Sending Princeton’s marching band to do a halftime show at The Citadel was probably a bad idea from the start: the Princeton band is known for their irreverent performances (like the Stanford Marching Band, but less organized), and the Citadel’s cadets don’t have a reputation for having the best sense of humor. So should we be shocked from a report by THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN that it turned into a fiasco? Everything from the band getting into the stadium to the halftime show was a mess, leaving the Princeton band feeling bullied and the Citadel cadets feeling disrespected.
The fun started when the band tried to march into campus through a guarded entrance (with, they say, prior approval). Apparently, some of the cadets doing Field Day exercises didn’t get that memo. The Princeton band said that some members were attacked, and another had his instrument broken. And there’s nothing more savage than attacking a defenseless, innocent French horn. It was an ugly Red State vs. Blue State battle come to life:
“The booing was so loud, [and] the cadets who were on the field were yelling at us, ‘Cut your hair, long-haired faggots’ and ‘You go have fun in college, I’ll go fight the war,’ ” he said.
The cadets also stole band members’ hats and spit on female members of the band, some members said.
The Princeton band’s halftime show didn’t help matters, either. Even though it had been cleared (and censored) by the Citadel’s officials, the cadets didn’t take too kindly to the sight of band members dry humping each other and (apparently) Santa Claus while the band’s PA announcer made comparisons between the two schools:
Columnist Ken Burger of the CHARLESTON POST AND COURIER has an opposing viewpoint on the matter. Yes, it’s probably not a great idea for the student body to harass and beat up opposing team’s bands, but how dare they comes into the Citadel and date to march too close to the Field Day exercises!?! Punish the cadets for acting like thugs? What are you, some sort of Commie?
When asked about the incidents, Citadel spokesman Jeff Perez said of the cadets’ halftime behavior, “We hold them to a higher standard. We will speak to them about the booing.”
Heck, instead of a tongue lashing, the entire Corps of Cadets should be given a medal for standing up for their school.
I’m no military expert, but I don’t think the Marines give out medals in “Advanced Hippie Bashing” - I think they dropped that medal in the early 1970s and replaced it with “Home Economics.” But I would like to gently remind the cadets that maybe it’s not such a great idea to anger the future policy wonks of tomorrow who will be deciding on whether to deploy you to some unknown foreign country in 20 years.
5:14 pm on September 22nd, 2008
“You go have fun in college, I’ll go fight the war”
The same cadet was later quoted as saying, “You go have fun eating your ice cream; I’ll go eat some gravel.”
5:34 pm on September 22nd, 2008
“Advanced Hippie Bashing” - I think they dropped that medal in the early 1970s and replaced it with “Home Economics.”
Wars prior to 1970 and Home Econ:
Revolutionary War - Victory
War of 1812 - Victory… kind of.
Mexican-American War - Victory
Civil War - Victory
Spanish American War - Victory
WWI - Victory
WWII - Victory
Korea - Victory… kind of.
Post removal of “Hippie Bashing 101″:
Vietnam War - Disgraceful Withdrawl
Gulf War 1 - Victory
Gulf War 2 - See “Vietnam War”
5:35 pm on September 22nd, 2008
Scott of the Antarctic: “You have fun drinking your hot chocolate, I’ll go try and find the South Pole.”
5:37 pm on September 22nd, 2008
The best part about the go fight the war comment is half the people that go to the citadel dont even go in the military. Youre not required to be a commisioned officer when you graduate from there, msot stay in the state and enjoy being “citadel alums.” but who cares way to crush those hippies! haha
5:40 pm on September 22nd, 2008
Re-Peat:
“We did not lose Vietnam! It was a tie!”
“I’m tellin’ ya, they kicked some ass there. Boy, they whupped
your hide real good!”
6:02 pm on September 22nd, 2008
Looks like the Citadel had a nice sellout crowd.
6:44 pm on September 22nd, 2008
It wasn’t a tie, the military objectives (as vague as they were) were certainly lost.
Anyways, this is a sports discussion, let’s focus on the issue at hand:
Marching bands deserved to be harassed.
There. I said it.
7:52 pm on September 22nd, 2008
I understand Duty, Honor, Country doesn’t mean much to the Princeton type. But, the street they were disgracing was the Avenue of Remembrance. Which honors all the alumni who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
All the Cadets were doing were trying to stop their march down that street. Heck the Knobs aren’t even allowed to walk that street till they are sophomores. So you can see this total disrespect to the Citadel, the Corp and their fallen didn’t sit well with the Cadets.
Princeton and their Band are real classless act.
8:04 pm on September 22nd, 2008
How were they disgracing it? They had received permission to march through their on the way to the stadium? I still haven’t heard anything about how this was “disgraceful”.
8:15 pm on September 22nd, 2008
They were already at the stadium,then march down to the college to disrespect them.
9:08 pm on September 22nd, 2008
No more disgraceful than when I got road head from a black girl (wasn’t so good) while driving on the Jefferson Davis Highway just outside of Richmond.
12:18 am on September 23rd, 2008
who won the war? i mean, GAME? these are sad days when antics of wandering minstrels can displace the importance of gladatorial combat on the gridiron.
for shame, sirs.
1:15 am on September 23rd, 2008
Citadel 34, Princeton 27:
http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=46859&SPID=4263&DB_OEM_ID=10600&ATCLID=1586472
1:19 am on September 23rd, 2008
I spent some quality time in Chalston for a couple summers, and was smart enough to avoid The Citadel like the plague.
And apparently, for good reason.
2:53 pm on September 23rd, 2008
Everyone involved with the Citadel is a knucklehead. My folks live there, and I had to go to McAllister Field House (I think that's the name) for a graduation. What a bunch of pricks.
3:24 pm on September 23rd, 2008
Seriously though, you'd think that since it was Princeton, who has some history of being smart, they'd have thought not to march through the campus of a military school.
Just about everyone who knows anything about The Citadel knows about the Avenue of Remebrance. Even if they had no respect for The Citadel itself, they should at least have repect for that that particular avenue stands for. Show some repect for the people who died defending their country.
If they were going to walk through the campus, they would have been better off walking in front of the barracks, and I think most people with half a brain, upon seeing about 2000 members of the Corps of Cadets out on the parade field (they were having field day no less which involves wrestling and boxing without the added hassle of equipment) they should have had the sense to turn around and walk back out.
Either way, I can't see anyone from The Citadel giving a band permission to walk down that particular avenue. It just measn too much to everyone associated with the school. All in all, though the cadets may have acted a bit harshly, Princeton's band showed no class and even less common sense.
11:59 pm on September 23rd, 2008
Ask anyone in charleston, cadets are some of the most respectfull and polite people. We just know, as should everyone else, in order to get respect you have to give it. We did not feel like they gave us respect. So maybe a few cadets took it a little too far. Should the whole Corps have to be labeled as barbaric and suffer for a few people's actions. The people that stoped the cadets from fighting the band were other cadets.
8:17 pm on September 24th, 2008
I think the Princeton Band should be investigated for Hate Crimes.
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