HEY, DID you hear the Pep Band took the field at the South Carolina game this weekend and made that joke about their mascot being the... oh, wait.
The Pep Band seems to be the source of much controversy again, and they didn't even do anything this time. Literally.
Since the Pep Band's controversial halftime show at last year's Continental Tire Bowl and the announcement of the creation of a marching band, the Pep Band has been the talk of the school. Despite the fact that the marching band will not perform until next year, the Athletics Department has banned the Pep Band from performing at football games and other athletic events. This ban is rash and unfair. The Pep Band should be allowed to continue playing in the stands for the remainder of the season.
Now, I could not be happier that this school is finally going to get a marching band. The members of the Pep Band, bless them, tried their best. They always showed up at games with enthusiasm and energy. Their members show more dedication than any other group on Grounds, as evidenced by their somewhat creepy demonstration outside Scott Stadium after the Duke game. And they were good for a laugh every now and then -- that is, when we actually got to see their shows.
But scramble bands are for the small, pretentious, we're-trying-to-distract-you-because-we-have-a-really-bad-football-team schools. Like, say, Harvard. And as much as we try to act like it, we are not one of those schools. It's finally time to get past our "Grounds" and our "first years" here at "Mr. Jefferson's University" where we "wear ties to football games" and realize that we are a big state school with a big state football team that needs a big state marching band to play at its big state games.
A college football game is greatly enhanced by the presence of a big marching band. There's something about rows of students in gleaming uniforms high-stepping around the field that is an essential part of the collegiate football experience. For a school with so many traditions, we lack this basic one. We are one of the only big state schools without a marching band to blast our fight song and generally get the stadium riled up during games. The Pep Band was simply too small to accomplish this.
However, the fact remains that the marching band won't be a part of U.Va. football games until next year. There's no reason why the Pep Band shouldn't be allowed to play in the stands, if not perform, during football games this season.
Case in point: I stood in Scott Stadium two weekends ago, cheering as we scored our first points and thinking about how much I like U.Va. football games. And then the Good Ol' Song started playing. It was not played by the Pep Band, however, but rather prerecorded by the Virginia Gentlemen and blasted out of the sound system.
As I listened to the singing voices, I thought, "Well, maybe this isn't so bad. Maybe now everyone will stay together when singing."
Alas, that was not the case. Not only did everyone finish singing at different times, as usual, but the usual punch and pep of the Good Ol' Song was missing. The Virginia Gentlemen have very nice voices, but I found myself missing the pseudo-rock drum beat that the Pep Band goes into during the last few lines of the song.
According to the president of the Virginia Gentlemen, the Duke game acted as a trial run for that version of the Good Ol' Song. Although it was very nice, neither the Virginia Gentlemen nor the administration thought the version was fitting to that type of environment. The administration is now looking for other alternatives. So why, I ask, can't they look in the direction of the Pep Band and allow them to play in the stands?
So they made a few jokes about West Virginia. Fine. They shouldn't perform halftime shows anymore (although, admit it, we all enjoy a few West Virginia jokes now and then). When the Athletics Department informed the Pep Band last year semester that they would no longer perform at athletic events, its justification rested on budgetary concerns and its inability to support two bands financially. However, the marching band will not be formed until next year, and the Pep Band has offered to play at games for free. With these two facts taken together, there is no logical reason why the Pep Band shouldn't be allowed to play in the stands during football games.
Please, Athletics Department, let the Pep Band back in. Please, Pep Band, come back for one last hurrah and play for us. We miss you.
(Kristin Brown's column appears Wednesdays in the Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at kbrown@cavalierdaily.com.)
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