Semi-OT: Marching Band at the Pinstripe Bowl

[Orangepace]

Tom,

I posted this link to Kentucky's 2010 band uniform fund drive last year. The cost for band unis at the time was $470. Assume with inflation it's $500 a pop now.

Assume 200 uniforms (got to have a few extras to recruit all those new tuba players), then the fund drive is $100,000. That's no small amount, but still relatively insignificant in the scheme of things. There's a lot of band alums that could be approached. And many others as well. It can be done. And it should be done.

So, there you have it... we have a $100K goal. I estimate there are north of 2000 registered members on this board. All of which are boosters in some way to the University. If 10% of those members donated $100, the band would already have raised 20% of their goal. That's do-able no? I know money is tight for some, but this is the season for giving right? And who isn't looking for a write-off prior to our President agreeing to remove charitable deductions from the tax code?

 

[Scooch]

SU is correct. If you are in the SUMB then it is like playing on a team. You should be required to be back at SU by a certain date and travel with your team (band members) down to the Bowl. If you make a commitment to be in the SUMB then you shouldn't even have the option to attend or not. All band member should be back on campus by Thursday morning. The team (band) should travel down together Thursday night.

Would a football player who lives in California, for example, who went home for Xmas and then has to fly back to Syracuse to take a team charter to NYC have to pay out-of-pocket for that flight back to CNY? I honestly don't know.

 

[Scooch]

The SUMB's uniforms date to 1996.

16 years and counting.

You'd think with all the money we get from Nike to ruin our football and hoops unis every few years they could fund at least half the cost of 200 band outfits.

 

[CuseCrew08]

Would a football player who lives in California, for example, who went home for Xmas and then has to fly back to Syracuse to take a team charter to NYC have to pay out-of-pocket for that flight back to CNY? I honestly don't know.

When the crew team would go on our winter training trip every year, we had to be back in Syracuse on like Jan 4th every year. We were expected to be there and there was no transportation stipend.

 

[kingottoiii]

Would a football player who lives in California, for example, who went home for Xmas and then has to fly back to Syracuse to take a team charter to NYC have to pay out-of-pocket for that flight back to CNY? I honestly don't know.

Wouldn't it be a NCAA violation for SU to pay?

 

[Scooch]

When the crew team would go on our winter training trip every year, we had to be back in Syracuse on like Jan 4th every year. We were expected to be there and there was no transportation stipend.

Interesting. Did you guys just stay in Syracuse after you returned from that training trip to start 2nd semester? Or did you go home and back again.

I think the burden for the SUMB kids is that they're being asked to go from home, up and back to Syracuse, and presumably home again, right in the middle of break, which adds a lot of travel costs.

I'm less sympathetic to the kids within a days drive of CNY, but it would have been tough for the kids that have to get on a flight.

 

[Scooch]

Wouldn't it be a NCAA violation for SU to pay?

I have no idea. I imagine there could be a travel allowance related to the bowl. I mean they get a sh!tton of swag, shouldn't that be a violation?

 

[CuseCrew08]

Interesting. Did you guys just stay in Syracuse after you returned from that training trip to start 2nd semester? Or did you go home and back again.

I think the burden for the SUMB kids is that they're being asked to go from home, up and back to Syracuse, and presumably home again, right in the middle of break, which adds a lot of travel costs.

I'm less sympathetic to the kids within a days drive of CNY, but it would have been tough for the kids that have to get on a flight.

We would get back the day before classes started usually so it worked out well in that regard.

 

[All4SU]

I say we pitch in and get implants for the Orange Girl. In fact, lets make it a Cuse tradition. Every Orange girl will be a perfect 44.

 

[Chip]

Glad this worked out. Would be a little embarrassing to be a bowl game without a full band. We don't have a full band as it is, compared to other schools anyway. Hoping some of the ACC $ can fix this. At least enough to fill their section tight at the Dome. Can't imagine it would be an ACC budget breaking exercise.

And yes, new uniforms. Orange, with blue trim. No white necessary. No SJ logos anywhere to be found.

 

[sutomcat]

Tom,

I posted this link to Kentucky's 2010 band uniform fund drive last year. The cost for band unis at the time was $470. Assume with inflation it's $500 a pop now.

Assume 200 uniforms (got to have a few extras to recruit all those new tuba players), then the fund drive is $100,000. That's no small amount, but still relatively insignificant in the scheme of things. There's a lot of band alums that could be approached. And many others as well. It can be done. And it should be done.

Nice. $100K is a good goal then.

There was a thread on helping the SUMB a while ago on this board on this subject. I have pasted the part of the thread that relates to to helping the SUMB with donations below. Unfortunately, I still don't see a place where you can donate on the SUMB web site referenced below.

If we could see the goal and see progress towards the goal, I think it would greatly improve the success of a donation effort.

