Rose Bowl Officials Condemn Stanford Band For Mocking Iowa During Halftime Show

The Stanford Marching Band—a performatively quirky group of college musicians currently banned from road games for “ sexual hazing”—is continuing its truly remarkable run of pissing everyone off. They got to go to the Rose Bowl because it was a neutral site game, and they commemorated their trip by taking a bunch of digs at Iowa and more or less calling them a bunch of dumb hicks. ESPN cut away from the performance before it was over.

Iowa loves cows. Classic. Anyway, Rose Bowl officials got mad and condemned the band:

“Given the fine reputations of the schools in these conferences, we have not felt the need to review in any significant detail the planned performances of their representatives,’’ the Tournament of Roses said in a statement, adding that it regretted if any spectators were offended.

“The halftime performance was not in line with the values of the Rose Bowl Game and we will be reviewing our policies and procedures with regard to future band performances.”

Stanford responded with a statement of their own:

The Band’s halftime show has provoked a variety of reactions. The performance was intended to be irreverent fun, given Iowa’s connection to farming and Stanford’s historical nickname “The Farm.” The script posted on the Band’s Facebook page provides fuller context. We understand that some viewers took offense at the performance, which we regret and which will be the subject of further discussion with the Band’s leadership.

As SBNation points out, this is somewhat of an annual tradition for Stanford. Harmless as their Iowa trolling is, Stanford does seem to breed shitheads.

Photo via Getty