Going to the football game this weekend? Don’t expect to hear the usual snark
After embarrassing the football team’s players, coaches, alumni and parents last weekend with their…different rendition of “Roar, Lion, Roar,” at the conclusion of Saturday’s football contest against Cornell, the Columbia University Marching Band has been barred from performing at Saturday’s final game of the season against Brown. According to a statement, the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education Dr. M. Dianne Murphy believes, “allowing the band the opportunity to perform…on Saturday undermines the University’s institutional support for our football team.” Ouch. So what exactly did the band do to our fun and light hearted fight song to make everybody so angry? Check out these lyrics.
We always lose lose loseby a lot and sometimes by a littlewe all were winners at the start,but four years has taught us all the value ofjust giving up, cuz we really suckwhy are we even trying?we always lose lose losebut we take solace in our booze.
Yup, I’d say that goes a little overboard, don’t you think?
Look, I know I’ve been as critical as anyone when it comes to the football team this year (my last three quick thoughts post called the season a “Hindenberg Disaster”), but there’s a time and a place for that. I’m not going to go to the game and start shouting, “You guys suck and make me want to drink!”
C’mon, who wants to hear that? I mean, they’re the ones who just finished playing the game, don’t you think they feel bad enough?
It’s times like these that we’ve got to remember that our Light Blue football players are just like us—they have to go to class, they have to do their homework, and they have to wipe their ass the same as you and me.
And you know what that means? They’re human. They have friends, parents and all kinds of other family coming to these games. They work hard all year long in order to give everything they have out on the field for just 10 Saturdays a year.
And if you think I’m standing on my proverbial soapbox and attacking the band, that’s totally not my intention. I’m sure they realize they made a mistake, and will work to correct that in the future.
All I’m saying is let’s appreciate all that our athletes do, instead of assailing them for what they don’t.
For complete coverage, check out Trevor Cohen’s article from today’s paper here.
Editor’s note: The lyrics above were provided by a member of the Band.
Between not doing something, and losing every game. Also I don’t think anyone is mad at the kids. It’s the coaches who are the villains here and spec has rightly called for their firing on multiple occasions
Never heard us singing, first of all.
Second of all, it’s a joke, like everything we do.
Third, if you saw the number of times the coaches pulled aside ONE player to yell at him for five minutes on end immediately after he left the field, and then saw the way his shoulders slumped, I don’t think you’d be worried about some silly song the band sang.
We never meant to insult the players, or even the coaches, although I think even you agree that they should be fired; we’re pointing out the reality of our game. It could have been more clever, yes. It could have waited for the bus or the rehearsal room, yes. But the band doesn’t make the team lose, or want the team to lose, or refuse to watch if the team has lost almost every game in the past two seasons. I know, I’ve been there, yelling my head off in support of the team for every single game in all my four years.
I know the team members are human. Do you know that the band is also human, and makes mistakes? We crossed the line. We apologized. Sheesh.
Okay, so the players pay for their mistakes by losing every single game, and you have to pay for your mistake of being overheard by being barred from the next game…seems fair, especially considering you have no real stake in attending the game as an organization except the reputation of the band…which is basically unaffected by being barred from playing in a way that even bothers you…soo….
Yeah, you’re right, we don’t have any stake in attending the game as an organization. That includes our rep as a band. Don’t get me wrong, each and every one of us is proud to be a band member and to be part of CUMB. But we’re there at the games not because of our rep as the band but because we love the teams and we’re there to support them first and foremost. We’re going to Brown as a student section and we’ll be there for the team, not for our rep. Hope to see you there.
is honestly the only group that really supports this team anymore. They’re the ones who are always there, cheering every game. I’m not suprised the athletic department used this as an opportunity to deflect attention from their complete inneptitude, even if it means the team’s biggest supports now paradoxically can’t go to a game. It’s embarrassing, and I’m suprised spec has jumped on the band. This story has a little more nuance to it, let’s actually get some diverse persepctives here. I’m looking forward to Orgo night.
Cheering every game for self/group enjoyment is different than cheering for the Columbia Football team. All the comments are negative, and it is clear that the band is entertaining itself, while most of the fans comment on how inconsiderate the jeers are. Our team is mocked equally if not more than the other teams. Is that support for the football team? Obviously not.
The Players!
Love the team. Support the Band. Fire the Coaches. That’s all.
Dick move, band. Dick move.
