Navy finished a great season yesterday with a dramatic and unquestioned win over Missouri in the Texas Bowl, beating the Tigers 35-13. Not only was Navy's triple option offense too much for Missouri to handle, but their defense came through repeatedly, especially in the red zone. And Navy quarterback, Ricky Dobbs, despite two turnovers, went on to pass for 130 yards and run for 166. He also made four of Navy's five touchdowns. Here's a recap: Navy Victory in Texas Bowl. As a USNA alum (class of 1967) I was especially proud of these disciplined, intelligent young men.The only disappointment was the attitude of Missouri's players and band after their loss. I have never seen a Navy opponent act this way: for the first time I can recall, an opponent, in this instance the Missouri team, left the field before and during the playing of Navy's alma mater, "Navy Blue and Gold." And the Missouri band played at the same time trying to drown out Navy's band. Disgraceful, and an insult to these young men and women who will soon place their lives on the line for their country. And an insult to Navy's alumni who have done so in the past. Ah, well, it's just one more example of the ever growing incivility and barbarous behavior of some of our citizens who should know better.
Blessings and happiness for the new year...and Beat Army!
Without a doubt, the Missouri band showed disrespectful behavior. Navy fans were disappointed and Missouri fans, which had already left should be embarrassed.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely true. I have searched the web looking for an official response or apology for that. I saw two band members walking over after it happened to the Navy side, seemingly to apologize...hoping that perhaps playing the teams off was a tradition of theirs and they just "didn't get the memo" about how seriously we take Blue & Gold being sung. I still hope it wasn't done on purpose...
ReplyDeleteYou have to play against MU consistently to understand them. What you saw is typical MU disrespect for an opponent.
ReplyDeletewhat do you expect from that tiger team?
ReplyDeleteA simple show of respect is all. I guess it was just too much to ask. Shame on you MU band!
ReplyDeleteMissouri band traditions: Play "Fight Tiger." SING the Alma Mater (band was on the jumbotron, obviously completing our traditions), then play "Every True Son" and "Fight Tiger." There was no disrespect meant to the Navy. There is absolutely no communication between the two bands; the Texas Bowl officials are the only people with whom the drum majors communicate; they were the ones who told Navy to start playing, even though it was agreed upon that the losing team's band gets to celebrate its traditions first. The Navy interrupted our traditions, unintentionally. The band director has sent an apology, even though it was not his fault, or really anyone's fault. You can see this apology if you look at the comments on the letter at ColumbiaMissourian.com. Please get the facts correct before posting things like this.
ReplyDeleteClick on the link below and read the comments and you'll see no disrespect was intended at all.
ReplyDeleteBand mixup
I can assure you that absolutely no disrespect was meant from Marching Mizzou. There was a miscommunication on the timing of both bands' post-game traditions, and an overlap happened. If this had been a non-military school, there wouldn't be a huge hullabaloo over some band overlap. Mizzou band members played with the Navy band at halftime, and over the course of the bowl preparation the two bands mingled and friendships were made. I do not appreciate the dismissal of the Missouri team, band, and fans as stereotypically disrespectful people. Fans will do as they please, but the band follows directions from its director, who receives them from the Athletic Department and bowl officials. Somewhere along the line on Thursday, some information was miscommunicated, but that doesn't mean that Mizzou fans (the most ardent of which just may be the band members themselves) hold anything against the Navy band, team, or fans.
ReplyDeleteyou all are wrong...
ReplyDeleteBoth Missouri and Navy have traditions. No one at this game meant any disrespect in anyway. It is appalling that people believe so negativeling in this incident. It was a simple communication error. Plain and Simple...now stop being so rude.
Hey there,
ReplyDeleteDon't know what kind of people post on this site, so I don't know if my comments will make a difference. However, I would like to clear up some misunderstandings about the MU Band.
It was actually the networks who were disrespectful to both MU and Navy in this situation. It had been predetermined by the TV stations and the Texas bowl officials that the losing team would play all of their traditional fight songs, and then the winning team would follow. MU's traditional end-of-game performance is a little lenghty, and while they were playing/singing, the network decided that they couldn't wait that long to get the awards ceremony on with, so they told Navy to start playing or "else" basically (told them that their songs would not get shown on TV). The Navy band was aware that the Mizzou band was still singing/playing, but had to do what the TV network cameramen told them.
Mizzou as a band would never intentionally disrespect the Navy or their band. The band actually contains multiple ROTC members from all branches of the armed forces and many members who have military families as well. In addition, the Mizzou band met the Navy band the day before the game, and befriended and hung out with many of them. There is no bad blood or sportsmanship between either team's spirit squads.
The two members walking to the other side after the game were not walking over to apologize. They are members of a band fraternal organization known as Kappa Kappa Psi, and it is their specific tradition to meet with Kappas from other teams after the game.
The MU band meant no disrespect at all. Those of them who knew what was going on felt pretty dismayed that the Navy band was forced to play at the same time as Mizzou, but understood it was the fault of the television networks involved and the Texas bowl officials. Stuff like this happens more than you know, and is disrespect for tradition by all TV stations and press-people involved.
All of the Mizzou band is sorry that it happened that way, and hurt and confused that so many people are negatively commenting on the situation and jumping to the conclusion that the band was being rude. Once again and finally, many if not most of them come from heart-of-America families that have contributed many sons and daughters to the armed forces. Marching Mizzou is held to an extremely high standard of behavior, and hopefully the comments I have posted here make some aware of the truth of the situation.
OK, thanks to all who commented on my post. And thanks to the Mizzou fans for the information. In light of this new info, I've posted some brief comments:
ReplyDeletehttp://beingisgood.blogspot.com/2010/01/texas-bowl-revisited.html
That's enough, sports fans; no more comments on this subject will be posted. The folks in the Mizzou band have convinced me that no disrespect was intended and I fully accept it.
ReplyDeleteAnd for those of you foaming at the mouth over your team's rivalry with Missouri, please make an effort to get a life. It's only a football game. There are much more important things on which to expend your time and effort...like your salvation.
God love you all and have a happy and blessed 2010.
Oh, and while your Big 12 games may be essentially meaningless, there is one game that is critical to the continued continued smooth functioning of the cosmos...Go Navy, Beat Army!
I was there and it was a great crowd on both parts....their are classless KU fan's on here stirring it up as usual.
ReplyDeleteThe MU Crowd gave numerous standing ovations during commercials when American Heros from Navy were being introduced. The crowds also were mixed and we had a great time with the Navy folks sitting by us. It is sad when a logistical problem is completely blown out of context and posts are made inferring poor fan behavior.
I congratulate Navy on their very impressive win over our team and suggest those reading and posting on these blogs consider the classless behavior by the KU Fan base which has posted this link on their sports site and encouraging folks to insult the great classy Missouri fans. It was a great Bowl experience and being exposed to the Navy traditions was very educational.
I agree it is time to move on....however, the Mizzou football team and all their fans left right after the game was over....so who was the band playing for? Anyway, who plays their fight song, then their school song and then their fight song again? That sounds fishy to me.
ReplyDelete