Athletic Dept asked band not to play on 3rd down

[RonJohn]

Can the band really help or hurt? Remember the apparent effect the ND band had on our offense at South Bend last year? They played basically until the ball was snapped on every one of our offensive plays. It seemed to contribute significantly to the difficulty getting our plays called. Damn cheating Catholics...

Maybe marketing should have s promotion where they give out those Vuvuzelas with a GT logo on the side. If FIFA banned them from soccer stadiums, they should be perfect for us.

According the NCAA rules, no: "5. Persons subject to the rules, including bands, shall not create any noise that prohibits a team from hearing its signals (Rule 1-1-6)" This is from the 2015 rule book, as I don't have a copy of the 2016 rule book. http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/FR15.pdf.

It usually isn't called unless a team complains about it. The typical scenario is that the team affected complains to the officials. The officials can call a penalty the next time, but they usually will alert the offending team. Usually the offending team will then attempt to get the offending parties(band, cheerleaders or whatever) to stop. Usually it is not just called without any prior discussions.

 

[MWBATL]

Is this the same marketing department that delivered 41,000 fans to the Vandy game while UGA delivered 82,000?

That marketing department?

I wish they would focus on generating revenue and enlarging the fan base rather than 3rd down conversions.

This continues to annoy me. UGa has 3x the number of alumni in this state than we do. Triple. So UGa delivering only twice the number of fans means their marketing sucks. Get it yet?

Want more GT fans? Pressure GT to expand their curriculum and expand the student body!!! Otherwise PLEASE shut up about this issue, as all UGa marketing does is count the money from the MUCH larger alumni base they have in state.

 

[Vespidae]

Want more GT fans? Pressure GT to expand their curriculum and expand the student body!!! Otherwise PLEASE shut up about this issue, as all UGa marketing does is count the money from the MUCH larger alumni base they have in state.

I'm not sure why you are so emotional about this. It's just a problem to be solved.

It takes a plan, and people, and processes ... to generate a result. GTAA is running what every one else does and it's not effective. You have to do it differently. That's my point.

First, the student body has grown. It's 50% MORE than it was in 1980. And attendance is down. So no causal relationship there. Why? It might have something to do with the fact that half of Tech students do not come from Georgia, but rather, surrounding states and other countries.

Second, it GTAA wants a bigger fanbase, and it's not the dominate team in the state (in terms of alumni), you have to do a lot of outreach to high schools, civic organization, trade associations, other schools and businesses. A lot. How much do we do? Zero.

Third, it's not just about printing tickets. Tech has a far stronger alumni base in terms of $$$, but we do a terrible job tapping into it. It's considered unseemly to ask for money for athletics.

Lastly, there are football programs out there with minuscule alumni bases that get almost as many fans to attend as Tech does. I know one program that is not even ten years old and it draws 30,000 a game with an alumni base a fraction of Tech's.

Again, it's just a problem to be solved.

Thanks.

 

[cheesewoot]

Thanks for posting. I still do not buy that explanation. Did YOU specifically talk to someone from GTAA and hear this? If you did, who was the GTAA marketing person that you spoke with? Your understanding is exactly what I would expect the band members to have in the scenario that I posted. An athletic department representative tells a band representative: "The band cannot play on third down, we are going to try to make up for it with the video board." The drum major understands from the band representative: "They don't want us to play on third down, they are going to try something with the video board." The band members understand from the drum major: "They don't want us to play on third down, so they can try something new with the video board."

Also, the only thing that I saw them doing on the video board were the same dB meters and get loud statements that they have been doing for several years on critical plays. IF the marketing department wanted to try something new, it would either have been something to promote the football team or show a sponsor. They didn't do either, so marketing trying something makes no sense.

I'll admit, I did not personally speak with Marketing about this. However, I know this to be very reliable information. In addition, we were informed of this decision on the Friday before the game, not during it.

You're right though, it did not seem that they did anything too different on the board. I was told they didn't have enough time to do what they wanted but I can't confirm that part as fact. Marketing does make a lot of decisions that do not make sense though so I wasn't surprised at all when they informed us of this one.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Or maybe the fans could show up to the game and actually make some noise. We shouldn't rely on the band to make it for us. I was screaming my lungs out with my two little ones. My son heeded the call and even had Southern fans shaking their heads at us. Paying for it today though. People need to realize we have a part in winning home games too. The players and coaches have eluded to that many times.

