WADSquad89

Recent Comments
Wow, does everyone haven’t to yield to the band ? I guess that’s part of the problem if you think that , imagine an inebriated fan doing the same. That’s how we get into these messes. Look let me clear something up for everybody. 1) the band doesn’t just randomly pick where they are moving through. It is a route that is traditionally ALWAYS used by the band whether it is at home or away. So there is usually no real surprise. 2) The band director is responsible for his kids safety the way a coach is responsible for his. 3) Colege game day is a business and this includes band, Some drunk turd wants to throw beer , glass , trash etc onto University owned instruments and uniforms (which one is worth more than probably the drunks whole wardrobe) than he is damaging an asset or investment or the University. 3) Also like a business, there is a schedule to keep. When a band is marching though your hallowed drinking grounds it is not to randomly march in circles and get in the way ... they are trying to get from point A to point B to be on time. Think about me your last game day experience. Band and cheerleaders there for the pep rallies, ....they are there for players entrance, Pre-game , halftime , post game, etc. Being at the right place at the right time doesn’t ever happen by accident. 4) like I said , upwards of at least 400 members who have had rehearsals from 7am that morning and game prep until time to head to stadium and depending on it being home or away, marching from band hall or riding a bus ... that still usually means getting there at least 2-3 hours before game time. They do all they do during a game and scheduled events after a game, then it getting back to buses to go drums still drumming a cadence , then back to band halls to change , review film of show, etc and if it was a night game, that means getting back to their own cars to drive home somewhere around midnight. So your question is whether you should yield to them coming through and I would reply , “shouldn’t you ?” If for nothing else, for the hard work they put in for your game day experience, just show some respect.
No matter what fan base is involved, this is just embarrassing. I don’t cast too much judgement most of the time because ALL of our schools have a portion of the fan base to be embarrassed about. ALL of us! I was a member of the Drumline in the University Of South Carolina for all 4 years and in 4 years time we saw the dark side of every fan base of every SEC school including our own, as well as few ACC schools ( Yes , Clemson fans you were at the top of that list). If you deny that your school has one then you need a serious wake up call. It’s unfortunate but can’t tell you how many schools we had glass and plastic bottles thrown at us and who knows what else when simply marching into stadiums. *To the gentleman who said bands had an obligation to respect opposing fan areas: most bands including our own are between 350-400 people (not including the crews for helping set up) carrying instruments some quite heavy who like the Drumline are always playing so not that easy to get around going through an area without some inebriated fans from the opposing side being in the way. And how the SC students throwing plastic bottles at Clemson players and coaches who came up to their section to taunt them compares with Miami fans slamming a Florida band director to the ground or punching band members , is beyond me. I was at that game and was embarrassed a few inebriated students acted that way for sure, but it’s little different when the players on scholarship no less, for Clemson and a few of their position coaches march right up to the sideline in front of the student section, (note the students never left their seats and didn’t ask or seek out the confrontation) but not only that they begin throwing hand gestures and verbally assaulting them. The students responded by throwing mostly 1/2 empty recyclable water bottles at 6’4 players layered in pads and safety equipment. Still shouldn’t have happened but hardly the same as the assault on the Florida band personnel. In summary, it’s quite amusing that the standard by all fan bases that the cowardly act is usually taken out on a group like the band that has no influence on what physically happens on the field. You notice you don’t usually hear of these kinds of fans attacking the players as they return to their buses.