If you unfamiliar with the above hashtag, I’d suggest reading this post from last week.

I wrote last week that Guido D’Elia said there was 7:1 blue band to piped in music ratio and many have been asking if that number is even close. Well, here are some results (these times are all for the first half only):

• @psdegeorge counted a 15:4 ratio of Blue Band play to other music.
• @Ben_Jones88 clocked about a 8:3.5 rate.
• @andrewpalski recorded about 13 minutes on Blue Band play in the first half.

Even though the 7:1 ratio was not even approached on Saturday, one thing is for sure: the Blue Band performed much more than usual. During half-time, Drum Major, Ian Kenney, even ran over to tell me that his troupe were playing “a helluva lot more today.”

After the game, I was able to reach Ian for further comment. He said, “We definitely played more today. I received more green lights than usual.”

Short-term, this is great news, our voices have been temporarily heard. Long-term, however, Guido may and probably will revert back to his infamous gameday machinations. To possibly make matters worse, a new sound system was tested at Beaver Stadium this afternoon. The upgrade is necessary, but will this decrease the Blue Band’s role even further in the future? Who knows?

There’s a very good possibility that the increased Blue Band time was only for this weekend, but we’ll have to wait for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. clash with Iowa for that answer.