Personal Foul: Columbia University’s Band Taunts Football Team

The Columbia University football team, by all estimations, isn’t very good. Going into the weekend the Lions were 0-9 overall and 0-6 in the Ivy League.

So after a 62-41 loss at Cornell on Nov. 12, the school’s marching band decided to have a little fun. No matter the outcome of the game, the band plays the school’s fight song at its conclusion. But this time, the lyrics were altered a bit, poking fun at the team’s inability to win.

The greatest idea in the world? No – it’s not usually a good idea to piss on the leg of your fellow classmates – but worse has been done, especially by marching bands (I’m looking at you, Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band).

So what did the school do about this?

Banned the band from this Saturday’s season finale, of course.

Well, originally. The band was reinstated and performed during the Brown game. This change-of-heart occurred after a) the school realized it was trampling on the First Amendment and b) it was the dumbest decision ever.

Again, the band probably shouldn’t have done what it did. But is this where we are as a society when it comes to collegiate sports? If you don’t blindly bow down and worship your team and ignore the obvious – that they suck – you get the boot?

College sports are like a cult. We’ve learned that all too painfully over the past two weeks. The passion can be good, sure, but it can also be bad. This is one of those cases. It’s great to be a fan, or in the band’s case, part of the team. It’s also OK to acknowledge facts.

Oh bye the way, Columbia beat Cornell 35-28 in double overtime, only to fire its coach right after.