HI!  Let me start this off be saying that I am a member of the Brown Band
and that I do not i any way try to speak for the Band or the University,
only for my l'il sweet self.
 
I can understand a college's wanting to ban a band from a rink for
inappropriate behavior.  Throwing objects onto the ice, being excessively rude
and vulgar, repeatedly playing loudly during play, etc. are all understandable
reasons to keep out a particular visting pep band.  I do not think, however,
that *all* visiting bands should be banned from any rink unless it has
done something very wrong.  I'd like to point out that the behavior I
listed above (at least from what I've seen) is a problem, at least for our
band.  I'd also like to note that only one song or cheer that I can think of
is any ruder than RPI's chant, "What color is dog s***?  BROWN! BROWN!
BROWN!"
 
It must be a fairly sad state of affairs if only a handful of people from a
visiting pep band can drown out 1000 or more people.  Very often, visiting
bands are about the only support a visiting team has in an away game and I
dont't think it makes very much sense to ban them from the rink unless they've
done something really wrong.
 
I think that pep bands are largely self-policing when it comes to behavior
and playing during the action, but I think it's still a good idea if all the
ECAC bands got together and came up with some sort of "code of conduct" for
behavior at home and away games.
 
Chris Gorski
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