Can a PayPal address be set up?

sutomcat said: ↑​

How can we as fans of SUMB help? What is the best way to tell administration we care about the band? Who should we contact about this?​

​

What is the best way to make a donation? I wish there was an option to earmark dollars for SUMB on the season ticket holder renewal form. That would be the ideal solution (hint hint whoever is responsible for that).​

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Is there any way you could add some code to the SUMB web site to allow people to support SUMB financially? I think if there was a way to make it relatively easy for fans to make donations, you would get some of the financial support you need to accomplish your goals.​

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Answer by SUMB, aka Justin Mertz, SUMB Band Director:​

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Thanks for this sentiment everyone; it's great to see this from fellow fans.

​

To answer these questions:​

​

Donations can be made (and are made; we just got a pretty decent bequest from a band alum, though with bequests you never know when that money will come in for reasons I'm sure you could imagine) to SU and earmarked for the SUMB. It can be as simple as writing "This donation is intended for the Syracuse University Marching Band" on the check for small donations. If you really want to get someone's attention, though, you can contact the development office in the College of Visual in Performing Arts:​

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http://vpa.syr.edu/alumni/get-involved/donate​

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You can also do this through Athletics, but they may send you to VPA (the organizational relationships can be weird).​

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I also believe that if you can't donate, emails/letters to the Chancellor and Athletic Director expressing a desire for more support for the SUMB would be very beneficial.​

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Tomcat, that's a great idea about adding a checkbox to the renewal form; I'll ask about that.​

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Scooch, I too am a former Pride member ('97-'01). Please say hello this fall! We are about to reach out to alumni, mostly about uniforms (though I would like to see if we can get some sort of funding for travel to away games; it's unfortunate that the SUMB doesn't support the team this way) but we're working on getting all of our ducks in a row to make sure it's clear and process-driven as you say.​

​

Thanks again everyone!​

 

[SU2NASA]

Almost certain the major bowls pay for the bands to travel - I know the Sugar Bowl paid for Michigan's band last year.

This is really simple - either the school pays for band travel, or some portion of the kids in the band are not going to be able to afford to go. It's easy to say get back and go to the game, but if I'd invested as much time as the folks in the band do, and then found out I had to pay my own way like every other student, I'd say **** the school, save the money for spring break - and if I was coming back the following year I wouldn't be in the band. Every relationship is reciprocal - if the school is going to treat me like every other student, I'm going to act like one.

School pays for the travel.

 

[Orangepace]

Wouldn't it be a NCAA violation for SU to pay?

This can't be right. If that's the case, we would never recruit from out of state without some sort of parent income metrics approval. Insert lawsuit by families with limited income v NCAA here...

I also can't imagine that if your star player couldn't afford it that the schools would be in violation for making sure they make it to the game.

 

[kingottoiii]

This can't be right. If that's the case, we would never recruit from out of state without some sort of parent income metrics approval. Insert lawsuit by families with limited income v NCAA here...

I also can't imagine that if your star player couldn't afford it that the schools would be in violation for making sure they make it to the game.

No one says they have to go home. If they do shouldn't it be their responsibility to get back and pay? If they cannot afford it they can stay in Syracuse with friends or teammates and then travel with the team.

 

[KaiserUEO]

im sorry, but while a marching band is a wonderful thing for home football games, its unnecessary for them to be at the Pinstripe. halftimes are 12 minutes long and i wont be crying in my beer if the 12 minutes in the Bronx is spent listening adds to buy Yankee tickets, in between waiting in line to piss and then waiting in line to buy a beer, all the while talking to friends, some of whom i only see 1x or 2x a year. lets face it, at the half, everyone is going to be moving around the concourse to stay warm and wont be too likely to stand stationary out in the cold to see them perform. and a skeleton crew to bang out the fight song or alma mater will work just fine.

if a band member can make it, great. if not, no biggie. just because you play the trumpet, doesnt entitle you to free ride back to Cuse, then a free ride to the City...a free hotel room...and then a free ride back to school. when your non trumpet playing classmates are paying his or her own way and if not in a hotel, is sleeping on the floor of a 200 sq ft studio that his buddy who graduated last year is renting to live in.

Oh Lord

 

[orangeintheacc]

Would a football player who lives in California, for example, who went home for Xmas and then has to fly back to Syracuse to take a team charter to NYC have to pay out-of-pocket for that flight back to CNY? I honestly don't know.

The SU football players are leaving at the end of next week to be home for Christmas, but they are flying Christmas Day from wherever they are to NY City on SU's dime. SU is then flying them back home after the bowl game to wherever they originally came from.

 

[Jeepers]

I'm sure if the band put a little video of the history of the SUMB on a page like kickstarter, they'd get enough to buy new unis.

 

[Cuseman78]

im sorry, but while a marching band is a wonderful thing for home football games, its unnecessary for them to be at the Pinstripe. halftimes are 12 minutes long and i wont be crying in my beer if the 12 minutes in the Bronx is spent listening adds to buy Yankee tickets, in between waiting in line to piss and then waiting in line to buy a beer, all the while talking to friends, some of whom i only see 1x or 2x a year. lets face it, at the half, everyone is going to be moving around the concourse to stay warm and wont be too likely to stand stationary out in the cold to see them perform. and a skeleton crew to bang out the fight song or alma mater will work just fine.

if a band member can make it, great. if not, no biggie. just because you play the trumpet, doesnt entitle you to free ride back to Cuse, then a free ride to the City...a free hotel room...and then a free ride back to school. when your non trumpet playing classmates are paying his or her own way and if not in a hotel, is sleeping on the floor of a 200 sq ft studio that his buddy who graduated last year is renting to live in.