Myles, you’ve been calling for Coach Wilson’s head since Week 3. You’re frustrated. The players are frustrated. The fans are frustrated, and that no doubt includes some members of the marching band, since they represent an extremely passionate segment of the Columbia student section (as does Spec sports, by the way). Based on my interaction with marching band members, I personally don’t believe that this song was meant to be malicious or mean-spirited towards the players, although I can certainly see why it would be taken as such. I’m glad to hear that the band leadership has taken swift action and apologized to those affected, because it is eminently necessary. But at the core, I think what’s being said in this song is what you’ve written in columns and liveblogs time and again this year: this season has been incredibly disappointing and something needs to change. Was it a mistake on the band’s part? Absolutely. Do they deserve to be denied the chance to recognize their seniors and the senior football players that many of them have cheered for for four years, at every venue in the Ivy League, rain, shine or snow? I personally think not.
I could not emphasize the first line of that last post enough. The song was not sung at the players, nor was it even sung in anger. It was sung by the biggest Columbia fans at one of our highest scoring games of the season in order to let off some steam at our disappointing football season. To imply, as this article doesthat the band shouted this at their classmates in order to rub in their loss is absurd, inaccurate and extremely painful for those of us in the band who simply know this to be false. The band was very sorry to hear that we were overheard, and the executive board immediately banned it from ever being sung in public again.
Here’s some other things that are worth considering:
1. This incident occurred in Ithaca. The had to leave at 4pm on the Friday of that game in order to get there. We drove for 5 hours each way and had to crame into small spaces and sleep on floors. We did not return home until 10pm that night. All of this during a streesful part of this semester. All of this for the football team. All of this for our school. Despite the fact that we have no attendence requirements to be in our band, 50 people eagerly went on this Odyssey to Ithaca, 20 people more than athletics requires of us. The band loves the football team. Plain and simple. Don’t make more out of a reckless joke than it was.
2. The football game from which the band was banned is the last game of the season. There are traditions associated with this game including a “spirit tunnel” in which all the senior on the football team run out to be cheered on by the chearleaders and have the band play a fanfare for them. By banning the band, athletics has denied these players their well-deserved moment of recognition.
3, This football game also includes a part in which the senior in all the spirit groups are recognized. Many of our seniors have missed only one or two games in their entire college career. One joke should not bar them from receiving recognition just this once.
The point is this. We love the team, we love Columbia. We are there when no one else is. We play rain or shine, we even play in the snow. We drive hours to the middle of no where just so that we can go and cheer on the team. We’re human. We are Columbia students. We made a mistake. We apologized.
Your actions before and after went too far. The after part just provided the excuse to crack down. You might want to think a little before using the National Anthem next time. I also suggest you educate your band member that thinks the Nazi salute is funny.
Never at my 4 years here at Columbia have I encountered a more hypocritical group of elitist pricks. The band played a mean song. They apologized. They regret it. MOVE ON! Since when did Spec become a bunch of administration loving whores?
You can always count on the Spec to say stupid shit and get all the facts completely wrong. Maybe try learning something from bwog for once.
I’m confused… where are the facts wrong here?
Spec clearly is a huge fan of Columbia sports too and has come out against the administration in countless editorials. Their sports section is at every home game, and all away games for football. Maybe they just felt hurt by the lyrics too.
the only thing the football team mght hate more than the band are the spec. you both all need to go away.
The football team actually loves the band, but, I am sure they were equally embarrassed at Cornell.
To Guest 12. The football team hates the band.
Isn’t the violence of organized athletics accomplished more effectively on college players that win and get instrumentalized as praiseworthy-pointscoring-machines that are frighteningly likely to end up gymrats with addiction issues after falling out the back end of the let’s-use-children-as-vicarious-living-toys-and-promise-them-it’s-good-for-them construct?
I have a hard time imagining the band’s lyrics experienced as violence by team members (cognitively dissonant, maybe, but not violent). I have an easy time seeing it experienced as violence by the people who are running from dealing with the psychological effects of praising athletes.
One thing I’m confident of: cheering the decision to sanction a student group while undergraduate opinion is already worth so little on this campus is far more destructive to our community than any vulgar song or terrible athletics department.
Word.
Way to go Athletics for further emptying the stands at Baker Field
on Saturday. Now many of the band alum, band parents, and band friends who actually go to the games will not be there. Who do you think goes to the games?
And way to go Columbia admininstration for acting like a high school, or perhaps middle school, principal. Is this kind of censorship appropriate at an Ivy League university?
I tend to agree, but, not in this case. It need to be done.
This is a smart blog. I mean it. You have so much kgolwedne about this issue, and so much passion. You also know how to make people rally behind it, obviously from the responses. Youve got a design here thats not too flashy, but makes a statement as big as what youre saying. Great job, indeed.
a source for your lyrics?
With incorrect / made up lyrics, you may as well have pasted, indented, and inserted a cute bar by some Cee Lo Green lyrics, and talked about how even more offended the football team got.
just sayin.
