Has the marching band been banned?

The marching band: A necessary and traditional piece of the college football puzzle. The marching band can set the stage for Saturday battles and provides the theme song for the home team, as well as most of the background music for the game, creating an atmosphere of drama, joyful victory, bitter defeat, or beats fo' gettin' down:

We all remember the glorious days of 2007, when the Dawgs rose from their own garnet and orange-stained ashes and fought their way through highly ranked rivals to end up in a blacked-out Sugar Bowl to put a whooping on an undefeated brosef (with a record).

Woah, dude! I'm glad you're on offense! Just kiddin', I'll be fine. LoL.

And those days were great indeed, as we all remember how Soulja Boy became a hit between the hedges, almost the theme song of the year. Remember how the marching band, like they should, took up the song too and played it for everyone?

Strangely, I can only remember the band playing that song once, maybe twice. Why? We all know that whenever that song was played in any form, our players would get into it, and the entire stadium would follow. At the Sugar Bowl that year, I remember throughout our entire destruction of the Rainbow Magic Fairy Warriors that we never heard our beloved Redcoats play that song. Why? Where is it?

I remember hearing rumors that they weren't allowed to play the song anymore, maybe because of the explicit (yet cryptic) lyrics in the song (even though the only thing the band or loudspeakers played was the music, not the words). Some said that UGA's president himself demanded that this song no longer be played. Others mentioned top ranking administrators in the athletic association, or even the band directors themselves, who decided not to play the song.

Then came 2008, where it soon became apparent that "Put on for My City" by Young Jeezy was the new song.

That video to me is pure bliss. But remember how we heard less and less of that song, and that celebration, throughout the season?

Now surely, that is due to the fact that the people in control of the sound at Sanford Stadium simply didn't play the song, for whatever reasons, whether they were told not to, or maybe they just didn't find too many bright moments to play it through the rest of 2008 at home.

But why didn't the band ever pick it up, even earlier in the season? I honestly don't remember hearing our marching band EVER play that song (at least at the home games), which truly befuddles me. Everyone was seeing the fun that erupted between the hedges whenever "our song of the year" started playing, yet nothing was done to make it happen at some times when we needed it most.

And this leads me to the worst part: the embarrassing loss to Georgia Tech.

Yes, what you saw above just now was Georgia Tech's marching band playing the aforementioned song. In celebration. In our stadium. After beating us.

In fact, as I recall, they played that damn song every five minutes during that game, as soon as they managed to claw their way past apathetic shoulder bumps back from a 16 point deficit to take the lead.

Now before some Tech fans get all uppity on me, I know that your band was playing that song earlier in the year. I think I first saw them playing it on TV against Miami, the week before the game at UGA. When I saw it then, too, I thought, "Hey, Tech's band is playing our song. Why hasn't our band played our song? Is it really that hard to learn?"

I know it wasn't really "our song," but we understandably felt that way.

So let me conclude here:

It was pretty sad to be sitting there in Sanford Stadium, watching Tech's band play "our song" and their players dancing to it, while everyone in red and black in the stands just sat there. Even when we were up by 16 points and everyone, including most Tech fans, thought the game was over, I didn't see too much celebration on our sideline, and maybe that's what partly led to the lack of effort in the third quarter. I honestly think, as silly as it sound, that sometimes that music that we play in the stadium really gets everyone excited. It gets the players hyped up, the fans hyped up, and the whole stadium goes crazy. Needless to say, when the atmosphere is like that, it's much easier to for the players, especially the defense, to play with more energy.

Now, I don't know why the sound people at Sanford didn't play the song either, but I can't really reach them as easily. So my question is: Where was the band in all of this?

Why didn't our Redcoats learn this song at the beginning of the season, as soon as it became apparent how big it was, and then use it appropriately to hype up the stadium and the players? I'm sure that our guys could have done a much better job playing the song than the Tech band too (not to mention our players are SURELY better dancers).

Now let me by making it clear that I am not trying to condemn the marching band here. We all love the Redcoats, know how necessary they are to Georgia tradition, and to making the excitement happen on Saturdays between the hedges. I've even got some friends in the Redcoats currently, and I'll be sure to send them this question as well.

But where were the Redcoats last year? Were they not allowed to play that song? If they were, why didn't they?
I just want to figure this out, and the long offseason seems like a good time to bring up such a strange topic.

But I truly believe that the Redcoats can make a difference in the stadium atmosphere, and thus the game being played. So any Redcoats out there, or those who have inside information, please get back to me on this one. I know that we all love to hear the band play, and we especially want to hear new and fun stuff that gets everyone excited, along with of course the classics that we need.

PS: If it turns out that the Redcoats did play this song, and played it frequently, including during the Tech game, and it turns out that I am deaf or stupid, then please ignore this entire post.

PPS: If anyone has any idea why Blogger is shrinking my photos down to thumbnail size, please let me know. The pictures are small enough in size to fit the middle column, but it still keeps shrinking them. Hooray.