Fire Brian Britt

[Sooner_Havok]

It is about time that our football team had a band that did them justice. We must fire Britt and hire a guy from Griffin.

Britt's continued excellent performance must be ended!

[CrimsonandCreamForever]

At least he could mix it up on offense a little bit. Dropped pass, Murray stuffed up the middle, murray stuffed off tackle, punt.

I'm sick of it!

[froneal]

Here's some interesting Britt news. Apparently members of the drumline spat on the Texas end zone at some point during pregame at the Cotton Bowl. A Texas fan saw this transpire and decided to email Britt about it. Instead of maybe just apologizing and not making a big deal about it, he made a huge deal out of it by letting Joe C, Boren, the president of UT, the band director at UT and every member of the Pride know what happened. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.

Here's the original e-mail (name redacted):


I feel I must share with you what I observed Saturday at the UT-OU game....(I was both a band member through high school, at Lamar Univ for 1 year and in the Texas Longhorn Band for 2 years and have now been in the Alumni Band for some 15 years or so and love it!!)I was appalled at the entrance on the north end of field of your drum line for the pregame presentation...they were lining up on the white line at the top of the colored "Texas" painting in the end zone (just as OU had the red painting in the south end)...as each drummer marched or walked past "TEXAS" , they removed their hat and spit on the Texas sign...not all of them but probably 90%....it displayed such a lack of dignity and respect, regardless of how much you dislike the other school and/or want to win the game, it took away from all the rest of the great marching and playing that the OU band always displays....it set a tone at the beginning that mentally could not be removed....I will tell you at UT now and for several years, they have been pushing, DIGNITY, PRIDE, COURTESY TO VISITING TEAMS AND THEIR FOLLOWING, ETC. I would urge you to visit with these members of your band and ask that they not put such a blemish and remembrance of others on the entire organization....you are a better bunch than that small group portrayed...Good luck to each of you in the days ahead.....


And Britt's response:


Mr. Williams -

First of all congratulations to you and all members of the extended University of Texas family, for your hard fought victory on Saturday. We were disappointed to lose, but salute your team and coaching staff for their victorious effort.

I received your email today after band practice. I immediately shared it with our drumline section leader and asked him to verify if this happened as related in your email. He admitted that it did. I agree completely with your assessment about our behavior in this instance. We constantly stress the need for good sportsmanship, common courtesy, and professionalism and expect nothing less than this from everyone within our program at all times, both on and off the field. In fact we do not allow the students in the band to yell the word “sucks” despite the fact that many people in attendance (from both schools) scream that word at one another throughout the game. As you can imagine finding out that some of our students spat on the Texas logo is deeply troubling to me.

We believe that our students should channel their energies on game day into relentless support for our team while refraining from taunting or disparaging remarks to the other team or its supporters. We further believe that we should respect our opponents no matter how badly we want to win an athletic contest. Sadly, in this instance, some of our students chose to act outside of the standards of common decency and for that you have my sincerest apology.

What our students did in this instance was 100% wrong and will not be tolerated. As the person ultimately responsible for this organization and it’ behavior, I accept this as a personal failure of leadership on my part and give you my most solemn promise that I will take swift and decisive action to correct this behavior and to make it right with you and The University of Texas.

Thank you Mr. Williams for taking the time to point out this severe error in judgment by our students. I am copying this email to our entire marching band so they can see the tremendous damage that can be done to the reputation of our organization, university, and state through the careless, thoughtless, and classless actions of just a few of our members. Additionally, I am copying Dr. Powers, the President of UT-Austin, our university president, Dr. David Boren, our Director of Athletics, Joe Castiglione, and Dr. Rob Carnochan, Director of the Longhorn Band, so they too will know how sincerely sorry I am about this unfortunate incident.

Please know that despite our desire to win the annual rivalry game in Dallas, the vast majority of our students have the utmost respect for your football team, band program, and university. We will make every effort next year to ensure that we demonstrate that through our actions on the field.

Best wishes to you and the University of Texas for much continued success and prosperity. I look forward to the opportunity for our organization to regain your respect next year in Dallas.

Sincerely,

Brian Britt


Is this really that big of a deal? I think not.

[Octavian]

where's DoLEo when you need him?

[bluewcc]

This is a joke, right? That's the least I would expect our band members to do.

[Soonerborn03]

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehillNot surprising

[Soonerus]

Who cares !!!

[Sooner_Havok]

where's DoLEo when you need him?

I tried my best :(

[proud gonzo]

Here's some interesting Britt news. Apparently members of the drumline spat on the Texas end zone at some point during pregame at the Cotton Bowl. A Texas fan saw this transpire and decided to email Britt about it. Instead of maybe just apologizing and not making a big deal about it, he made a huge deal out of it by letting Joe C, Boren, the president of UT, the band director at UT and every member of the Pride know what happened. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.

