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Shamu89

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  • Your Drum Corps Experience
    Wanted to march
  • Your Favorite Corps
    PR, Cadets, SCV
  • Your Favorite All Time Corps Performance (Any)
    Cadets '03
  • Your Favorite Drum Corps Season
    1984
  • Gender
    Male

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  1. Using the college comparison for the last 35 years (since 1980) makes more sense: 21 schools represent 39 national champs over that time (some multi-champ years) 128 schools in the FBS or division I That means roughly 16% of the schools in the FBS have won all of the championships If you take it back to 1936-present, 30 schools in the FBS have won championships, or 23.4% (assuming 128 schools, which is too many for the early years) Using the original post, if 4 corps represented all the championships (which they don't) and we use 25 corps as the total participating (we have less now), that's exactly 16% of participants. Using 30 corps, it drops to 13% If you use all 9 corps that have won a championship since 1972 and use 40 corps as a number for total membership, that comes to 22.5%. I'm not a DC historian, so I have no idea whether using 40 for membership is valid or not Data gathered from Wikipedia, so make of all of this what you will. And all numbers could be slightly off. Did it fast and didn't double-check, so YMMV. ;)
  2. Guess it depends on the instructors. Cadets buzz a lot at the beginning of every brass warmup.
  3. Don't know about the equal sized steps thing for all sets. When my daughter was a 17-yr old rookie, she had one set that required her to march backwards at about a 30% angle to her right to get to the next dot. When they were learning the set without instruments the first time, she went in a straight line with equal sized steps, and barely made it without colliding with anyone, but it was close with a couple of other marchers. During the adjustment, one of the vets turned to her and said, "Sweetie. We're tubas. You better find a different route, 'cause you won't make it through with horns." So she ended up taking 3 big steps straight back, and then 5 smaller steps toward the dot to avoid collisions.
  4. Here's another. Read this over in the review section, posted by PersonalBias at the Charlotte show TOC Charlotte - complete post I took a three year absence from 15 years of successive drum corps as I had to come to terms with amplification. I returned to my first show, Charlotte, this time with my 8yo daughter. This was her first exposure beyond you-tube and dvd's. As with any generation, first hand experience with a drum corps event such as a show with the magnitude of this line-up can not be over-stated . . . Cadets. Christmas music, yep in July. This show was electric and the crowd approved en mass. My daughter was so ecstatic with the guard dance and use of props, simple props with exaggerated impact, This show was so well done and exciting. If you have not seen it yet, it is worth the price of admission. The colors. the snowflake, the drill, the music left her giddy with excitement. She ran down to the lower wall after the show wanting to touch the members. Is this not what it is all about? . . . Money will get you a ticket, but, the corps provide the ride. Seeing drum corps like through her eyes was a piece of heaven for me. Maybe that is what I had forgotten...those fleeting moments that bring such joy. In the end, I had placements correct not scores, not that it mattered, but, yes I had to say. I am still beaming for her, and yes she went to school today excited to tell her friends. Dedication? Maybe, Inspired? Yes. A future corps member, who knows, but I would bet that she will be back Last night I too was inspired and was helped in reminding myself that though I have past the point of no-return the remaining trip can and will be filled by the many spectacles that life has to offer, children, family, yes to me and once again drum corps. Thank you Crown, Blue Devils, SCV, Boston, Phantom Cavies, Bloo and Cadets. Having seen the light, my heart and ears Thank You. Great show!!!
  5. Completely agree. Doing DC makes them hard. People bashing the shows or the activity in general bother me more that it bothers my kid (I mean daughter that is a MM). Just giving my perspective on maybe why people use that phrase as justification.
  6. I think we use the term "kids" because for the vast majority of the posters here, the marching members are younger than us. And for some (myself included), the discussions concern specifically what their children are doing, while working their butts off in extreme conditions, and paying high prices to boot. Maybe we should replace "they're just kids" with "they're just MMs". Would that make more sense? The MMs have no say in the program and design choices. Their task is to perform the show to the best of their ability according to the wishes of the staff. IMHO, the majority of the complaints are based on design and music choices. If you don't like a program, it's not the MMs fault, and I don't think anyone here has ever given that impression, btw. So, yes, you are correct. Most of the participants on the field are not "kids", they are young adults. But it can get heated when the topic of discussion revolves around a group your son, daughter, brother, sister, grandchild, etc. is participating in, and attacks can feel personal. I think most of us understand that none of the vitriol is aimed at the MMs, but when someone you care about deeply has bought in to the program the extent these marchers must in order to survive, replies to comments can get testy. It also doesn't help that in order to get the most out of the DC experience, you need to treat it like a cult (the word I use to describe the activity to outsiders). As a member, staff, volunteer, parent, you are asked to do things that normal human beings would never do, to do them almost without question, and get them done quickly and perfectly, regardless of extrenal conditions. Wind? Rain? So what. Heat? Big deal. Food truck fridge on the fritz? Still gotta serve 250 people 4 times a day. Sleep? Get all you need when you're dead. It's what makes this activity great, but also why it makes us so passionate about the smallest things. This might as well be a religion forum, and in a way, it is!