Spec makes shit up all the time. That’s the only way they can fill up this disgrace they call a blog.
shut up bwog..
Hi,
The lyrics were provided to us by a member of the Band. If you believe they are incorrect, please get in touch at editor@columbiaspectator.com.
Best,
Sam
SPEC,
Please remove these lyrics. If you truly want to show some respect and support for the football team and it’s players, you would not disseminate and perpetuate this embarrassing song for all to see.
The football team and its players might not have actually heard the song before. Now the SPEC makes everyone know. Who is the villain now?
I think they would’ve noticed the band’s absence on Saturday and figured something was up. Posting the lyrics is just getting the facts straight.
Third. fuck Spec. they always blow stuff up and make shit even worse
4th. Fuck Spec.
Hi, guys. It’s news. Don’t oppress it and start a precedent.
ah yes. I can’t wait for Orgo Night now.
“assailing them”. wtf? We don’t assail them even after they lose game after game after game. That’s been you Myles all year long.
He never explicitly sided with the administration in its choice to ban the band. He just said he thought the song was inappropriate. There’s a big difference.
Also, there’s a difference in lyrics that say “why do we try” (even though the band clearly never meant to upset anyone) and specific, football-based critiques of the team’s play. Critiques look at what’s been done and say what went wrong. “Why do we try” says there is no point in even attempting anything, our team is so bad.
Look, this kid has an opinion – and it’s not that far-fetched to say that the band overstepped the line. I was five feet from the band in Ithaca, and those were the lyrics that were sung. Maybe stop procrastinating so much? Or go to senior night and do something fun?
Don’t forget what they did during the pre-game. Part of their parody was the national anthem. Everyone on both sides did stand even though they were confused. It was a terrible rendition (appeared to be intentional) and the band members were being goofy during it. This was particularly offensive since it was Memorial Day weekend. The band member doing a Nazi salute to one of the band members on the filed after the show didn’t win any brownie points either.
Lets talk about half time. One of the band members was on the field out with the Big Red band. The rest of the band was egging him on form the side lines and being very disruptive throughout the Big Red show. It was embarrassing and childish.
Add these things to what happened after the game and it shouldn’t be a surprise that they are being punished.
In general I like the bands craziness. It is in away a school tradition. This is the first time in 4 years that I was actually embarrassed. Maybe they will think things over a little more the next time they are allowed on the field.
Sorry I meant Veteran’s Day
I would just like to point out that the Cornell band also put a bandie on the field for the CUMB show…
Ok, I was in the audience at the Cornell game and I’m not sure the band acted appropriately at all times nor did I personally see any Nazi salutes, but as far as the halftime show goes, a member of the Cornell band did the same thing during the Columbia halftime show (btw the Columbia halftime show was before the Cornell one). You can’t really blame the Columbia band for reciprocating, especially since they recognized that the Cornell band member was only doing that as a joke and didn’t seem angry.
I missed the Big Red band person in our show. I had enough of them before the game. I apologize for that. Obviously it was planned event. That is no excuse for what they did with the National Anthem.
Ever since I became a Lions fan I have been embarassed by the band and its antics!…. What other school has a band that acts like it does? ( Ok maybe Princeton) but really? Nobody else has band members that are so juvenile! AND people laugh at them! Lets grow up please… AND last week’s antics confirmed what I already knew!…. Dr. Murphy? Kudos to her for doing the right thing! Hopefully she will do the next right thing… Dump Norries!
Is orgo night funny? Yes, I’ll admit that I appreciate the good laugh they provide during that short period of time. Should their antics spill over into the games of the teams they “support”? I don’t think so. I’m even fine with their halftime shows that are offensive to anyone who is different or thinks differently then them. This alternative version crossed the line in my opinion, and to criticize this writer for stating his opinion is crossing the line once again. Yes, it is clear that the majority of these comments bashing spec/the writer are from band members. It is unfortunate that they will not be able to partake in their end of season rituals, and maybe Murphy shouldn’t have acted so harshly, but she is 100% justified in her actions because the band’s actions were detrimental to the players. If they were true fans, and they really support the football team, they would not make such a big deal, because it is clear that the football team cannot have their minds on anything else. Personal attacks on the writer (this piece, by the way, was not factually incorrect in the slightest, despite what commenters might say) or on our school newspaper, filled with our peers, is outlandish.
-Rational Actor
^current Spec writer.
spec is filled with administration loving prats. I support the band.
lol sick song, bros
but I can’t help observe the irony that they are being bashed for singing that song by a paper that has this season has routinely called for the coaching staff to be fired, which is a much more serious thing to say. These coaches depend on these jobs to provide for their families.
