Saturday, October 04, 2008

University of Wisconsin Marching Band Suspended for Bad Behavior

Usually when we hear about misbehavior involving college sports, it's the players who are getting into some kind of mischief. At the University of Wisconsin, however, the entire marching band that's gotten in trouble. Apparently the entire band has been suspended and will not be playing at halftime of Saturday's big prime-time, nationally televised matchup against Ohio State.

The Badgers Marching Band is facing accusations of "hazing, alcohol abuse, and sexual misconduct," according to reports. The University of Wisconsin announced Friday night that the band was suspended and would not be playing at the Big Ten game against Ohio State at Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium.

University officials seemed to indicate that the current allegations that led to the suspension were consistent with abuses that had the Badgers Marching Band placed on probation in 2006.

When was the last time you heard of a marching band beating out the football team in bad behavior? In high school, the marching band was made up of the uncool nerdy types. This is pretty odd. Since the problems with the band go back to at least 2006, looks like there's a musical shakeup coming in Madison.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I happened to be on the field of the Wisconsin/Michigan game last week in Ann Arbor. I was standing next to the Wisconsin band as thy marched onto the field. Their entrance cadence was the most foul mouthed chant I think I've ever heard. It included the description fo sexual acts and male and female body parts that I cannot mention in mixed company. It was INCREDIBLY inapproriate. I am not surprised they have been suspended. It was a poor reflection on the entire school!

Dave B said...

Daniel, thanks for the comment, that's very bizarre. It's hard to understand why the band would be behaving this way, especially since they'd been on probation for a couple of years.