Photo by Robert Beyers
Contrary to false reports from mainstream press, including MSNBC, the Orlando Sentinel, the San Francisco Chronicle and Yahoo, the Stanford marching band was not banned from performing a halftime show at the Discover Orange Bowl on Jan. 3, 2011 in Miami.
Based on long-standing tradition, neither band performs halftime. Instead, the Orange Bowl puts on a Super Bowl-style performance. Both bands do and did perform pregame.
The Orange Bowl Committee gave this official statement to Halftime Magazine: “Each year, the Orange Bowl prides itself on its world-renowned halftime show, with top-flight professional entertainment, such as this year’s performers, the Goo Goo Dolls; therefore, the college bands traditionally only perform pregame as was the case again this year with both Virginia Tech and Stanford,” says Larry Wahl, vice president of communications and community outreach. “Nothing was changed from previous years as it relates to either when they performed or how long they performed, nor was either band’s performance requested to be changed. Any reports to the contrary are completely inaccurate.”
The Miami Herald was one of the first to print the erroneous news, and other media quickly followed suit, citing that the Orange Bowl feared Stanford would poke fun at Miami Heat NBA player LeBron James.
For pregame, Stanford lampooned sports news from the city of Miami during the past year, but the Orange Bowl Committee found nothing objectionable, according to Wahl.
Known for its irreverence and on-field antics, the Leland Stanford Jr. University Marching Band has been banned from performing in the past; however, this prohibition was not the case at the Orange Bowl.