Seems like YOU don't understand how important the Pride is to the whole program! Shame on you if you think you are a true OU fan!Originally Posted by olevetonahill
Seems like YOU don't understand how important the Pride is to the whole program! Shame on you if you think you are a true OU fan!
Oh no! The band! What would we do without a band???
I note the sarcasm, but I wonder if OU football alums worry about the future of their team with this O'Bannon lawsuit. Sure, there will be football in some form at OU, but will it be the program they fell in love with during recruitment period, coaches that players look to as role models, and players they formed lifelong bonds and friendships with?
That's about how a band alum like me feels about the Pride. I'm sure there will be someplace on campus that a tuba can tuba and a drum can drum, but it won't be the same that we all experienced in a different time under different leadership with the Pride.
I feel like it will be more of a current student loss than a loss for an alum like me who barely attends games anymore (I've got a kid to tend to), so it's more their fight than mine.
Pridemom, it's been a while since the band really stirred anyone up. It could be a beloved part of the tradition, but it's not right now. My personal theory? The band, the cheerleaders, the roughnecks, the fans, all need a serious injection of 'rowdy'. OU is not CU, we can't pull off 'existential cool'...and that's not the atmosphere for a football team busily kicking their opponents butts. Sometime in the last couple of decades, we've decided the atmosphere should be like that at an English County Cricket match. "Oh, Good Show Trevor! Advance the ball! Huzzah!"
If we do it right, Norman PD should be forced to consider increasing the numbers of officers at the games.
"I don't know karate, but I know ka-razor!" - James Brown
I see your point. It is a bit too genteel. But if you go too far down that road, the games become not family friendly in a hurry.
My thoughts on this...band issues are for band people. Football issues are for football people. As a football person, I don't concern myself self with band issues. The football team would do just fine without a band, cheerleaders, pom, roughnecks, etc. By all means, care away if you're a band person and you care what the band does, but don't expect me to concern myself too much. Good luck, though.
You're absolutely correct. It's a balancing act that is difficult to pull off. But that's one reason the president of the U is paid a tasty salary. Social conduct rules are necessary....but so is selective non-enforcement. Right now, the game experience is, in my view, a bit on the tame side and needs a bit of an injection of rowdy. But that's me, I was last a student at OU in the mid 1980's and we were doing stuff that would probably get us jailed today. (throwing oranges (frozen), bringing liquor into the stadium, singing songs of a decidedly non-family friendly variety and the like). But it was a hoot and a lot of students wanted to be at the games because they were the happening event that day.
"I don't know karate, but I know ka-razor!" - James Brown
Shame, Shame, SHAME on me . I DGAF what YOU think. I care about OU Football and thats about it. so Go PUAR.
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If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !
Yeah, I was in college about that same time. I admit I'm viewing this more through my current "get off my lawn" stage of life.
Crack? I give money for both, but I expect the money that I give to academia to spent on academia and the money I donate to the Athletic department to be spent on the Athletic department. If we are running a 40-44 million "surplus" the last ten years and they are not spending the money on upgrading facilities, maybe just maybe OU is charging too much for their tickets?
Talk to some of the OU employees in these sports with subpar facilities and see what their frustration level is right now on not being able to secure the funds to make them competitive with other Big XII schools, much less top programs in other conferences, all the while those sought after funds are leaving the Athletic Department.
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, it's inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery"
-----Winston Churchill
Champions, I'll admit I'm of two minds on this. But I'll be very up front with an assertion that the football tickets are way too high and that tuition is way too high also. On the latter front, the role of a land grant university is, first and foremost, to provide a high quality, modestly priced college education to the citizens of the state and thus ensure adequate numbers of doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, teachers, scientists, etc to serve our state's economy and society. Well, we're getting decent numbers and quality, but the 'modestly priced' bit is a distant memory. But not that distant. It was still possible in my day to take a small-ish nest egg, work during school and vacations and pay your way through. That is not at all possible these days. And I don't know why or when it happened, but tuition and attendant costs sky rocketed. And they skyrocketed far beyond any arguable improvement in instruction. State subsidies cut? Perhaps that's the whole story, perhaps not. But the university is not, in my opinion, fulfilling its role in this regard.
