Somebody screwed up big time with the band

#2Gopher

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Below is a letter to the editor in today's Minneapolis paper.

• • PJ Fleck and the U Athletic Department: On Saturday, the University of Minnesota Marching Band had tech rehearsals for its indoor concerts from 9 to noon. The students preformed their concert from 7 to 9:30 that evening. After their very long day, 200 Marching Band members went the extra mile and greeted the football team and the return of the Axe, when the team returned late Saturday night. The Marching Band had a second concert on Sunday and requested that the Axe be presented at the concert. The Athletic Department said NO. And you ask why your fan base is not supportive! DAVID TREMBLEY, Minneapolis
 

Below is a letter to the editor in today's Minneapolis paper.

• • PJ Fleck and the U Athletic Department: On Saturday, the University of Minnesota Marching Band had tech rehearsals for its indoor concerts from 9 to noon. The students preformed their concert from 7 to 9:30 that evening. After their very long day, 200 Marching Band members went the extra mile and greeted the football team and the return of the Axe, when the team returned late Saturday night. The Marching Band had a second concert on Sunday and requested that the Axe be presented at the concert. The Athletic Department said NO. And you ask why your fan base is not supportive! DAVID TREMBLEY, Minneapolis

It went to the Vikings game instead.

3,500 at Northrop vs 64K at US Bank - where would you go with The Axe?
 

Below is a letter to the editor in today's Minneapolis paper.

• • PJ Fleck and the U Athletic Department: On Saturday, the University of Minnesota Marching Band had tech rehearsals for its indoor concerts from 9 to noon. The students preformed their concert from 7 to 9:30 that evening. After their very long day, 200 Marching Band members went the extra mile and greeted the football team and the return of the Axe, when the team returned late Saturday night. The Marching Band had a second concert on Sunday and requested that the Axe be presented at the concert. The Athletic Department said NO. And you ask why your fan base is not supportive! DAVID TREMBLEY, Minneapolis

The Sunday concert was @ 2pm, I wonder if the Axe wasn't present because it was headed to the Vikings game instead. Of course, I imagine it could have done both given the time differences (2pm start vs 7pm start) but who knows. As a former bando I feel like this is no big deal.
 

It went to the Vikings game instead.

3,500 at Northrop vs 64K at US Bank - where would you go with The Axe?
Were there 3,500 Gopher fans in the crowd at US Bank Stadium?

It does seem rather petty to not share the Axe at both venues. Especially at a marching band concert.

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This is why our athletic department is incompetent. The timing would have allowed for both, and it would have been a nice gesture to some of the biggest fans of the program. The band members are the ones there cheering and playing the songs to the bitter end of every blowout loss in any weather. Finding some staffer to show up for 20 minutes and hold the axe up on stage would have cost the department next to nothing. No idea why this department insists on waging war on it's own fan base.
 


Below is a letter to the editor in today's Minneapolis paper.

• • PJ Fleck and the U Athletic Department: On Saturday, the University of Minnesota Marching Band had tech rehearsals for its indoor concerts from 9 to noon. The students preformed their concert from 7 to 9:30 that evening. After their very long day, 200 Marching Band members went the extra mile and greeted the football team and the return of the Axe, when the team returned late Saturday night. The Marching Band had a second concert on Sunday and requested that the Axe be presented at the concert. The Athletic Department said NO. And you ask why your fan base is not supportive! DAVID TREMBLEY, Minneapolis

"Screwed up big time"? Really? People just love to complain.

PJ has proven that he is a supporter of the Marching Band. You can't please everyone all the time.
 

This is why our athletic department is incompetent. The timing would have allowed for both, and it would have been a nice gesture to some of the biggest fans of the program. The band members are the ones there cheering and playing the songs to the bitter end of every blowout loss in any weather. Finding some staffer to show up for 20 minutes and hold the axe up on stage would have cost the department next to nothing. No idea why this department insists on waging war on it's own fan base.
Don't we have some imitation axes just for this purpose? Kind of like having a few Goldy's.
 

That's too bad. I can imagine parading the axe at the concert in the right moment would have been awesome.
 

This is why our athletic department is incompetent. The timing would have allowed for both, and it would have been a nice gesture to some of the biggest fans of the program. The band members are the ones there cheering and playing the songs to the bitter end of every blowout loss in any weather. Finding some staffer to show up for 20 minutes and hold the axe up on stage would have cost the department next to nothing. No idea why this department insists on waging war on it's own fan base.

You don't know why the axe wasn't at the concert.
 



I seem to remember there are actually two Jugs...the replica used for promotional purposes.

Now that we actually have The Axe again...Praise the Lord!...maybe we need a promotional axe too?

Highly unlikely this kind of "conflict" will happen again over the next 51 weeks...but long term it would be a great problem to have...
 

"Screwed up big time"? Really? People just love to complain.

PJ has proven that he is a supporter of the Marching Band. You can't please everyone all the time.

Should have been able to display the axe at the concert for a short while. The band gives much of it time to help the athletic department. 20 minutes of time in return? Oh heck no.
Common sense. Not complaining. Yes this was screwed up big time.
 


