RE: Owl band must go to College Station
Let me preface this by saying that I fully support Chuck's decision to not take The MOB to Kyle Field, and include that I have pretty much kept my mouth shut about the possibility of the trip since learning that the Aggies were on the schedule.
The entire scenario brings to mind one of Ken Dye's life lessons - "What do we have to gain from this?"
He would ask The MOB's show writers this question whenever something particularly caustic was suggested.
What was the return on investment?
Was what we were saying worth the trouble it might cause?
Sometimes it is.
The Tulsa Inferno show is an example.
So, what do we have to gain from making the trip to Kyle Field?
The "pro" of supporting the team is the only real positive that I see.
That's the big one for me.
The "cons"...
Would The MOB be seated near enough to the visiting team bench to be heard by the team?
Would The MOB be seated near enough to the visiting fan seats to be heard by the Owl fans?
Would The MOB travel enough people to even hear themselves, if the Aggies decide to drown them out?
Would The MOB get in some sort of trouble?
Would anyone in The MOB get hurt?
Would any of the freshlings return for the Kansas game if the experience was really bad?
Could The MOB survive losing a class of freshlings?
We're also basing this entire discussion on the premise that the Aggies have seats available for The MOB.
That might not be the case.
Ohio State flat-out told The MOB that they didn't have room for a visiting band a few years ago.
Since the trip was never planned, the question of available seating hasn't been broached.
Sticking it to the Aggies?
They have no history of being good sports about it.
There is a big down-side to this.
It's hard to stick it to them without getting stuck back, and we'd be at their place, with nowhere to hide.
Doing a milquetoast show while roasting in the sun is not a great way to show that The MOB is lots of fun.
Writing a show for the Aggies requires finesse and subtlety, to try to avoid any of their hot buttons, and they have imaginary hot buttons, too.
Writing for them is one of the most difficult things that I've had to do.
I was hoping none of us would ever have to do it again.
It's not a great way to start a season.
Being on TV, even national TV?
Who cares?
What is so special about being on TV?
The cost is having ESPN in charge of telling the stadium staff to tell the bands when they can play, and for how many seconds.
Call a tune, get the music out, be ready to play, and watch the moment pass, as the voices never say "go".
Repeat, ad nauseum...
The opportunities to play would likely be a lot fewer than what the bowl voices gave us last year in Fort Worth.
The Aggies could also seat the band where the TV cameras can't find them.
Half of the band will be freshlings.
Half of the band will essentially be sight-reading the show, goggle-eyed at all of it, and fuzzy on what's going on, just as I was for the A&M game in '73 (although that one was in November).
They will have no clue what's going on and we'll dump them into the biggest pressure cooker this band has ever known (bigger still, because they seat a lot more since the last time we were there).
Bigger than Notre Dame, bigger than Michigan (I wasn't there, but their 100k+ wasn't predisposed to dislike us).
We'd have the same fabulous experience in the stadium that our fans have - crappy seats, but we'd do it with no extra seats for our instruments, in hot, black uniforms in the sun at noon in August in Texas.
Away game seating really sucks, and it sucks worse for the band.
One of the draws of away games is getting to spend some time in the town we're visiting.
This would be a day-trip to College Station.
'nuf said.
The road trip is also a tool for encouraging regular attendance by MOBsters.
A member would only be able to travel with the band by meeting some minimum attendance requirement.
That doesn't work when the first game is the big trip.
This very vocal group of fans in the Parliament talks about willingness to pay for us to get there.
Would they be on the field to cover our backs during our escape?
Would they bail us out of jail?
Would they visit us in the ER, attend our memorials, and explain to the parents of freshlings why it was important for us to support the team?
I would go with the band, if it came to that, because the team deserves the support, but more because the freshling MOBsters deserve to have someone covering their backs.
But I'd be in full paranoid mode from about Hempstead on the way there and well after the buses were unloaded after coming back.
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