But the spec doesn’t claim to be supportive of the team. In fact, it is their duty to provide unbiased coverage. There have been opinion pieces in favour of the team and against the team. Also, people depend on their jobs to provide for their families, does that mean nobody should ever be fired for failing to perform the duties their job requires?
The Spec never writes anything to suport the football team. It’s always fire norries,the football team sucks, the football team can’t do anything right, the football team sells fake id’s. It’s frustrating for them. If they actually cared about the football team they wouldn’t have written this in the first place. That’s why every football player hates talking to Spec and their so called media “experts”
-Friend of a football player
I’m friends with a handful of people who write sports for spec, and they truly love our teams. If they didn’t care about them, then they wouldn’t be calling on athletics to fire norries… they want to see the team do better. it’s too bad your friends on the football team don’t like talking to them because the writers I know genuinely support the team–just like the band–and are only constructive in their criticism because they want to be able to see the team succeed.
Cheap shot to bring up the fake id’s story. A member of the football team bought 42 fake id’s. What would any news organization do, not cover it because he was on the football team? It was pretty clear it was a single person not representative of the team.
Sanctions involving “curtailment of expression [cannot] be dismissed as insignificant. If they can be justified at all, it must be in terms of some serious substantive evil which they are designed to avert … The assumption that respect for [institutions] can be won by shielding judges from published criticism wrongly appraises the character of American public opinion. For it is a prized American privilege to speak one’s mind, although not always with perfect good taste, on all public institutions. And an enforced silence, however limited, solely in the name of preserving the dignity of the bench, would probably engender resentment, suspicion, and contempt much more than it would enhance respect.” — Lee Bollinger citing free speech victory Bridges v. California (1941)
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
I think it also needs to be emphasized that the band is not part of Athletics. It is not funded by Athletics. The only thing the band gets from athletics is permission to play. The scripts are submitted to Athletics for approval on a frankly draconian deadline. Including for away games, where Athletics is not in control of whether the band will play or not. Athletics requires the band to play at all the events they want, including birthday parties that Athletics gets paid for.
The band is essentially a student club. They get their budget from the school, not from Athletics. They only perform at games BECAUSE THEY WANT TO. They pay out of their budget to travel to games that Athletics sends no spirit groups to.
The band does everything Athletics requires and gets nothing in return. Not even a team that wins. Not even a crowd.
The only thing the band wants to do is play in support of Columbia. Athletics treats that desire as a weakness and uses their ability to keep them off the field as a stick. And they use the band as a scapegoat for their own bad decisions.
Was the song out of line? Probably. But the response was not only out of proportion but just one in a list of similar actions that band has not talked about out of fear of being banned.
Don’t use absolutes if you don’t mean it.
If the “only” thing the band wants to do is “play in support of Columbia,” then why did they compose and sing the lyrics that they, themselves, have admitted to singing?
It appears that the band wants to do “more” than “play in support of Columbia.” They want to make jokes. They want to shock and offend. It appears that the “only” thing they DON’T want to do is to be held accountable for their actions.
Athletics gives nothing to the band, yet the band is DEPENDENT on Athletics letting them play. The College will offer the band NO FUNDING if Athletics decides they don’t want them at the games. In this way, Athletics has a very powerful and completely unfair hold over the band’s affairs.
wow its rllaey funny cause both actors john goodman and Steve buscemi are in big lebowski and monsters inc VA:F [1.9.11_1134]please wait…VA:F [1.9.11_1134](from 0 votes)
Finally, someone who is not a member of the band commented on this article! Agreed. I have no idea how “we always lose” blah blah blah shows how supportive they are of the football team. I call bs on almost every single comment written here. That is all.
Hipocrit administration. When the band constantly berates the opposing team, trashes them at halftime, pretty much embarrasses themselves each and every week showing no class whatsoever, you look the other way. When they do it to Columbia, all of a sudden you take action.
…pretty sure your spelling of “hypocrite(s)” is far more embarrassing than anything the Band has ever done.
If you’re going to bother attempting to make a historical reference, at least take the effort to make sure you’ve spelled “Hindenburg” correctly. Google is your friend.
And if you’re going to write a comment attempting to criticize the administration, have the good grace to spell “hypocrite” correctly. It’s as if going on the Internet has made certain Spec readers forget how to use their native language…
the bigger hypocrites than the administration are SPEC.
Columbia University: In theory, our football players are very good. In football, they suck.
lol, the two most annoying groups on campus duking it out. this is fun tow atch.
