The View From ESPN3

[6 Nov 1999]

I watched the game via ESPN3 on my computer since I live in Eastern Pennsylvania and ABC was carrying the Ducks vs. the Trojans. From my vantage point, viewing this over the internet, it would appear that it was an OSU home game. The OSU Marching Band was overpowering. I thought about this because the previous week I was watching the PSU at Minnesota game on ESPNU. I heard the Nittany Lion band more than I heard our Minnesota band. I rarely heard the Minnesota band on the ESPNU broadcast and when I did, it was quite feeble and the high notes were truncated, like all sounds over 2,000 Hz. They did not come through. As a result, the Rouser did not sound like the Rouser. I was left wondering what the heck our Minnesota band was playing. Eventually I figured out the high frequencies were attenuated / clipped off. Against OSU it was much worse, since their band was much bigger, much louder, and on the 50 yard line, or nearly so. As a result of this, I started to think, we have a critical design defect in our new stadium. Our Minnesota band should be on the 50 yard line, or close to it, in a location that carries the most sound, especially for TV broadcasts. Instead they are located in the end zone, where nobody can hear them on TV and our beautiful Rouser gets no national recognition, because you cannot hear it on TV. On the other hand it seems I heard Across the Field and Buckeye Battle Cry constantly, throughout the game. During the ESPN3 broadcast, the cameras never seemed to give the viewers a panoramic view of our stadium, especially a view from the bowl end toward downtown, which is quite striking at night. At the end of the game they showed a little kid in the broadcast trailer wearing one of Ziggy Wilf’s team helmets getting candy from ABC / ESPN crew. I don’t know if the ABC broadcast experience was any different than the ESPN3 experience. The end result was of course horrible. We did not even get the benefit of being able to properly show off our new stadium to potential recruits, we gain no brand name recognition for the Rouser, which is an excellent college fight song, we discover a design defect in the placement of our band which neutralizes / emasculates it from a TV perspective, and the TV viewer instead has a near constant in your face view of the OSU Marching Band. Add to that ABC / ESPN panning the OSU faithful and cheerleaders more than the Gopher faithful and our cheerleaders, and you end up with a feeling that this was an OSU home game, not a Minnesota home game. Recommendations: (1) An Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) be written, approved, funded, and executed immediately for moving the Minnesota Marching Band corniche from the end zone to the 50 yard line. (2) Place all visiting bands in the northwestern most upper corner of the upper deck from this day forward. Since our new stadium supposedly has excellent access, these young folk will not have a problem descending the internal staircases to perform their half time show, assuming we let them.

 

[Go4]

1. good to see you posting again.

2. your posts were easier to read when done like this and not one ginormous paragraph.

3. Brandon Hall and his family are still in our thoughts.

 

[Schnauzer]

I have commented on this several times. If you were at the stadium, there wasn't a volume difference between the two bands (unless you had one of them pointed right at you). The Gopher band is actually bigger, by the way.

But, the 'U' doesn't understand something that Michigan and Ohio State have long known: how to situate the band properly to have the sound carry well on TV. Everyone knows "Hail to the Victors" because is is so crystal clear when you watch one of their games on TV. If you are at the stadium, a lot of people can't even hear the Michigan band... but on TV, there is no mistake. This was also a problem in the Dome but I figured it was just due to dome accustics. Not the case. I don't know if it is a lack of knowledge in the 'U' presentation, microphone placement, or both.

 

[RodentRampage]

Perhaps the positioning of the band isn't ideal to have it be heard, I don't know. But it could be that the crews were paying more attention to our opponents band than to ours. It's sad, but when Penn State and Ohio State come to down, the crews are there to cover them a lot more than they are to cover us. This explains why their cheerleaders were given more coverage than ours.

I think we have a highly underrated band. If Minnesota and Ohio State could exchange the quality of the football teams, no one would pay attention to spelling out Ohio, and the Rotating M would become iconic.

 

[jovs]

Are you sure it isn't the network pandering to the national audience by focusing on the school with the bigger following.

 

[Silvio]

Perhaps the positioning of the band isn't ideal to have it be heard, I don't know. But it could be that the crews were paying more attention to our opponents band than to ours. It's sad, but when Penn State and Ohio State come to down, the crews are there to cover them a lot more than they are to cover us. This explains why their cheerleaders were given more coverage than ours.

I think we have a highly underrated band. If Minnesota and Ohio State could exchange the quality of the football teams, no one would pay attention to spelling out Ohio, and the Rotating M would become iconic.

I don't really care for Ohio State, but if I am going to watch a game of theirs on National TV I always try to catch script Ohio. The rotating M is nice, but its no script Ohio in my opinion.

 

[RodentRampage]

I don't really care for Ohio State, but if I am going to watch a game of theirs on National TV I always try to catch script Ohio. The rotating M is nice, but its no script Ohio in my opinion.

Bah. The Rotating M leaves script Ohio in the dust! How hard can it be to spell Ohio anyway? If out football team was as good as OSU's, it would be the rotating M that people gushed over.

 

[6 Nov 1999]

1. good to see you posting again.

2. your posts were easier to read when done like this and not one ginormous paragraph.

3. Brandon Hall and his family are still in our thoughts.

Go4,
1. I cannot find my #71 button. I used to wear it when I would watch games, even on TV. This is a bad omen.
2. I have tried to stay away from GopherHole when we lost our coach after the Texas Tech game. I was laid off in retaliation for being one of 83 veterans in Fiscal Year 2008 who filed a complaint with the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) against a Federal Contractor for violations of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) of 1974 as amended (38 U.S.C. 4212) http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode38/usc_sec_38_00004212----000-.html.
3. See http://www.dol.gov/ocia/congressionaltestimony/20090514_OFCCP.htm and http://www.vva.org/testimony/2010/092910.html for more information in case you are interested. I now have more time on my hands than I would like, perhaps permanently so.
4. God bless Brandon Hall, his mother, his brother, and all his friends. We remember him on All Souls Day tomorrow, 2 November 2010.
SKI-U-MAH!

 

[Schnauzer]

I agree, the rotating M is a really cool thing and many more people would notice and care about it if the football team was a winner. I think the entire Gopher pregame is well done and a great tradition... unfortunately it is a secret that has been kept by the late arriving crowds and mediocre football teams for the 'u'. One note on the band being heard over TV... this isn't just a one game situation. I kept the Air Force game on DVR and it is very difficult to hear what the band is playing over a TV broadcast. For the Cal game, the visitors brought a small band and it too could be heard far better on the TV broadcast compared to our band. And, after each touchdown... it was difficult to hear what the band was playing. This is NEVER the case when you watch games being broadcast from Ohio or Michigan Stadiums. The band is always clear and the school songs help to provide that special branding that goes into college football. There is nothing wrong with our band. Just something wrong with the way it is situated or mic'd for television.