And let's just be honest with ourselves. A football department that has top line income of over $100 million per year? Absolutely absurd. On its face. A joke, a travesty. That a sport, played by 'student/athletes' is spinning out that much cash is ridiculous. But, we don't make the world we live in and that's the reality; so why shouldn't OU get its slice of the pie? (I would guess that if we organized an OU pole dancing/porn team and went on-line and to pay-per-view, some opinions might differ, but I could be surprised on that front as well. We live in a highly materialistic age. Money is money.)
And the facilities should be kept up if for no other reason than to keep the 'product' of a quality necessary to maintain our competitive rank to keep the cash rolling in. But to what goal? If one assumes that athletics are a subsidiary part of the University's mission, then that University is quite within its rights to take a scrape.
The only real debate then would be between the CEO and Board (Boren and the regents) and the management team (Joe and Bob) on how to properly allocate the budget. Takes a bit of the sting out of the debate when you look at it that way.
"I don't know karate, but I know ka-razor!" - James Brown
Doesn't the school put some money not produced by the athletic program toward the athletic program? I don't have much of a grasp on the financial stuff, so maybe I'm mistaken. I know that part of the athletic program surplus is given back to the university, but I've kinda wondered if that was just a clever way to cover their *** for the angry parents of nerds who complain every time Bob gets a raise.
I'm not sure precisely how it runs either, except that there are only a few of the programs that make money on ticket sales, merchandise or teevee/radio broadcasting. Most run in the red and have to raise money, chip in themselves or find a sugar daddy who's interested in that sport. If football 'surplus' is used to carry other athletics, I'd have no trouble with that. And then the U would have to be managing Title IX concerns, so some 'spreading of the wealth' is inevitable.
I guess to me it seems like it shouldn't be that big a managerial crisis to figure out whether you needed to put the money into this bucket or that to cover yourself short term and invest in the long term. Companies do this all the time. And, comments above notwithstanding, Boren is not a dope and runs the university pretty damn well. Add to that Castiglione's obvious 'smarter than the average bear-ness' and Bob's clear grasp of what he needs to be doing and I would guess the discussion is reasonably logical and compelling.
"I don't know karate, but I know ka-razor!" - James Brown
To me, whether you like the band or not is irrelevant. If it represents the school, the best available product should be strived for by all involved. I hope the powers to be get this moving in a more positive direction. However from what you guys say, that sounds bleak.
Speck
"best available product" That's exactly right. If they are going to have a band, they should at least try to make it be good.
I know some are very proud to "not care" about the band, and that President Boren seems to see the band's highest use as a fundraising prop, but in regard to "best available product" let me say this: Last season, the OKLAHOMA SOONER marching band strutted down the field in the shape of two W's.
Not an O. Not an OU. Not an OKLA, like they used to do back in the 40s, but a W. Put all other issues aside for a moment -- this SHOULD be an unbearable embarrassment.
Honestly, this isn't much worse than if the band came out in an OS.
Nebraska and Oklahoma made up one of the greatest college football rivalries of all time. They played every year between 1928-97, and two times every four years since then. Their games in the Big Eight decided the conference championship 16 of 19 times between 1970-88. OU leads the series 44-38-3. --The Associated Press, December 1, 2010
No, OU is one of about 6 athletic departments in D1 that is self-sufficient and receives no money from the state.
Even if the band disappears they're still gonna be playing football and basketball right? As long as that's the case I'm good with whatever happens.
Behold the pale horse. The man who sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him.
Olevet Posse Pistolero
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2015.
Yup, At the 1/2 we sneak a drink before we sneak a Bunch of drinks LOL
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If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !
I know what I'm not doing...and that's paying attention to the band. I've watched sports a lot of years - up close and personal, and on TV, and not once did I give a rats a** what the band was up to.
...and it has annoyed me over the years for the cheerleaders, the band, and of course their parents try to claim they're as much a part of "the scene" as the football game itself, or the basketball game itself. Get the f**k outta here with that! Take away the game itself and see how many people come to watch their precious little darling strut her cheerleader stuff, or watch little Bobby tote his tuba around!
Behold the pale horse. The man who sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him.
Olevet Posse Pistolero
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2015.
...and yeah, I know there are cheerleading and band competitions, but if that sh*t is so awesome then take it away from the games themselves and see how well they can stand alone, and for how long.
Behold the pale horse. The man who sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him.
Olevet Posse Pistolero
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2015.
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