We have plenty of fans in state able to make it to games that choose not to. I truly think it would take two back to back 10 win seasons to get them to come in those numbers. If the fans that do come to the game would get off their duffs and make noise like you and your boys, we wouldn't miss those absent fans so much. Thanks for bringing y'alls A game.

We were told not to play chords on 3rd downs in the second half because the GTAA wanted to do something with the video board. That's all I know. A lot of us were disappointed with how quiet it was in the absence of chords.

I never cease to be amazed at how friggin dumb we are. And Tech is supposed to be all geniuses.....the peeps in marketing and GTAA all a bunch of mutt plants or what?? Friggin morons.

Next time just ignore their dumb arses and play anyway. What are they gonna do? Fire the band? Then again they might be dumb and arrogant enough to fire the band director. I'll be shooting an email off as soon as I locate the correct email address. (If anyone already has it please post) This makes me want to beahtch slap someone.

Before I forget. Thanks much to all you band members. Y'all rock and are the best damn band out there.

 

[Vespidae]

I really hope that we aren't trying to turn games into Braves games.

One thing I noticed was that Vandy was beating UGA ... and not one PA announcement about other scores. I had to follow it on my phone. Nothing jazzes a crowd up like knowing the dogs are losing.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

They were posting game scores on the scoreboard. PA announcer hasn't given score updates in a very long time due to this. It's kinda redundant to do so.

 

[GTpdm]

Can the band really help or hurt? Remember the apparent effect the ND band had on our offense at South Bend last year? They played basically until the ball was snapped on every one of our offensive plays. It seemed to contribute significantly to the difficulty getting our plays called. Damn cheating Catholics...

You're dang right it was cheating, but it wasn't their band; it was rock music piped through their PA system at high volume--playing well past the moment we lined up and the ref stepped away from the ball to allow play to go live. As I understand it, they started using the PA this way (instead of allowing the band to play) at the specific request of Brian Kelly--clearly as a means of gaining advantage on the field, pre-snap. The refs should have thrown a few Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties on the bench, after it became clear that the PA system was part of a systematic effort to interfere with the visiting team while the ball was live.

 

[Vespidae]

They were posting game scores on the scoreboard. PA announcer hasn't given score updates in a very long time due to this. It's kinda redundant to do so.

I think I saw in once for nanosecond. I suppose there's no need if it's on your phone.

Hell's Bells though ... the PA can't announce the score update on UGA? Forget the redundancy ... how about crowd reaction?

 

[ClydeBrick]

I really hope that we aren't trying to turn games into Braves games.

Agree with this 100%.

The next part, not so much.

One thing I noticed was that Vandy was beating UGA ... and not one PA announcement about other scores. I had to follow it on my phone. Nothing jazzes a crowd up like knowing the dogs are losing.

Really? They had that game and other game scores rotating on the board all afternoon. I guess that your not noticing the board proves that using the video system to fire up the crowd on 3rd downs will be a failure.


They announced the score after the dwags lost - they only time in which the score had any meaning. Hell, the game was in question until Vandy stopped the mutts with less than a minute left - as a follower of GT you should know that the mutts can pull a W out of their butts.

IMO, announcing dwag in-game scores would only re-enforce the appearance of GT having "little brother" syndrome.

 

[Vespidae]

Before the video boards, back in the cave man days, they announced the scores throughout the game.

"After 3 quarters, Alabama leads Tennessee 21-7 in Knoxville"

 

[YJAlleyCat]

I think I saw in once for nanosecond. I suppose there's no need if it's on your phone.

Hell's Bells though ... the PA can't announce the score update on UGA? Forget the redundancy ... how about crowd reaction?

They did announce the uGA score one time on the PA late in our game. The crowd was pleased and there was a mighty roar.

But by the time they announcement came most people had seen it on the jumbotron, and several people around us were following the end of that game on their smart phones.

 

[RonJohn]

I'll admit, I did not personally speak with Marketing about this. However, I know this to be very reliable information. In addition, we were informed of this decision on the Friday before the game, not during it.

You're right though, it did not seem that they did anything too different on the board. I was told they didn't have enough time to do what they wanted but I can't confirm that part as fact. Marketing does make a lot of decisions that do not make sense though so I wasn't surprised at all when they informed us of this one.

Well if you were informed on Friday, that does take away my thoughts about the Ga Southern coaches complaining. However, not having time doesn't make sense. If they were really attempting a new way to get the crowd pumped up, they shouldn't have to figure out where to plug in cables or find files to run on the video board.