Oh Lord

If you are a major division 1 football school, you have to bring a damn band. This is a college football bowl game, not a Giants game.

 

[Chip]

im sorry, but while a marching band is a wonderful thing for home football games, its unnecessary for them to be at the Pinstripe. halftimes are 12 minutes long and i wont be crying in my beer if the 12 minutes in the Bronx is spent listening adds to buy Yankee tickets, in between waiting in line to piss and then waiting in line to buy a beer, all the while talking to friends, some of whom i only see 1x or 2x a year. lets face it, at the half, everyone is going to be moving around the concourse to stay warm and wont be too likely to stand stationary out in the cold to see them perform. and a skeleton crew to bang out the fight song or alma mater will work just fine.

if a band member can make it, great. if not, no biggie. just because you play the trumpet, doesnt entitle you to free ride back to Cuse, then a free ride to the City...a free hotel room...and then a free ride back to school. when your non trumpet playing classmates are paying his or her own way and if not in a hotel, is sleeping on the floor of a 200 sq ft studio that his buddy who graduated last year is renting to live in.

Oh Lord

Halftimes are 20 minutes in college.

But that's not when I watch the band. That's when I go to the bathroom, get more beer, and talk about the 1st half. I like hearing the fight song and alma mater before the game. Fight song after TDs during the game. Alma mater after the game. Anything else I could take or leave. But those moments I mentioned are one of the things I like about college football.

Big time programs bring their band. I think even mid level and small time programs bring their band. I have no idea how the cost of travel works though since kids go home for the holidays. But I can't imagine Tennessee saying we're not running thru the T today, or Ohio State saying we're not dotting the I, or Michigan saying no Hail to the Victors today boys, I'm not helping subsidize these kids' travel.

 

[KaiserUEO]

Halftimes are 20 minutes in college.

But that's not when I watch the band. That's when I go to the bathroom, get more beer, and talk about the 1st half. I like hearing the fight song and alma mater before the game. Fight song after TDs during the game. Alma mater after the game. Anything else I could take or leave. But those moments I mentioned are one of the things I like about college football.

Big time programs bring their band. I think even mid level and small time programs bring their band. I have no idea how the cost of travel works though since kids go home for the holidays. But I can't imagine Tennessee saying we're not running thru the T today, or Ohio State saying we're not dotting the I, or Michigan saying no Hail to the Victors today boys, I'm not helping subsidize these kids' travel.

20mins, ok. i actually was thinking it may be 20 because its a Bowl. so, are Bowls 30? :noidea:

i love hearing the fight song and alma mater, but they can do it with a skeleton crew. no need to march. now if its a BCS game, then yeah...full band.

arent most of the students from the tri-state area anywho?? if so, they should be attending regardless. and if you can get a free ticket and a free hotel just by bringing your trumpet, then by all means bring it.


gotta admit, im a little shaken by this thing in CT to discuss much.

 

[Chip]

gotta admit, im a little shaken by this thing in CT to discuss much.

Me too. Hope we don't have to get a bio of the shooter. Treat them like MLB treats fans who run on the field. Ignore it and hope that it will help stop the problem. It's a small step, but it would be a step. Don't think the media can do it though.

Focus on the victims and the solution. Don't make someone famous so the next one will want to be.

 

[Cusefan95]

School pays for the travel.

There's a load of articles about the Michigan Alabama game earlier this year that talk about the Sugar Bowl paying for Michigan's band to travel there last season. Not sure about bowls like the Rose Bowl...but I am 100% sure the Sugar Bowl covered Michigan's band travel costs.

I'd rather see the school cover travel costs, OR no band at a bowl game. A third option of having a band and hoping they pay to show up is idiotic, since Syracuse could have two dozen band members show and perform looking like its Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (which would look pathetic and reflect poorly on SU).

 

[Rocco]

School pays for the travel.

Did you have a bad experience at band camp or something?

 

[OttoMets]

they should band together and say "all or no one is going".

I agree. Hate to opine so aggressively about something when I don't know all the facts, but this is pathetic. There's money in the budget to buy uniforms for 42 basketball cheerleaders and to fly the god-awful dance team (whose members still, after 20 years, cannot manage to dance in time with one another) to games but there's no money for the band?

SU doesn't want to support its band? Fine. Have no marching band at a bowl game five hours from campus and explain to everyone why the band isn't there.

EDIT: And I'm way behind on this. Glad there was an equitable resolution.

 

[OttoMets]

I saw multiple halftime routines from the band this year and I only got up to the Dome three times this season.

If you don't like the cheerleader thing (I don't either, its stupid), complain to athletics. Don't pin it on the kid.

Athletics turns a deaf ear to these complaints. After you hooked me up with contact info for relevant AD people last year, I'm still waiting for a response to my "why can't we have more Sour Sitrus and less canned music at basketball games" e-mail.

They really don't care what fans think.