Elections Postmortem and Why I Love/Hate the New Media

I had to take a day off to heal from the harrowing (and borderline crippling...my wrists hurt) experience of live blogging a Penn Band election but I figured I should punch up a postmortem with some quick thoughts about the election.

• More than anything else this election appeared to be about two things: 1. Whether the band is too rambunctious. 2. Whether or not we communicate well as a band.
• The Board is made up of all guys.
• The Board is made up of only brass players.
• The Board is made up of 2 incumbents and 2 first time board members.

What does any of this mean? Well, maybe nothing. We're one of the only performing organizations on Penn's campus that has an actual adult leadership. The Board, at the end of the day, still has to answer to Greer, Koosh and Adam.

However, the election also interestingly displays the band's character. Mike Kettler, a rambunctious member of band who lost the Vice Presidency last year, won this year. Joe Coyne, often perceived to be one of the most rambunctious people at Penn, won this year. These two are tempered by Ben Gaines, who has been very even in his approach to just about everything this year as Vice President (he soothes like Tums), and Eamonn who is at his most rambunctious when requesting that we play Band March (not all the time, but close).

As for the new media: The Penn Band and the Daily Pennsylvania's Sports Section have had a rocky relationship in my 3 years here (despite several members of band being members of both groups.) The other day Buzz Blogger Josh Wheeling either took a shot at or complimented the Penn Band (ambiguous). This, as blogs are wont to do, started a comment war about the relative merits of the band (Some: Great! Others: Sucks!).

Obviously, I have no problems with those who hate the band (people have been wrong for generations and will continue to be wrong after I die). I do have a problem with this: commenter anonymity. If you're going to take a shot at an organization on your campus, don't be a coward, use your real name, or just admit that you're former Daily Pennsylvanian Sports Writer Jeff Shafer.