Centennial Series: The evolution of the MOB at Rice

The Rice University Marching Owl Band, more commonly known today as "the MOB," has been in existence since the Rice Institute opened its doors 100 years ago. The MOB's first band director was Wilson Betts, a student from the first entering class at the institute. While it wasn't until the early 1970s that the persona of the MOB would be to make a mockery of current events with a sketch show, the early band's roots did show a flair for what would become a tradition at Rice University for years to come. To read the complete news release on the MOB, go to news.rice.edu/?....

[@Telanroyal]

I was there the night that Roy Hoffeinz shut down their half-time show, right in the middle of some spiral formation they made to the sounds of a flushing toilet over the Pa. I was with the Houston Cougar Band that night. The spoofed the leaky astrodome with that and I think they twirled umbrellas and played songs like Raindrops Are falling on My Head.....our band director Bill Moffet lectured us after the game on the wrongfulness of such bad manners as he felt they were.

[@Karilyn19]

Love the MOB! People are so serious, lighten up, it's a game and it's supposed to be fun.

[@ChannelingErikOfficial]

I was a flautist in that 1973 event. Fun!!

[@josephkolozi9364]

Didn’t they do something related to the Texas tower shootings?

[@michaelthannisch7310]

Thank you, that was great. I had forgotten that Marvin Zindler (who in his college days was a drum major as I recall) was there. Shame you didn't have time to include the incident in the Dome when Judge Roy Hoffeinz had the script taken away during the half time show at the Astrodome as he didn't like what they were saying. Lynn Ashby, who was an Associate of Lovett at the time did a nice article on it. Wonder who called Lynn Ashby? :)

[@nl5494]

It's a shame the athletics department and administration in general seem to do everything in their power to undercut the MOB at every turn nowadays

[@backpackerbro2485]

Troy Brown is spot on -- this was nothing but revisionist history.
I was a junior that year and present at the game. The Aggies' reaction had nothing to do with the game. We were certainly used to losing at that time and the loss had nothing to do with the reaction. Furthrmore, Rice had a great quarterback at the time and the Owls deserved the win.
Most of us could have cared less about the fire hydrant parody of our mascot or Marvin Zindler's appearance. It was the attempt to liken the Corps ot Nazis by the goostepping that got the Aggie fans going. The thing that took it over the top was the MOB playing Silver Taps as a parody as our most treasured activity of recognizing an A&M student upon their death that was over the top.
You had to have been there to understand and appreciate what happened. The MOB is and will always be the most irreverant arrogant self-important excuse for a band.

[@jimcoode9774]

Nope, pretty much spot on. Not the first time A&M was mocked by an opposing school.

[@yamimotonokamina4759]

Back in the hippie era, some people might have thought this was sort of cool. Now it's just pathetic. I used to try to see the humor, but I never could. There were some Rice fans behind us at the stadium. "Oh, this Rice band is just so crazy," they said with fake jolliness. I think they wanted us to understand why they were so lame, but I noticed not even they could pretend any appreciation. It was a good time for everyone to catch up on the latest gossip or to study their fingernails.

[@troybrown1473]

Nice revisionist history, lying by omission. Want to tell us about how the MOB put on Nazi helmets and Goosestepped? That's the real source of the outrage, not any silliness about the game.

[@joshstatham4736]

More of a disappointment for a college band. RU should be embarrassed.