Here's the original e-mail (name redacted):


And Britt's response:


Is this really that big of a deal? I think not.

dude, when I was in the band (with Britt as director) Texas fans threw ****ing beer bottles at me. Spitting isn't worth bitching about.

[MrJimBeam]

Here's some interesting Britt news. Apparently members of the drumline spat on the Texas end zone at some point during pregame at the Cotton Bowl. A Texas fan saw this transpire and decided to email Britt about it. Instead of maybe just apologizing and not making a big deal about it, he made a huge deal out of it by letting Joe C, Boren, the president of UT, the band director at UT and every member of the Pride know what happened. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.

Here's the original e-mail (name redacted):


And Britt's response:


Is this really that big of a deal? I think not.

TAKE BACK TEH GAME BALL, DAMIT!!1!!!11!!!:rcmad:

[LilSooner]

Brian Britt is a pansy *** pansy.

[Boomer_Sooner_sax]

When I was in band, you were lucky not to be spit on by a Texas fan.

[Frozen Sooner]

If Frozen Sooner was band director:

Dear Mr. Williams:

Thank you for pointing out that some of the members of our band were spitting on the Texas logo.

As you are no doubt aware, one of the toughest things for members of a marching band to do is to get outside of their comfort zone and perform in front of tens of thousands of people. I now regret my initial instruction for them to drop trou and defecate on the Texas logo, and to prevent them from spitting in the future as a means of covering up their discomfort, I will simply ask them to either drop trou and defecate on the logo OR defecate into a bag at home and empty THAT out on the Texas logo.

Get stuffed, and have a nice day.

Frozen Sooner
Director of Bands

[Boarder]

He should have written back:

Dear texas fan,
You should have been there early in the morning when we got together and peed on all of your seats. You didn't think that was morning dew, did you? You can take your one long sentence separated by ellipses and cram it, freak.
Sincerely,
Brian Britt

[Petro-Sooner]

Brian Britt is a pansy *** pansy.

To put it nicely!

[TheHumanAlphabet]

This is a joke, right? That's the least I would expect our band members to do.

Not anymore...

Britt is a doosh.

In my day, the band yelled at their twirler she was a cow, had a fat ***, needed a bag, etc. We also did the "chop" at the band when they turned and marched towards us in the end zone during pre-game.

I wouldn't be in the Pride today, it wouldn't be fun and it wouldn't be worth all the practice time if it wasn't fun.

[Sooner_Havok]

Haha, I win!

Who needs DoLeo anyways?

[yermom]

**** Brian Britt.

we should put for sale signs in front of his house :D

it was sad how much louder the Texas band was.

i did like their little Aggie march they did though...

[CrimsonandCreamForever]

Spitting in the texas endzone has been a mark of pride and something to look forward to every year as a member of the OU drumline. After Britt took away the yelling of "sucks" and everything else that was fun, that was our last bastion of gametime fun.

He was on the OU drumline in the mid-80's, and while I can't tell you with 100% certainty that this tradition goes back that far, you mean to tell me he NEVER would have done anything like that??

F'n hypocrite.

[BoomerSoonerGoOU]

Not anymore...

Britt is a doosh.

In my day, the band yelled at their twirler she was a cow, had a fat ***, needed a bag, etc. We also did the "chop" at the band when they turned and marched towards us in the end zone during pre-game.

I wouldn't be in the Pride today, it wouldn't be fun and it wouldn't be worth all the practice time if it wasn't fun.

Did you see the UT twirler? My goodness, she looked like a freak from the circus. Ours on the other hand, HOTTTT.

[StoopTroup]

Britt is why we're 3-3.

I think he should just resign.

[ultimatesooner1]

his band got dominated @ halftime too

the jumping mario thing texas did was actually kinda cool for a band

[CrimsonandCreamForever]

I wonder if David Boren, et al. ever get tired of reading the chicken **** bull **** emails Britt sends to everybody every time he has to "discipline" someone?

[Fraggle145]

**** Brian Britt.

we should put for sale signs in front of his house :D

it was sad how much louder the Texas band was.

i did like their little Aggie march they did though...

Agreed.

[Dio]

I wonder how loud that * fan cheered when Sam got hurt?

Hypocritical sumbitch.

[NormanPride]

I wonder if David Boren, et al. ever get tired of reading the chicken **** bull **** emails Britt sends to everybody every time he has to "discipline" someone?

No, they love it. They eat that **** up, and that is EXACTLY why Brian Britt is the director of the Pride until he decides not to be.