There is great truth to the old saying, “Engage brain before putting mouth in gear”. This may seem like a family feud, but when ESPN/ESPN.com picked it up this afternoon, it became a national joke. The thread, which was at 1185 comments a while ago (http://espn.go.com/newyork/conversations/_/id/7246291/columbia-lions-band-banned-home-football-finale), is hilarious, if not at all flattering to CU. Great recruiting tool. Terrific PR for the university. Not sure who’s more inept, the Athletic Department for its handling of the issue or the band for its great judgement in creating it in the first place. Oh well, good luck to the guys on Saturday.
if the football team didn’t represent such a large expenditure of the athletic department’s funds, we wouldn’t be as pissed by their shortcomings (and they are very short comings). but the fact that other athletic programs suffer the bitter consequences when sacrifices are made for the football team makes their failure as a team all the more infuriating.
You’re an idiot. The football team also brings in ten times as many donations from alumni. A lot of teams at Columbia exist because of the donations of ex football alumni.
Without Bill Campbell and Robert Kraft we would be nowhere. And without football those two would not have donated.
The only tragedy here is that the Band (perhaps wisely, but certainly disappointingly) kowtowed to the administration by resolving to ban the performance of “We Always Lose” — one of the funnier — and tamer — parodies of “Roar, Lion, Roar!” in the Band’s arsenal. Mean-spirited?? Never! Self-deprecating? Obviously! After all, the lyrics are not “YOU always lose!” Clearly the singer identifies with the player, expressing, in a way that is so blunt that it is funny (yes, I said FUNNY!), the same dispirited thoughts that were probably shared by every member of the Team after another disappointing loss. “We lost again. We must really suck. Oh, heck, let’s go have a drink.” Is that so evil? Was the parody sung as a taunt? Of course not! Nobody who even remotely understands the Band could think that!
“We Always Lose” is by no means a novelty — that one has been in the Band’s repertoire for years! Maybe decades! (possibly since the late 80s when CU had the distinction of breaking Northwestern’s record of most consecutive losses. I was there, at Princeton, (having traveled with the Band, of course) to witness that particular milestone, and I was there at Baker Field, a few years later (again, with the Band — where else?) to finally see the Lions win one for Alma Mater. You know what? We Always Lose, Lose, Lose is the unvarnished truth, and kudos to the band for confronting that truth with a grain of humor. We lost again. So what? We ALWAYS lose! ;o)
Listen-up, Sports Fans, and I’ll let you in on a little secret. Columbia does not have a very good football team. And there are many reasons for that — none of which have to do with the “heart” that the boys in baby blue bring to the game. The fact is — Columbia is, traditionally, one of the losingest schools in college football history. And yet, the CUMB has always been its biggest supporter. Perhaps they’re made for each other, because — heh — the Band sucks too! It is a group of musicians, semi-musicians, and even some non-musicians who try, in their own way, to support the team, and to make the games a little more enjoyable for the fans and for themselves. (And yes, sometimes they fail — sometimes their antics are not very funny, or even entertaining. But God Bless the Band for trying to be creative!) If “Columbia” gave a damn about athletics, they’d HAVE a better football team. If Columbia gave a damn about half-time shows, they’d have a better (or even a “real” marching band. The fact that Columbia has neither is simply a reflection of the fact that NEITHER ACTIVITY is particularly important to the administration — and, in with a few minor exceptions, never has been! To flourish under these conditions, the team, the band — and yes, the fans, need a tough hide and the ability to take a little self-deprecating humor.
Banning the Band from the final game of the season? How LAME! How PETTY! Grow up and learn to take a joke! (Or else do something constructive about winning a game or two in the future — and believe me, banning the Band is not going to get CU any closer to that goal line.
PS: Shame on Spec for its one-sided, stick-up-its-anal-orifice portrayal of this (non)incident.
You, madam/sir, are a lady/gentleman and a scholar.
69th comment
I was in the band when we got egged by the football team. Where was their punishment? Several bandies had their instruments broken by this act and had to pay for it out of their own pocket. Where was their punishment? We sang songs, we made jokes. Sometimes the jokes are bad, I get it. The band has done much worse than singing a song about the football team losing, and it has many songs about the football team losing. Of course the other songs are much funnier and I do think it was in bad form to sing a parody song in front of the team. But once again, it’s just a song. It’s not like the band threw eggs at the football team.
Mr. Simmons,
I applaud the work you’re doing; keep up the phenominal work for everyone’s sake!!!!
Based on the comment by “former bandie” and other people’s comments, it sounds like the football team does NOT appreciate the band’s antics. It sounds like they don’t feel the band is commiserating with them, but rather acts like a bunch of assholes. What is the point of the band then? To circle jerk in public?