I'm a little confused if you mean the Rice game or the Bluebonnet Bowl. I'll assume you mean the Rice game, since that was the only disaster of its kind in my experience.

The drill started out with the spread band splitting into two halves. The right half was supposed to move into block band while the left half continued down the field. The right half then counter-marched and met back up with the left half when it moved to block band.

Well, the semi-official rumors are that the Rice students were blowing whistles in the stands and that messed things up. But (as a bandsman) you should know that most of our drills are simply follow the leader. In this case, one of the Bugle rank (name escapes me at the moment, and I really don't think it is important) started to make the move into block band about 10 yards early. He quickly recovered, but then did it again 5 yards later. This time he took another rank with him. The rest of us tried to make the move to block band at the correct time, but it couldn't be done. Needless to say, the two halves of the band could never come back together.

In desperation, the head drum major (Jason Clarke) halted the band and marched us off the field. It was certainly a moment of infamy in the history of the Aggie Band. Somebody made a mistake.

Jim Melton '82