Clint Lamb
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The University of Texas will not have its band performing against Baylor on Saturday. The dispute over “The Eyes of Texas” song looms large for the Longhorns, and now members of the band are refusing to play.
According to Andrew Zhang with The Daily Texan, an internal survey was conducted to see if band members would participate in the longstanding tradition. The results found that many would choose to skip the performance.
That development led to school band director Scott Hanna to issue a statement: “we do not have the necessary instrumentation, so we will not participate in Saturday’s game.”
The news of the decision isn’t shocking. The band hasn’t performed at any games this season due to COVID-19. Instead, the stadium has blared a recording of the song through loudspeakers.
It sounds like that will still be the case this week.
The controversy surrounding “The Eyes of Texas” began in the offseason and has continued into the fall. Many students, including some Texas athletes, actively tried to convince the university to stop using the song, due to alleged racial undertones.
The conversation became even more heated when Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger was the only player participating in the tradition following the loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry.
Sam Ehlinger calls this picture of him standing alone for The Eyes of Texas “a little bit of a misunderstanding.”
Says he stayed on the field much longer than normal talking to Oklahoma coaches and players, and added that Ta’Quon Graham was there waiting for him in the tunnel. pic.twitter.com/B61mhEQLSA
— Jake García (@Jake_M_Garcia) October 20, 2020
We will see where this story goes from here.
Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.
If college kids are pushing for something, you can be sure that it’s NOT GOOD.
Shameful. Simply shameful.
Wokeness F’s up everything it touches, including college sports. The reason is it’s a beast that’s never satiated. It is always looking for the next outrage…whether it was something that happened today or 200 years ago. JV football beware…they’re coming for ya.
Revoke the scholarships of the non-participants. Remove the any other abstainers from the band. Recruit new members. Why is this difficult?
Does anyone LEAD anymore?
Exactly. They are getting a free education to play in a marching band. If they refuse their required duties as member of the marching band, revoke their scholarship. Until people in power stop cowering in fear to Northern California algorithms and small but loud percentage of people that live and die by them, and take control of that which they have been charged to control, we are doomed.
A handful of mentally ill losers on Twitter should no longer strike fear into anyone. Time to cancel their influence.
C’mon, Texas, apparently not everything is actually bigger there.
It is my understanding as a Texas Ex that the school doesn’t give scholarships to play in the band. But at any rate, if you’re going to be in the band, playing the song is part of the deal. Nobody had an issue with this song until the last year. Which tells you how dumb this controversy is. If your standard is that the song is bad because of the time and place of its origins, then how can you be in the band since it is once segregated, and the uniform style they have has stayed the same since those times?
The horn sign should be banned next. Always has been kind of a dog whistle for white, neo-nazi cattle herders. God what a great era we are living in.
Also Satanic, if you think about it.
That’s the generation growing up America is in deep deep trouble and this is Texas albeit liberal Austin
The killing of unarmed black men was suddenly halted by the removal of the antique Texas fight song during football games. Who knew?
Start stripping scholarships from students unwilling to perform. (If the band hasn’t been performing anyway due to COVID, it looks like the perfect time to send a message.)
Blame the weak college administrations, blame the woke student population, but in this case I wouldn’t blame the student band members. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of marching band members are not there on scholarship and it is essentially a volunteer activity for fun.
Even if 100% of the band members had no problem with the song, I can’t imagine that they want to be stuck in the middle of a political debate when they really just want to play at the game and party afterwards.
Just bend the knee to extremism so I can get crunk! What a great mindset.
If they are not on scholarship, that makes it even easier to replace them. “Volunteers” do not get to set the terms of their service.
Or, just fire the band altogether. West Virginia has no problem singing “Country Roads” with or without the band leading them.
The Eyes wasn’t “racist” until 15 minutes ago, now it suddenly is. The “history of now” as one respected commentator calls it. Those protesting the song, once a great source of pride and unity at UT, are completely ignorant of its provenance. Multiple generations of family have attended UT so I was raised as a rabid Orangeblood. Attended multiple Texas – OU games in the 90s and I still get chills recalling the singing of The Eyes after a last second victory in 1990. What is going on is truly sad. Wokeness and revisionist history area killing this country.
Just do away with the band. When they play everyone is at the concessions, drunk taking a dump or headed home.
does anyone really give a rats ass about the band. the show must go on (the game).
Then deep six the traitorous liberal rectal lice who refuse to play and get other musicians.
ooh i like that idea shit can the band do it they won’t but do it
Dissolve the band and remove all scholarships. Hook ‘em