Mr. Britt was like a second dad to me while I was in Pride, and I love the guy. But this Pride sucks, and I do not agree with the edge he has taken out of it. College football is about the students and student athletes. I realize all the money comes from alumni, but those alumni used to be students. If the students now don't love it, then it won't survive in the future.

[CincySooner]

pfft... I was on drumline for six years. I stepped into the saxeT endzone a total of six times in my career. And I spat in the endzone every single time.

It is never something that was done to cheese off the saxeT fans. It was never meant to draw attention to ourselves. It was just a private moment every year where the DL took three seconds to think about how much they hated saxeT.

The fact that it took until 2009 for this harmless, under-the-radar, gesture to reach the desk of Mr. Britt is a testament to how big a deal this is not.

Looking at it from Britt's perspective, I sort of see why he has to react the way he does sometimes. He's not Thrailkill and he knows it. The "awww, shucks... just let them be college kids" attitude flew a lot better when, in 2000, the Pride director had 6 times the tenure of the Univeristy President, 10 times the tenure of the AD, and 15 times the tenure of the football team's head coach.

With that in mind... I get the feeling that Britt is less and less likely to stand up for his kids as time goes on. I remember a time in Stillwater when Pistol Pete fired his guns right at the band and (probably) blew out the hearing of our drum major. Britt went over the wall in a flash, chased down Pistol Pete, and screamed through the mouth-hole of the mascot head until security made him get back in the stands. Nowadays... I'm guessing he'd take the "turn-the-other-cheek" approach and proceed to get schooled during halftime as well.

From what I read here every year, and from what I see on the field and in the stands at the few games I do get to see these days, I would say it's very unlikely I would have been in Pride for 6 years if I were entering OU today.

[CincySooner]

What's the over-under, in years, on when Britt bans the horns-down sign for Pride members?

[badger]

When we were out in Seattle for the Warsh game last year, I made a little video taunting the current band members about everything they are required to do now. They were cool about it, because they knew who I was... or because they were instructed to be cool about being taunted, hehe :D

Needless to say, past generations of Sooner students have ruined it for the current students and not just in band. Greek houses are dry now, because of some stupid frat event gone bad. All students need to take online alcohol education their first semester at OU before they can enroll for their second semester, last I recall.

And band? No more drinking on trips. No more singing all of the words to the traditional "hate texas" songs. No more "texas still sucks" chanting during drum cadences.... and it's all because past members did it in excess.

The horns down sign? It's mildly taunting and probably won't go away. Spitting in the Texas endzone? Could have easily passed for a sneeze if you did it right. Maybe band members aren't getting classier? Maybe they just aren't smart enough to cover themselves when 90k are watching em :D

[CincySooner]

The horns down sign? It's mildly taunting and probably won't go away.
Don't be so sure. I wouldn't put it past the current leadership.

Spitting in the Texas endzone? Could have easily passed for a sneeze if you did it right.
Exactly... the way we did it, you'd never know it unless you looked right at us at exactly the right moment.
I wasn't there this weekend, so I can't comment on if it was obvious or not. Again, the fact that no one brought it up before 2009 shows how small a deal this is.

[PrideTuba]

Needless to say, past generations of Sooner students have ruined it for the current students and not just in band. Greek houses are dry now, because of some stupid frat event gone bad. All students need to take online alcohol education their first semester at OU before they can enroll for their second semester, last I recall.

I think comparing the death of a student to band kids not being able to say the word "sucks" about the biggest rival of the school is a bit much.


And band? No more drinking on trips. No more singing all of the words to the traditional "hate texas" songs. No more "texas still sucks" chanting during drum cadences.... and it's all because past members did it in excess.

Well we all know why you can't drink on trips anymore (see above), so I won't go there.

None of that other stuff is because "past members did it in excess." That is probably the worst excuse I've ever seen. The reason they can't do it anymore is because Brian Britt is a P.C. *** kisser. He doesn't let them have any kind of fun, and God forbid anybody get their panties in a wad because the beloved pride said the word "sucks".


The horns down sign? It's mildly taunting and probably won't go away. Spitting in the Texas endzone? Could have easily passed for a sneeze if you did it right. Maybe band members aren't getting classier? Maybe they just aren't smart enough to cover themselves when 90k are watching em :D

The horns down sign, honestly, I give it two years until it's gone too.

[GottaHavePride]

I remember the days when the basketball band would play Old MacDonald had a Farm or (at least) Don't Let Your Babies grow up to be Cowboys when OSU's team entered the court at Lloyd Noble...

[yermom]

what is the point of being in the Pride if you aren't having any fun?

[CrimsonandCreamForever]

None. They have few people that stay in four years or longer these days.

[GottaHavePride]

Music Ed majors are required to do two years.