Chip Bayers
Professor
Posts: 7001
Loc: New York
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-12-18 03:06 PM - Post#252468
Those of us there agree that yesterday we saw The Palestra at its best during the Penn-Harvard game, with the last few minutes of each half matching any great moment we can cite from the past, recent or distant.
Why is it the best? Because it has acoustics uniquely suited to shaping and amplifying the sound generated organically by people. People yelling. People clapping. People screaming. People banging on drums. People blowing horns. People singing.
Much of that was captured on television. What wasn't captured, thank god, was how the injection of recorded music during timeouts did nothing but destroy the Palestra's unique organic qualities. It utterly overwhelmed the rhythms of the crowd buzz, actually dampening it so much in several situations that you thought it was intentional.
The selection of tracks, on the other hand, didn't seem intentional at all, since none of them were cued to respond to events on the court or to activity in the crowd.
Meanwhile, despite the fact that the league had PAID to bring the student musicians from all the participating schools' bands to Philadelphia, they barely played their instruments at all. Instead, they were forced to sit on their hands during the bulk of the timeouts. (There was even a sadly hilarious moment when they announced the "Palestra Dance Contest" during one of the timeouts, and the only people who got on their feet were some of the Harvard & Penn Band kids.)
This exercise reached its nadir after the final buzzer, when Robin Harris and the Ivy League - along with their outside marketing agency and its DJ - decided at a whim it was time to end decades upon decades of Ivy League tradition, tradition which has tied together generations at the end of countless football and basketball games, and actually prevent the bands from playing their traditional songs. No "Fair Harvard." No "Red and Blue." Instead: EDM.
Eventually the Penn Band did get to do the latter, but only after the net cutting and the picture taking and after most of the crowd had left.
Shameful. Utterly shameful.
Edited by Chip Bayers on 03-12-18 03:30 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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Quakers03
Professor
Posts: 12530
Reg: 12-07-04
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03-12-18 03:09 PM - Post#252470
In response to Chip Bayers
It was blatantly obvious how much this was missed during timeouts on Saturday. I'd love to know what they thought they'd be getting out of the canned music and telling bands to be quiet. We didn't even get to sing fly eagles fly in the faces of those Boston losers.
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10Q
Professor
Posts: 23360
Loc: Suburban Philly
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Let The Palestra Be The Palestra
03-12-18 03:13 PM - Post#252473
In response to Chip Bayers
Agreed. The canned music was painful.
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weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts: 2137
Age: 64
Loc: New York City
Reg: 12-14-09
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Re: Let The Palestra Be The Palestra
03-12-18 03:19 PM - Post#252476
In response to 10Q
Agreed. The canned music was painful.
I agree, too. I was trying to discuss the game with my friends during the timeouts, and the canned music was just overwhelming. I have to give credit to the teams and their coaches that they were able to hear each other well enough to focus and follow adjustments and play calls.
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Streamers
Professor
Posts: 8219
Loc: NW Philadelphia
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-12-18 05:12 PM - Post#252529
In response to weinhauers_ghost
We have been complaining about the music all year. It is s disgrace. We need to make this point with everyone we know who has contacts within the Athletic Dept.
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Chip Bayers
Professor
Posts: 7001
Loc: New York
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Let The Palestra Be The Palestra
03-12-18 05:26 PM - Post#252533
In response to Chip Bayers
The selection of tracks, on the other hand, didn't seem intentional at all, since none of them were cued to respond to events on the court or to activity in the crowd.
Just re-watched the end of the game, and heard one of the more egregious examples of this: Caleb Wood’s second three - and foul - on which Penn re-took the lead for good, with the foul call inducing a media timeout. Exactly a moment when the Penn Band should have been launching into “Fight On, Pennsylvania†and the crowd should have been revving even higher.
Instead we hear ... the DJ playing Pharrell Williams’s “Happy.†Because what the moment really needed was some seratonin to counteract all that adrenaline coursing through the crowd.
Proof that you can never overestimate the idiocy of a marketing consultant.
Edited by Chip Bayers on 03-12-18 05:30 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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