Before I start my comments, I want to say that I am not a member of the RPI pep band, and I have no connection to them. I know several people in the band, but they are not good friends of mine. I am making these comments as an RPI hockey fan first and a college hockey fan in general second.
 
 
In article <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] (Archangel) writes:
|> As conductor of the Brown Band, I had the misfortune of attending Saturday
|> night's Big Red Freakout at RPI. I say this not merely because my team
|> got unfortunately trounced, which I've seen happen a few times in my
|> three years at Brown, but because Saturday night I witnessed perhaps the
|> most    despicable behavior by an opposing band during my "career". Although
|> yelling and cheering and taunting are things that all bands do in good
|> fun, there are two things that the Brown Band does not do and as conductor
|> I work very hard to enforce us not doing: We do not begin playing
|> once the other band has begun playing a song (with the sole
|> possible exceptions of our team scoring a goal or the opposing
|> penalty dragnet sting), and we do not play while the puck is in motion,
 
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|> The RPI conductor wanted to do two songs
|> for our every one during the period breaks, since this was the freakout and
|> RPI alumns had travelled hundred of miles to be there (as though ours
|> hadn't). I didn't really like that, and the matter wasn't settled very clearly
 
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|> With that in mind I now set forth that the RPI band was nothing but
|> malicious. They began playing songs once we had clearly begun them on
|> our alteration of the whistles, including playing over our hockey fight
|> song which we played upon scoring our lone goal. Our president returned to
 
I must agree. I heard several times when the Brown band clearly started to play a
song, but was interupted by the RPI band. This, I think, is wrong. However, it is
RPI tradition to play "Let's Go Red" whenever the opposing team has scored a goal, even when the opposing team's band is in attendance and playing their fight song. I do not have a problem with this, and neither should you. Above, you state that there are times when the Brown band will play over an opposing band, such as when Brown scores a goal. Why shouldn't RPI play a song when it gets scored on? RPI also has similar times when it plays over another band. Because you may not agree with them on when does not mean RPI must abide by your rules, especially in the Field House. However, I do agree that they should not have been playing after Brown started a song when there was no goal scored or penalty called, and the band director should stick to an agreement.
 
 
|> chat with them and was treated solely with hostility. The rest of the game,
|> we were lucky to play anything at all without the RPI band interrupting us,
|> or if the entire band couldn't muster for a tune, they're percussion section
|> attempting to drown us out.
 
Again, I agree this was rude. However, I did not care for the Brown band's march around our arena before the game started. You may have thought this was classy, but I thought it was a bit rude. Did you ask someone at RPI for permission to do this?
 
 
|> When it comes to professionalism, I find the RPI band to be the worst sort
|> of repugnant institution which gives the rest of the collegiate bands a
|> bad name.
 
I hope this is your opinion of just the band and its leaders, and not RPI, its students, or its fans in general.
 
 
|> To make matters worse, the RPI band continually played during game play.
|> Most notably, on RPI's first break-away, they made a number of loud noises,
|> both percussive and horn, while immediately behind our goalie, Mike
|> Parsons. Whether this was truly a distraction which led to the goal I don't
|> know, but it is none-the-less inappropriate, out of line, and should have
|> resulted IMHO in a disallowment of the goal and a penalty against RPI.
 
I disagree here. I sit right on the goal line near the RPI band, and I do not remember hearing the RPI band making loud noises, although it could have happened, and I was not paying attention to that. In watching the replay on TV several times since I read your posting, Parsons seemed to be concentrating on the puck. He was simply beaten on a hard close-in shot. The entire building was roaring at the time. Any decent Division 1 goalie, and I include Parsons as one, should be able to concentrate on the puck and block out the crowd noise.
 