Should have been able to display the axe at the concert for a short while. The band gives much of it time to help the athletic department. 20 minutes of time in return? Oh heck no.
Common sense. Not complaining. Yes this was screwed up big time.

Our interpretation of a college football program screwing up big time is slightly different I guess.
 



Yeah we have to know why before throwing a fit here...

That's a good point. If the answer is some players took it to a hospital to celebrate the win with sick children, then my foot goes straight in my mouth and I owe the department an apology.

If the answer is it was at some kind of exclusive function for big wigs, then our department gets what it deserves as far as attendance and fan engagement.

If the answer is it was sitting somewhere doing nothing, then someone should be chewed out pretty severely.
 

Were there 3,500 Gopher fans in the crowd at US Bank Stadium?

It does seem rather petty to not share the Axe at both venues. Especially at a matching band concert.

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I like that they did it because there were probably more than 3500 Badger fans at US Bank Stadium (wearing foam cheese on their noggins).
 

That's a good point. If the answer is some players took it to a hospital to celebrate the win with sick children, then my foot goes straight in my mouth and I owe the department an apology.

If the answer is it was at some kind of exclusive function for big wigs, then our department gets what it deserves as far as attendance and fan engagement.

If the answer is it was sitting somewhere doing nothing, then someone should be chewed out pretty severely.

I would be willing to bet there was a reason why the Axe could not be displayed at the concert. As you list above that reason could be any number of things and unless someone comes out and confirms it we are unlikely to know what it was. But I feel pretty confident in saying the band got more than just a "no" to their request.

I love though that some people will automatically look for the negative side of things, basically working on the assumption that the Axe is just sitting in an office somewhere and the band was told no simply out of spite because that mean person didn't want them to see the Axe. Guessing there is more to the story but we are unlikely to ever hear the details, just the complaining from the people who feel they were wronged.
 


Our interpretation of a college football program screwing up big time is slightly different I guess.

Perhaps. You have 200 members of a "loyal marching band" who gives their heart and soul to the program by practicing, performing, and giving of their time particularly on the day the football team arrived home late at night. What did they get in return of that? NOTHING. You think the team could have contributed 20 minutes?
 

Perhaps. You have 200 members of a "loyal marching band" who gives their heart and soul to the program by practicing, performing, and giving of their time particularly on the day the football team arrived home late at night. What did they get in return of that? NOTHING. You think the team could have contributed 20 minutes?

Overreaction when we don't even know the reason. But yeah Fleck hates the band. Doesn't appreciate them.

 

I don't see PJ slighting anyone at the U regarding the ax. And, he shows his appreciation to the band after every home game.
 

I don't see PJ slighting anyone at the U regarding the ax. And, he shows his appreciation to the band after every home game.

But....but....but....it is so much easier to be outraged and assume there is an evil intent behind it. Until someone can come out and prove they did it just to spite the band I am going to continue working under the assumption that there was probably a good reason why they couldn't honor the request.
 

Wasn't PJ out of town recruiting all day Sunday? If so, this has nothing to do with PJ.
This has to do with someone making a stupid decision to not bring The Axe to the band concert.
It could have been brought for the opening of the concert and then taken to another place. Really not that hard to figure out.
 

Maybe it was broken late Saturday night and the team scrambled to fix it in time for the Vikings game, because we know that Gophers have a history of breaking these trophies.

Regardless, if the U of M's only written response was a one-word "NO" (in all caps), or even just a guy holding up a hand and saying "NO!" (with eyes closed for effect) then one could be miffed. But I would guess there was more dialogue than what we're hearing.
 

Perhaps. You have 200 members of a "loyal marching band" who gives their heart and soul to the program by practicing, performing, and giving of their time particularly on the day the football team arrived home late at night. What did they get in return of that? NOTHING. You think the team could have contributed 20 minutes?

Before knowing the reason behind it, I'm not going to jump to conclusions
 

Wasn't PJ out of town recruiting all day Sunday? If so, this has nothing to do with PJ.
This has to do with someone making a stupid decision to not bring The Axe to the band concert.
It could have been brought for the opening of the concert and then taken to another place. Really not that hard to figure out.

Agreed. Definitely don't think Fleck had anything to do with this decision.
 


You don't know why it wasn't at the concert.

True. But when we have a department that cant manage to contract with a concessions company to have sufficient hot dogs and water at games, cant sell tickets, and cant give a press conference without generating more questions than answers, that department doesn't get the benefit of the doubt.
 

Even for a 7pm game, there can be quite a lot that goes on at the stadium with security and rehearsals, etc. at the stadium several hours beforehand. Maybe they just didn't want to take any chances, knowing it was going to be at USB that night.
 


Maybe the person who engraved the score on the handle only had an opening at 2PM on Sunday.

True good point. Maybe they were getting it prepped.


But it also just goes to show that a lack of transparency only pisses people off and makes them create their own story. If the AD had simply told the band director why the axe couldn't be there, probably the letter to the editor never gets written.
 




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