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Dinosaurs acting like dinosaurs in the age of dinosaurs


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Why?


The simple, pointed, perplexing question was on the minds and lips of thousands filing out of stadiums in Lowell, Lynn and Lawrence after last week's elongated series of championship tilts.


Why did the Midwest and, to some extent, the Far West, lower the status and stature of [the] drum corps activity with inane hijinks, impish shenanigans and infantile efforts under the guise of General Effect?


The query, perhaps more than anything else, plagued fans and officials who shook their heads in disbelief over what was being dished up on the field.


. . . Any degree of success achieved in final standings is a tribute to the musical and marching talent of the teen-age participants.


Questionable is how much these young men and girls actually enjoyed being pawns for the warped imagination of instructors and managers.


<snip>


-- Herb Cole, writing in the Boston Globe, 1971.



Whew. He seems inconsolable, though he expresses his anguish with an impressive display of alliteration.


Also noted: The corps are composed of "young men and girls."

Edited by 2muchcoffeeman
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I am trying to wrap my head around "an elongated series of championship tilts."

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I don't think its not such a wise thing to pick a fight with someone ( large city newspapers ) that purchase ink by the barrel.

That said, this article was from 1971, and there's no need to kick a newspaper now ( Boston Globe ) when its on its last legs and bleeding red ink from loss of readers, advertisers.

The NY Times bought the Boston Globe for 1.1 billion in 1993.. The Times sold it to John Henry one of the 3 ,principal owners of the Boston Red Sox, for 70 million in 2013. The Boston Globe in effect lost 97% of its value since 1993. Herb Cole passed away last June. He ran a monthly column on Eastern Massachusetts Drum Corps in the Boston Globe for over a decade from the early 60's thru to the 70's.. Most of his columns were of a straight forward, factual, non commentary nature. Oftentimes, the monthly columns ( 12 months of the year ) included pictures of marchers, instructors, Corps. He was a great friend and promoter of the activity, despite having never marched, nor instructed himself... In this particular column in 1971, he elected to express his personal observations. Not unlike what we do here each day ( albeit to a much, much smaller audience than he had in 1971 in his Boston Globe ). But the Boston Globe is becoming more and more irrelevant with each passing day to the point that even DCI is probably on better financial footing for the future than this newspaper that has undergone more identity crises since 1971 than even Drum Corps has, imo.

Edited by BRASSO
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According to its publisher, the Boston Globe remains a profitable business. But that's not what the OP is about.

Thats not what the article says. The self serving article says this shill thinks it will make a turnaround in the future, and he sources this from an article in which the guy is referred to as " Mr. Sunshine ".. so what does this tell you ? Plus, the paper has lost over 1 billion dollars in value between just 1993 and last year ( 2013 ). Thats just a fact. Thus, your reply that " The Boston Globe remains a profitable business " is not remotely close to being accurate at all, frankly.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/new-york-times-sells-boston-globe-for-95-loss/

and :

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/business/media/new-york-times-company-sells-boston-globe.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

You quoted a writer,"Herb Cole", and the source " Boston Globe" ). I chose to reply to both " Herb Cole ".... the " Boston Globe ", and his" article from 1971", and his " observations " in the manner of my own choosing, and its historical context on all 4.. Sorry, if it did not meet with your personal expectations for my reply, but I commented the way I wanted, and so I guess thats that.

Edited by BRASSO
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Um, Mr. Brasso, you're confusing something. The NYT bought high and sold low. Thus, the NYT took a loss on its investment. No, more than a loss: A total bath. That much has been hashed over by the news industry long ago. But the Globe was, and still is (according to its publiisher), profitable. It is quite possible for those two events -- the NYT selling the Globe for a loss, and the Globe itself remaining profitable -- to occur at at the same time, and not exactly unusual in the realm of business. The Globe is a private company and thus is not required to disclose its finances (as the article also states), so neither you nor I can say anything with certainty (including the ludicrous claim that the Globe has lost $900 million), but it is true that many newspaper companies, as troubled as they may be compared to their historic performance, remain profitable. Revnues are at historic lows, but the industry remains profitable. I'll say that again: revenues are at historic lows (thus the expressed hope for a "turnaround," which every publisher in every city in America shares), but newspapers remain profitable as a group.

