Regardless of your opinion of the marching ability of the Texas A&M band on Saturday, there are a few things that everyone in the stadium should have noticed and — at least ISU fans — should have been upset about.

Their band’s behavior was rude and unsportsmanlike by playing through the introduction of our starting lineup and many other announcements during the game.

The entire band also chanted “Beat the hell out of Iowa State” on many occasions throughout the night (including the last few minutes of the game).

That shows an unbelievable lack of class. Poor sportsmanship aside, the band also broke that little rule about the band not playing while the ball is in play — the same one Iowa State’s band pays careful attention to so as to not have a penalty called on the team. Their band not only seemed to be unconcerned about running their song into game time, they actually started songs right before the ball was snapped.

Why the officials didn’t feel the need to do anything about this I have no idea, but I don’t think our athletic department should stand for behavior like this.

It is bad enough that we have to have a visiting band during our Homecoming (one wonders if the birthday celebration for Cy would have been more interesting if there had not been so much else going on during halftime), but to have that visiting band display such bad behavior on top of it is truly insulting.

Tami Ryan

Alumni Association Member

Program Assistant

Community and Regional Planning