A band member emailed today regarding the fact the band is no longer allowed to play at UCLA. With their permission, I felt it was worth everyone reading.

Dear Mr. Wolf,

I read your blog post “Band Ban” just now and I can’t believe what UCLA is doing to the Trojan Marching Band and the rivalry. I was at the women’s basketball game at Pauley this year. We were expressly warned to be on our best behavior at that game. When we got to Pauley, we were seated in the very top corner section (where they turn the lights off once the game starts). The stadium was full of little kids (similar to what they do at Galen Center to get big crowds for the women’s USC-UCLA game). We had NO contact with any UCLA fans. In fact, all we did was give “fight on” signs to the little kids that were walking past where we were playing. We won the game (one of the lowest scoring, most anti-climactic games I’ve ever seen). We waited for the arena to clear out. We left. Trust me, if anything remotely serious happened, I would have seen it. This is totally fabricated.

One of my friends subsequently told me they might be talking about something that happened in San Jose at the women’s Pac-10 tournament where a UCLA mouthpiece disappeared and then reappeared. If this is what they’re referring to, is this really grounds to ban us from all future UCLA sporting events?

Speaking of incidents involving the TMB and UCLA, at the football game this year there was a UCLA booster/former player/coach (we never found out who he was, but he had sideline privileges) who refused to move off the sideline even once the band’s pregame show had started and he was literally standing in our ranks. A band member warned the guy to move, because if he didn’t, he would probably get hit by an instrument of someone trying to get on the field. The guy
didn’t move and the band members instrument hit him as he was marching out.
He took the instrument and bent it, which destroyed it. The band member spent three quarters of the game trying to defend himself to DPS.

You don’t have to tell me the TMB has a reputation for mischief and trouble-making, but in these particular instances I just want the facts to get out. Thank you.