Although the attendance at Saturday's Penn-Bucknell football game was lower than usual because of fall break, the atmosphere was spiced up by a visit from the University of Virginia's pep band.
This was more than just a Constitution-inspired jam session, however. Like Penn, Virginia's band is a "scramble band" instead of a more traditional precision marching band.
But after some provocative halftime shows over the last few years that led to an icy relationship with the Cavalier Athletic Department, the Virginia band lost its official sanctioning. The University -- with funding from some prominent alumni -- has since started a new band and kicked the old one out of all official athletic events.
So the famously orange-vested troupe decided to reach out to its fellow scramble bands for help, and it came to the Ivy League.
According to Penn Band Assistant Director Kushol Gupta, the two schools started talking as a result of Virginia band alumnus Ed Hardy, who recently moved to Philadelphia.
Hardy "e-mailed us during the summer and said, 'Hey, can I come by and play with you guys?'" Gupta said. "He came into our recruiting meeting, our first rehearsal, and then he proposed the idea: 'Hey, let's do a joint halftime show.'"
So the Virginia band, which was also on fall break, hit the road and came to Penn. And the message sent by the halftime formations was loud and clear.
The first piece had the two bands standing in separate groups side by side, with the Penn band in a square block and the Virginia band in what Gupta called "an amorphous blob," representing the ideology of scramble bands. Each group performed a rendition of Darth Vader's theme song from Star Wars, then assembled together in the shape of a tree -- in this case, a money tree.
It was "a joke about the donation made to UVA to get rid of this band," Gupta said.
After that, the bands assembled in a formation which changed from the word "untie" to "unite," and finished with a "UVA" formation for the Cavalier fight song and "R&B;" for the Red and Blue.
The Virginia scramble band lost its sanctioning in January, when its performance at halftime of the Continental Tire Bowl, which pitted the Cavaliers against West Virginia University, portrayed West Virginians in a way which their governor, Bob Wise, did not appreciate. He demanded a formal apology from University of Virginia President John T. Casteen.
With the performance and subsequent apology came negative press about the scramble band -- and a $1.5 million grant from former Cavaliers football player Carl Smith. The grant provided the money to start a traditional "marching band." But since then, there has been a bit of a cooling-off in Charlottesville, Va., and the scramble band may be on the verge of regaining its official sanctioning.
"We're negotiating with the new marching band administration," Virginia Band Director Scott Hayes said. "It's looking like we may be able to gain some sports back -- just baby steps, maybe."
And there is little doubt that the inhabitants of Benjamin Franklin's University will be ready to help those of Thomas Jefferson's, should the occasion come again.
