80mins

Agreed with no NC school leaving the ACC, though I could see State if any (and only for the sake of argument, cuz that's not happening either) to distance themselves from being the red-headed stepchild of the Triangle.

I don't forsee anyone coming for just football. one-sport conference affiliations are usually when the original conference either does not field the sport in question or does not field it at the level of the rest of the conference (as with the BE schools with IAA football). As far as fit, the schools that I believe would make the most sense are those in locations that would bridge the gap between us and our closest foe in Louisville. This leaves us largely the ACC and SEC, neither of whom I see budging, a few C-USA teams (ECU, UCF, Memphis), Sun Belt's Middle Tennesee ( : ) or someone making the IAA-IA jump. I say we're fine where we are, unless we can lure ND, who would be fools to join.

I think the "big picture" with regards to the Bowl game is quite clear. You likely interpreted that as "Band's the only thing that matters, why do they even play football?" Which would be the statement of a blind, out of touch with reality band geek (the adjectives clarify band geek, not define it). In reality, there were only a few things from our side of things at the bowl game worthy of merit: Our defense, our fans, and our band. Our offense (and thus, our team's showing as a whole) was not.

While the Toronto Bowl sucks for us, it's certainly a real possibility for most of the rest of the football playing BE, especially as a BE/MAC matchup. I'd actually love to see a BE/Big ElevTen matchup since they are itching to do the northeast (essentially)/midwest with the Toronto bowl, which would keep us with a matchup against a BCS conference. Of course the B10 is pretty maxed out with bowls, unless they swapped one out or made Toronto a B10 with a MAC option if B10 doesn't have the eligible teams to fill it. As for cleaving off the football teams into a conference, I don't see it happening. Half of the BE spends the fall biding their time until basketball begins anyway, and half of the football half still knows that basketball is what their real cash cow is. I really don't see the entire football portion seceeding from the Union.

Because a) people keep contributing--yourself included--and for the most part it's been good discussion on both sides most of us care about multiple aspects of this University.

I love how in the demonstration of what NOT to do (changing the colors) they use Gators colors

Point of order--no marching band a Quinnibiatch. And they're pep band's wack too. (sorry, former NEC membership flaring up)

The USF with the drop S was actually the old institutional logo, and the "iron bull" as I believe I've heard it referred to (the diamond with the bull's head) was the old athletic logo. In the change that's being made, you're essentially switching the old institutional logo for the new athletic logo. The new institutional logo is the one that can be found in the upper left hand corner of usf.edu.

Agreed. I think this past SuperBull's "Branding of the Bulls" was the perfect name for something of that sort.

Spread the word here once it's set up.. I know BullsPenners have been known to donate in the past, and given the fact that we've ranted for 6 pages on this, I'm sure there are some with interest in how this thing resolves.

Excellent point--both the promise (which has been stated) and the plan of the University to transition from the old logo in 3 years' time, which won't be accomplished if the band uniforms still bear the old logo.

I think that an entity that allegedly has the backing of the Athletic and Music departments shouldn't need to do a bake sale to raise loose change. That being said, a fundraiser of some sort may be effective in showing folks how much the new uniforms mean to you. that being said, if you're stuck with the old logo, consider the fact that apart from being an old logo (HOT throwbacks?) it's a different logo, which, slowly but surely is becoming unique to the HOT. The old logo could become the HOT's signature logo, much like the W on Wisconsin's Badger Band uniforms, which is not the university athletic logo or, to my knowledge, used elsewhere throughout the institution

I would think that regardless of how you feel about our band and their place, role, and function on game day, you've got to agree that that would make us--not just the HOT but US as a university--look quite low-class.

Agreed on all counts. I graduated in May 2005 and was certainly a large critic of the HOT and I can honestly say the band I saw at the bowl game was leaps and bounds above the band I had last seen the previous football season.

Bulls Heaven's pockets, I'd wager.

And regarding the groundswell, I think you're absolutely right--yet it seems to me there isn't so much as a Facebook event or group up for it. Someone ought to get on that stat! (I'd do it, but it seems silly to me for me to start an event that I won't be present at myself.)

Good call, KL (insert disparaging comment about UCF here, just because it's par for the course ;-) ). I think the key is to make it the place to be and the thing to do. Get the cool kids excited about it, and others will follow. To those of y'all who are the cool kids, get out from in front of your computer and get to work!

Seems to me that the crux of this beef is that the uniforms were promised and there's no intent to deliver. I think the HOT members have a right to be mad and we have a right to be mad for them. Hell, we got mad when GoUSFBulls.com wasn't updated when we were told, why not this? And I don't necessarily think someone's gotta lose perspective to be a band geek/nerd/dork/whatever (though in some cases that's true); I think it simply means they're passionate about it. And hell, if we all aren't geeked about something, why are we still sucking air?

good question, I was hoping to see them the last two spring games... I'd love to see the spring game in general more of an event than it is.

RT, you cared enough to be slurping the Pride of the Southland (which, true enough, is a top-notch program) while giving no love to the home squad you're supposed to be repping on these boards.

That's ridiculous on multiple levels. The first being that, HOTPR mentioned, it's hundreds of our university's ambassadors--who, might I remind you are seen not only at halftime and in the stands, but segments thereof are all over the place in the school and the community--being seen in the old University logo while we are continuing an uphill battle to establish the iconic U as our new brand. Secondly, we speak often of the rise of our football team over the past 10 years, but rarely of that of the HOT in fewer, and particularly, in my opinion, the past year. Let's not forget that a unit affiliated wiht the HOT just brought home a bronze medal in inter/national competition. They are certainly a high caliber program, now in obselete, second-class uniforms. That being said, I understand it's a hefty price tag. And for the record, I'm not entirely in love with the new unis. But the bottom line is, don't make promises you can't keep.

Congrats, Guard!! In other news, I was poking around on the HOT site not long ago... no more IPT?

I can't speak too much for Tampa culture, but I can't say I put too much stock in that sort of argument. For instance, the same thing was said about Los Angeles, which is why the Rams and the Raiders never stayed in town. But USC and, to a lesser extent, UCLA still thrive.

We could get the uniforms in Leavitt grey. ;-)

Do we know if this year's spring game is going to be an event, not just a scrimmage? Any appearance by the HOT or the cheerleaders or Sun Dolls or anything?