I am aware that bands should not make noise during play, and the RPI band tends to reduce its volume greatly when it does- usually at the end of the game when it has clearly been decided. Otherwise, the band is usually quiet during the action. On Saturday night, there were some times when the band finished a song slightly after play had started. I don't think this is a very serious problem. As far as random drum beats and such, any spectator can easily make such noises, although you can argue that a school's band should be held to higher standards.
 
 
|> That sort of behavior continued throughout the game. I believe that the
|> NCAA does have sanctions against this. I don;'t know why they weren;'t
|> invoked, and the RPI band should damn well know better anyway. Although
|> apparently they don't  as evidenced by a previous post in which an RPI fan
|> (band member?) blatantly claimed that he would continue to do this.
 
I do not believe this fan is a band member. He was referring to the "RPI rule" which Brown is responsible for. Let me explain some history of the Brown-RPI rivalry. RPI had a 20 game, 11 year unbeaten streak against Brown which ended a few couple of years ago. During that time, games between the two schools were always very chippy. Brown has participated in several Freakouts before this year. In the late 1980's, the Freakout gift was a cowbell for every fan. Brown lost the game, and complained to the NCAA about the noise level. The NCAA then instituted the "RPI rule," stating that artificial noise makers can't be given as gifts at special events, such as the Freakout. A few years ago, Brown was again a Freakout "victim." That year, the game was close until RPI took a 1 goal lead late in the third. Several Brown players started a fight, which eventually lead to 11 players on the ice (everyone except for the RPI goalie) being
ejected. Brown's coach went on a mini tirade, slamming the door to the bench and throwing things around, to the disgust of the RPI crowd. Some of the RPI fans threw their plastic megaphone gifts onto the ice. RPI added an open net goal with 4 sec left, Brown was showered with megaphones (I do not condone anything being tossed out onto the ice; the fans were wrong), and they left the ice, never completing the game.
 
Most knowledgeable RPI hockey fans are very much aware of the history of the RPI-Brown rivalry, and have a great distaste for Brown today, even though the team has improved its play tremendously since then. Perhaps this background will give you a little better understanding of what happened Saturday night.
 
I believe that a home game should give the home team an advantage and the team's fans should have fun, get into the game, and make lots of noise. Some buildings are inherently louder than others. Union has a particularly loud building, and their fans screaming in that place during action I think would seem much louder than the RPI band playing in the Field House during action. In that respect, I feel the fans can sometimes be more of a distraction than a few random drum beats. Not that there should be some sort of fan meter regulating noise levels.
 
 
|> All I can say is that the RPI team is going to be the organization that suffers
|> when a penalty is at long last rightfully assessed.
 
Wow. How are you going to guarantee this? Pay off some ref? Besides, who is your problem with, the team or the band?
 
 
|> include non-ivy ECAC teams, but if they keep it up, RPI may soon
|> find its band unwelcome in any of the Ivy arenas. I intend to write a
|> letter to my athletic director encouraging that the RPI band never be allowed
|> back at Brown.
 
And I am going to write a letter encouraging that the Brown band never be allowed back at RPI. What happened happened, but I think the problem can be corrected without banning people (bands) from games. When I come to Providence, I expect the same treatment you, your band, and your fans got in Troy (taunting in good nature, maybe some distasteful comments, but not obscene, and definitely no acts of violence or vandalism.) And I don't expect our band to parade around your arena. I seem to remember some Brown fans (not the band) getting a bit, no, way out of hand in a playoff visit to the Field House in 1990. Perhaps Brown fans should not be allowed in the Field House. If that were so, you would not have been at the game in the first place. Obviously, this is not the answer.
 
 
|> As I said before, through all of the taunting and cheering, it's
|> professionalism and friendliness that earns a band respect amongst the
|> other bands, and we have very friendly relations with some other bands
|> across the league.
 
Agreed.
 
 
|> But as of now, the RPI band churns my stomach.
|> And I pray that they stay out of our way if we meet at the final four.
 
Sounds like fighting words. This is not the answer either.
 
 
|>
|> Ever True to Brown,
|> Greg Friedman
 
Rodney Feldman, RPI '94, GRAD
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