University of Alabama updates

[chadinhsv]

Originally Posted by SpawnOfVulcan

Just a fun FYI as far as selectivity goes.

I was in the Million Dollar Band for 4 great years (2007 - 2011)... ok, maybe 2011 wasn't the best football season, but I digress...

When I arrived, the MDB was squarely focused on have the "400 outstanding men and women" on the field, everyone got in; which, I'll tell you presents plenty of challenges when it comes to marching, there's only so much room on the field. For years and years the # on the field was the focus. It may, yet, still be, but the MDB is becoming more selective. This year (27' football season) the band has received hundreds more applications than there are spaces (meaning they finally put a cap on the # of members), and they're actually taking skill into consideration when it comes to membership. LSU has done this for decades, and they are an outstanding band; though, their fans leave a lot to be desired... Needless to say, meeting the quality of a band like LSU is a higher bar than has been reached for, for a while.

Just for shits and gigs, ranked, the top 5 bands in the SEC are considered:

1) LSU
2) Alabama
3) Tennessee
4) Georgia
5) Auburn

I won't go into details about how we'd rank nationally... the Big Ten has a monopoly on great marching bands.

Do you mind going into the bold "Big Ten has a monopoly..." comment? I've always noticed that the difference physically between the students in the band for both conferences is stark to put it nicely. I think the MDB is great but I'd like to see a better halftime performance like they do at Ohio State ( I know it's not fair to compare to them).