There are 300 in the Spartan Marching Band that take the field. They honor the 300 Spartans that held back the Persians so many centuries ago, at Thermopylae Pass. There are many "Michigan" universities. Including the one an hour away, The University of Michigan, home of the Wolverines.
I’m in the band and some of the moves we do and in this case the tubas specifically causes us to lose slides, mouthpieces, and sometimes even bells Edit: the tubas actually duck tape all the connection point on their horns for additional stability
One of the band volunteers (typically allumi) for the parade march will grab it for him and give it back to him once we get to the stadium. More duck tape always fixes the problem