fans were still mingling to play “On Bison” to the crowd.

Long after most fans left, the two bands joined for a post-game performance, trading tunes and mingling, Olfert said.

If the U of M really wanted to quiet the Bison fans, restricting the band was “pretty petty,” he said.

“And it didn’t work.”

[BlueKeyAlum]

The REAL issue isn't that NDSU brought too many fans,

it's that the Gophers brought too few.