Madscout does seem a little off base. He is correct on one thing however. This is not a 'sport.' It is more along the lines of an atheltic event. It seems that he misinterpreted comments to mean that 'winning first place is the only thing that matters.' Which was A, never said, and B, i don't think anyone really believes that. It isn't all that matters, but, this is a compeition, and the goal is to win. Sure, you can put PC language on it. "Oh, its the performance that counts, everyones a winner, what matters most is you put on a good show.' But if this was all true, alright then, so lets just not have a top 12, lets just put on festivals throughout states. I wouldn't be in favor of that. Regardless, compeition is something inhernt in the activity, and it is much better to be the first place group then the 3rd, and much better to be the 3rd then the 5th...and so on down the line. But that dosn't mean that the last place group didn't accomplish things of value, on either a personal or compeitive level.
levi