Dear Dawg: It will not surprise you to hear that our so-called football team is now 0-8.   Last week was a montage of dropped passes, missed tackles, stupid penalties and ridiculous coaching decisions.  I’ve written to you every week about this and you keep telling me that we should not fire the coach over this.

But what about the band director?  The halftime show featured songs about losing.  We heard the Beatles’ “I’m a Loser.” That was followed by Roy Orbison’s “Crying.”  Then it was “Poor Poor Pitiful Me.”  They concluded the show by forming an L and marching off the field playing our school fight song at half-tempo, like a dirge.

The band director claims that this had nothing to do with our football team, but that’s not how the folks in the stands saw it. Some of thought it was amusing, but others were irate at the lack of support for our players.   Everybody got the connection with our losing football team.

Can we direct the band director to be more supportive?  I’m no musician, but I know what I like.  Our team is atrocious this year but I blame that on the coach. The kids are trying hard and deserve our support.  MIFFED.

DEAR MIFFED:  We’re happy to AT LAST be able to give you the advice that you want. YES—you can tell the band director to change his tune.  The Supreme Court decided long ago that the school retains a great deal of editorial control over school sponsored publications. The case before the Court involved a student newspaper, but the logic of that decision extends to anything that appears to carry the school’s approval. This would certainly include the halftime performance of the band.

Tell the band director to do the right thing and support your losing football team.

DAWG BONE: SCHOOL SPONSORED PUBLICATIONS CAN BE EDITED BASED ON ANY LEGITIMATE PEDAGOGICAL CONCERNS. 

File this one under: FREE SPEECH