  7. My wife, son and I did this last year. Allentown, Meadowlands, Canton, and then Indy, driving our own car while volunteering on the food truck. Mostly stayed in hotels near the show sites and caught some ZZZ's after shows before catching up with the convoy in time for lunch prep. It was exhausting, disorienting, and totally and completely worth it. The storm in Canton last year was wild, especially when we had to go into the school with 2 or 3 corps to try and ride it out. Some smells cannot be un-smelled. Good luck and have a great time.
  8. Texts every couple of days, calls once a week or less. She tweets a couple times a week and posts on FB less than once a week. Most of the calls are at 0730 in the AM when they're not getting floor time, but have an hour or so before breakfast. Much easier to talk to her when everyone else is asleep. Called once last year after a show and 30 seconds in she shouted, "GOTTA GO. BUS WAR JUST STARTED."
  9. Question. I'm a little confused about precicesly what the word "clean" means in this context. What part of the captions does that apply to? Are we looking at the Visual and Music categories under the 'Excl', 'Ach', 'Tech', etc numbers? Or is it something else? Is it how straight the lines are and the precision of the curves in forms? Diagonals? Feet timing? All of the above? Just curious if the opinions here match how judges score, which is not often the case.
  10. Not this year. The Cadets will be housed in NJ, rehearsing at the Meadowlands and making the long drive in. Not sure who gets the stadium for rehearsal. Here's The Cadets preliminary schedule for Saturday. Looks like a brutal day. 6:00 am -- Wake up and pack 6:45 am -- Depart for Met Life 8:15 am -- Arrive, breakfast, unload 9:45 am -- The Day 9:55 am – Stretch & Run 10:30am -- Visual 12:30pm -- Lunch 1:00 pm -- Sectionals 2:30 pm -- Set up 2:45 pm -- Ensemble 4:15 pm -- Showers, food and load up 5:45 pm -- Travel to Allentown --- a bit of snack 7:45 pm -- Arrival at stadium 9:50 pm -- Gate 10:11 pm - Perform 10:30 pm - Pizza and soda in the lot 12:00 am -- Depart 2:00 am -- Arrive at housing in North Jersey
  11. Whoops, my bad. Guess I should check dates on tweets before posting pics. Thanks for the catch and clarification.
  12. Because they finished in the top 8 last year and Blue Stars didn't.
  13. Not a number, but a pic from Cadets twitter feed Cadets twitter pic And I haven't been this year so I don't know what's going on now, but last year at the Meadowlands, they had small ensembles performing outside where souvies and concessions were between shows. Tough to experience when you're waiting for the next corps or watching an instant encore, but I get the idea.
  14. If you want to give examples of what's wrong with DC, you have to be able to accept examples of that very thing not causing a problem in other activities. Don't expect your examples to be the only valid ones. And we really need to leave pro sports out of this. Yes, DCI is called the "major leagues", but that's a matter of semantics. The better comparisons are with collegiate sports since the participants have a limited window to participate, can go wherever they want, there is no draft, salary cap, revenue sharing, parity concerns, etc. But to even compare it to a sport is silly. DC is judged competitions. There is no offense/defense, and since the shows change very little, aside from minor tweaks and cleaning, the performers play the same "game" with the same players over and over. Plus, your "team" puts every single participant on the field - something that doesn't happen in any other of the activities we try to compare it to. Do you think putting five or even ten of the world's best marchers and players on one corps would make any difference? It does in sports. One dominant pitcher, running back, 7'2" center can push a team from mediocraty to championship caliber instantly in sports. BTW, the Celtics won 16 in 30 years, not 14/41, plus when they won 10 out of 12 from 59-70, they played the Lakers, Hawks, and Warriors. Only 3 different opponents in 10 games. The use of these examples are to point out that having repeat champions is not a problem. And the examples of Blue Stars and Crown go to show that it's not the fault of DCI or the rules in place that prevent other corps besides the Cadeviliers from reaching the top. Not every corps, or sports team for that matter, has the necessary tools or desire to win a championship, and that's not a bad thing. And if you insist on having a more current result in the pro sports arena, go look at the champs in English Premier League soccer. Arguably the most profitable sports league on the planet right now. Yes, the activity appears to be declining, and that's a terrible thing. I think your initial item #2 is the main cause, both for marchers and the audience. It's a huge issue for even the big dog - the NFL. No new stadiums have been built for a while, and it's becoming harder to entice people come to the stadium when the at-home experience just keeps getting better and better.
  15. Saw this and it made me late for work. So worth it.
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