>       That happened at UND last year.  As I recall, the band eventually
> left as a "protest" for one game.  Later on they alternated with the PA
> music (i.e. one break for the band, one for the PA).  That seemed to work ok.
 
        I went to a couple of UCSB basketball games last year (I
dislike the sport, but it is the big one here, and a friend of mine
was in the pep band).  The band alternated breaks with the dance team,
who used--you guessed it--piped-in music.  What struck me as really
inane was that they kept alternating right to the end of the game.
There were crucial time-outs when the crowd was full of energy and
tension, and for half of these, the dancers came out and did their set
routine, which let the energy dissipate.  If they had to each take
half of the breaks, they should have given more to the dancers in the
first half and let the band use the ones late in the game to keep the
crowd fired up.
 
        Of course, I think *professional* sports teams should drop
piped-in music and get bands themselves. :-)
 
                                John Whelan
                                Cornell '91
                                <[log in to unmask]>
 
        http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/john_whelan/personal.html
 
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