Cal Band: ‘That band smells,’ other controversies
As Big Game Week sponsored by Axe Deodorant continues, we find that the Stanford band members are up to their old hijinks. The LSJUMB created a stir Saturday by poking fun at USC alum and Girls Gone Wild mogul Joe Francis during the halftime show, and some say that was piling on more than the famed 2-point conversion.
But really, this doesn’t even rank amongst the top band controversies in history. The announcer said “it takes a special kind of man to be wanted for sexual harassment, drug trafficking, tax evasion, prostitution, child abuse and disruptive flatulence.” And USC fans booed. Which begs the question: USC fans, why are you supporting this guy? Tucker Max went to Duke but good luck finding a Blue Devil who would support him in a “Tucker Max: Douche or misunderstood?” argument.
The Stanford band controversies are famous and infamous. If you don’t know the ways of the Band That Once Was on the Field, click here. But we’re going to turn Big Game Week all inside-out by taking a look at some of the Cal Band’s biggest controversies. Who needs the LSJUMB? It’s all about the UCB.
As you will see, the Cal Band is far more controversial. So put on your tasseled shoulder pads and high step on through this roundup.
The Rose Bowl Fiasco: “That band smells”
Everything you know about the current Cal Band was birthed from the fire and pain of humiliating embarrassment. In 1950. At the Rose Bowl that year, Cal’s lackadaisical band watched Ohio State’s triumphant marchers high-step around the field, march in time, blare Rogers and Hammerstein, and dot … the … i. Cal’s band was blown off the field, newspapers opined about the embarrassment, school president Robert Sproul said “That band smells” and director Charles Cushing resigned under protest. The band immediately started high-stepping in snazzy Big-Ten-like uniforms and doing the script “Cal.” The band has been looking like everybody else great ever since.
Sons of … Berkeley?
UCLA’s fight song “Sons of Westwood” is actually Cal’s fight song “Big C.” No, seriously, take a listen here and here. Former UCLA associate band director Kelley James wrote an arrangement of “Big C” for a combined event with the UCLA, Cal and UC Davis bands. Then the Bruins just kind of took the song back and adopted it with some lyrics about Pacific shores and bears roaring, and Westwood, to make it actually unique. This enrages Cal fans, who often shout “But damn you, it’s ‘Big C’” at the end of “Sons of Westwood” during games.
The video game halftime show
Come on, nobody ever gets that many good Tetris pieces in a row. Actually, this is pretty sweet and we just wanted to post it.
Invasion of the women
Cal, imitating Ohio State ’til death, was one of the last two bands in the land to add women, along with the Buckeyes. And that was only because Title IX forced them to. So in 1973 the Cal band struck “all-male” from the charter and admitted some man-women. Of the first group of women, one was a basketball player and another was a basketball player and shot putter. How did she find time to play in the band?
And this
Of course. The :43 mark.
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By Peter on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 7:52 am.
Tags: Cal Golden Bears, Stanford Cardinal