My husband and I are both graduates of the University and have a daughter who is a fourth year. It’s been fun to attend the football games in spite of the team’s losing record. However, we have noticed the slim crowds! Even though a winning record might do more to get the stands filled, I believe that another way to significantly boost attendance is to bring back the Pep Band. For current students who are too young to remember, the Pep Band was a major draw to every football game. The band, although musically excellent, was basically a parody of the traditional college marching band. It was a politically incorrect organization that spared no one with its irreverent commentary, including U.Va. itself. I liken the band’s satire to the kind aired on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report.
I urge the University to bring back the band. Alumni would return in droves to the games and the students would love it. Even if the team were losing, the band would give EVERYONE something to talk about it.
Jody Canoles Benedict
Class of ‘78
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