The reference to "Mr. Sunshine" conveys nothing of substance other than the characterization of the publisher's public statements. Publishers are famous for their sunny public talk. It tells me nothing more than that.

How did this turn into a discussion about newspapers? The point was the eternal lamentation of the state of drum corps, no matter the era. I was merely citing the source, for goodness' sake.

We now return, I hope, to regularly scheduled programming.

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The Globe is a private company and thus is not required to disclose its finances (as the article also states), so neither you nor I can say anything with certainty (including the ludicrous claim that the Globe has lost $900 million),

The Boston Globe actually lost over a billion dollars( not "900 million" ) in value from 1993 to 2013. If you can't accept that fact, then I guess thats that. But the facts don't go away simply because we are not paying attention, are doing other things, are in denial, or whatever. It is not a" ludicrous claim" at all that the Boston Globe lost over 900 million dollars in value from 1993 to 2013. What might be considered in the realm of " ludicrous " however is your apparent inability to accept this undeniable, documentable, published, sale price fact ( sale price in 1993. compared with its sale price in 2013... both part of the public published records. ) The Boston Globe lost thousands of subscribers, hundreds of advertisers, and its revenues sunk like a stone from 1993 to last year. I don't know what else to tell you. If you ( or I) bought a business for 1.3 billion dollars in 1993, and then sold it for 70 million dollars last year, you can bet your life, it was not a profitable business venture for you( or me), no matter the failed attempt to advance a" ludicrous claim" that somehow it was otherwise.

Edited by BRASSO
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Why?
The simple, pointed, perplexing question was on the minds and lips of thousands filing out of stadiums in Lowell, Lynn and Lawrence after last week's elongated series of championship tilts.
Why did the Midwest and, to some extent, the Far West, lower the status and stature of [the] drum corps activity with inane hijinks, impish shenanigans and infantile efforts under the guise of General Effect?
The query, perhaps more than anything else, plagued fans and officials who shook their heads in disbelief over what was being dished up on the field.
. . . Any degree of success achieved in final standings is a tribute to the musical and marching talent of the teen-age participants.
Questionable is how much these young men and girls actually enjoyed being pawns for the warped imagination of instructors and managers.
-- Herb Cole, writing in the Boston Globe, 1971.

I'd guess that he was partly right and partly wrong then, just as those of us who choose to complain about what we see as discouraging trends in drum corps now probably also are partly right and partly wrong. Some of what was presented in 1971 likely was inane, impish, and infantile, and I suspect that if some forward-faring, evolution-espousing corps fans of today watched the films of those shows, they might find themselves in partial agreement with Mr. Cole.

(When I started to read your post, before reaching the end and realizing it was a period piece, the use of the word "tilts" made me briefly think this was some sort of Bluecoats reference.)

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How did this turn into a discussion about newspapers? The point was the eternal lamentation of the state of drum corps, no matter the era. I was merely citing the source, for goodness' sake.

The " dinosaur " you cited.. " Herb Cole ", I knew pretty well. Your column heading did refer to " dinosaurs ". He was your only cite, so presumably you characterized him as a" dinosaur". Perhaps I took your discussion to a place you did not want it to go. Understandable. But please understand that I did tell you above that the individual you are referring to as a " dinosaur " in your cite passed away just 6 months ago ( June 12th ). I am in " lamentation " ( which is a Jewish word for " sorrow " and " grief "), for him more than I am in his 1971 written obervations that interests you now. I am not angry with you, because you probably did not know Mr. Cole, nor probably the fact that he recently passed. If I cared enough to defend him as a " good friend of the activity, and promoter writer of the activity for many years ", I would hope you could see fit to understand why I took that direction that I chose in my reply. If not, I could care less, as I said what I wanted, and how I wanted.

Edited by BRASSO
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