Speaking as someone who has had familiy members that played in the band and someone who loved being a part of the student section...you have to understand, RedSea, that the band is the largest and most uniformly vocal supporters of the team at games.
They cheer with the cheerleaders (not against them...usually) and they do so whether the team is winning or losing. They never sit and they always are wearing red and white.
Because you are a newer student you probably wouldn't know about this...but a couple of years ago they tried to pipe-in music to "upgrade" the atmosphere.
Any guesses as to what happened next?
The band - who normally stand for 100% of pretty much every game - sat down. They didn't cheer, they didn't play, it completely sapped them. Needless to say, they were pissed.
They joined the band to go to games and support the team musically. Every time a silly commercial runs, the dance team is out on the floor, they play any of your "piped-in" music, or Paul Herzog rambles on for WAY TOO long it cuts into the time that the band has for doing what it came to do.
How lame would it be to join the band and only get to play the fightsong and like two-three other tunes. I know I wouldn't bother with the commitment.
LIVE MUSIC AND EXCITED BAND > any piped in music you could dream up
If you'd like to hear "newer" music - why not ask the band to play it. I know Dr. V is always up for suggestions. Seriously, send him an email if you want to hear something at a game.
Here is his email address:
[email protected]
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On a separate note...I happen to think the fightsong is played just about the right amount of times. Begining (team enters court), end (team leaves court - actually an abbreviated version of the fightsong), usually the under 4 minute timeout of each half and whenever BU is on a run and forces the other team to call timeout.