01-03-2016, 12:46 AM
(01-02-2016, 10:10 AM)Yvonne link Wrote:Any Iowa fan who found it offensive wasn't aware of the LSJUMB and probably thought they were going to be watching a Big Ten band in funny costumes or was looking for a reason to be offended.
In general, it's pretty hard to be offended by what the band actually says/portrays in a halftime show because it's usually more or less impossible to tell what they are doing - at least in any detail.
What has become common knowledge is that the Stanford band is different, ... free-form(?), and tends to have shows about the opposition school.
It's pretty clear that if you are expecting to be offended by those darn, elite-private-school kids from crazy-california who think they are too good to march like your school's band and then you see a formation with a farmer and a cow and hear something about a dating service then you can fulfill your expectations. It's also pretty clear that in a neutral setting with no expectations, actually reading/listening to that script while watching a couple of indecipherable formations and listening to band arrangements of old rock tunes isn't going to get anyone riled up.
Of course we don't live in a neutral world with no expectations. As others have noted, I don't think that it would have been possible for the LSJUMB to have made any reference to Iowa, and certainly to farms, without having many Iowans take umbrage. [Remember, this show was approved by the Stanford/AD administration - which presumably gave more than usual attention to the issue considering it's the Rose Bowl and the probation issues of the band.]
I don't think there is a solution here outside of not having an LSJUMB ... which I guess many would like.
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