dans

Yikes! Phantom had a great drum line in 2008 but the above revalation does not help JJ's credibility one little bit!

I do have to say the violence in Phantom's show does get to be a bit much (could you imagine if the Cadets had similar violence in their show, folks would be demanding they be banned from all competition). It does however take attention away from the brass line overplaying their instruments. Man there are times their brass line overplays to the point that they completely loose all quality of sound and sound like a car horn.

I agree with the first part of your statement. I was at the Westminster show last evening and Crown should not have beaten Cadets. Crown's feet were an absolute mess and the drumline was one step short of awful. I have seen Cadets and Crown back to back four times in the past week. I am clearly not a fan of the Cadets narration, however, this corps can flat out play and march their butts off! Crown has a good drum corps but other than a very loud horn line and drill moves copied from the Cadets, there really is not much substance there. Cadets will deserve to beat Crown (even with the narration) but will not because they have been slotted.

Amen

I would wager big money that if Phantom would wear Cadets uniforms and do the same Spartacus show, folks would be outraged by all the violence, throat slittings and slapping women arround!

Put down the crack pipe! The Cadets have way more demand in their show than Blue Devils and Cavaliers. I will surely be attacked for this but Blue Devils show should be named smoke and mirrors. You know nothing about the Cadets, I spend alot of time with them and you are flat out wrong! Bitter party of one, your table is ready!

Cell phones, ice makers, computers and navagation sytems were all good ideas that would not have lasted otherwise. The Cadets attempts at narration have not been well done and really sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the level of excellence achieved by the corps proper. The majority of criticism regarding the Cadets use of narration is simply because the narration is not well thought out and equally poor in execution. I have been a fan of the Cadets for 24 years and have defended them many times through the years, however, I can not defend their current design choices anymore. The narration just flat out does not work and really hurts the image of this corps. Hopkins is a good guy and means well but I can't defend him on the narration issue. He is making a terrible mistake by discounting the majority opinion regarding narration! The Cadets fan base is shrinking with every performance and soon the talent level they have to pick from will diminish!

A thread like this was soo predictable after last night's results. As long as Crown was beating the Cadets, all was right with the world and the judges were getting it right. Finally, Crown was getting their due, and the judges were not afraid to call it as they saw it! Now that Cadets beat Crown last night, there is more than an implication that it is political and the judges are the bad guys. You all talk about the Cadets borg and drinking the kool-aid, some of you Crown fans are way worse than the supposed Cadets borgs. I am by no means a fan of the Cadets narration, however, they have one hell of a corps this year. They are loaded with talent, from staff to members, and they are not just sitting idle while the rhetoric multiplies on DCP. I hope for Crown's sake that the members do not have the same attitude as some of their fans. If they lose their focus, the Cadets could give them a big dose of humility. Some of you are very short-sighted, do not under-estimate the Cadets! By the way, Crown has a very good corps this year, and I congratulate them for their recent victories over the Cadets!

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I see you decided to go with your childish comebacks. Everything you said is your opinion. And don't feel sorry for me, I have been involved in this activity for almost 40 years and I recognize a great show when I see it; Crown does not have a great show this year. If Crown is looking for respect, responses like yours will not help their cause!!!!!!

Crown is a very good drum corps performing a very average show.

Please send this to Hopkins!

The Cadets are definitely a championship caliber corps and I just get a gut feeling that their staff is going to tweak this show into something special this time. I just get a feeling that they will silence many of the critics by the time this season is over.

The Cadets, in spite of the awful narration

Do not make the mistake of underestimating the Cadets. They are loaded with talented kids with an amazing work ethic, and the staff knows how to tweak a show better than any in the business. Also, Crown has a really good corps with a less than great show. To many snippets of music to process in the short span of a show, and none are done better than the corps that is know for the songs. Their show is somewhere between cute and cheesy, but they are a very good corps.

Unfortunately, Hopkins will continue to focus on thoughts such as yours, from a very few, and ignore the overwhelming masses. The 2008 Cadets are a championship level corps overshadowed by narration at a level you would expect to hear at a bad high school play. Let me add that I am not part of the anti-narration crowd!

You are correct! It just depends on which corps you support and follow. Now for me, I'm a huge Cadets fan and admit to already being mentally burnt out. Being a Cadets fan is rather exhaustive and difficult at times!

Thanks for your thoughts, I will try to stay positive. I will see them saturday in Clifton and I am confident the corps will be great, hopefully the narration will not ruin it!

The narration is a better attempt than last year, however, many of the complaints from the masses are the same as last year, that indicates they did not remember the lessons learned from last year; that is extremely troubling!

I agree with your statement 100%; I have been a Cadets fan for almost 20 years and most of that time they have been criticized for something. The problem here is that serious die-hard Cadets fans are really starting to question this obsession with narration. It just flat out is not executed at a level that is even close to the other components of the corps. I love the fact that the Cadets are not afraid to explore new things, but why would you continue to pursue something that the majority of your audience does not like?

I fear the Cadets better stop with the narration or large numbers of drum corps fans are going to become ill and start dropping like flies from all the hot dogs consumed during their performances!

I am probably one of the biggest Cadets fans on here and this years show concept makes me cringe! The narration is just dreadful and almost painful to listen to. I try to ignore it when I watch them, however, it is real tough to do. Why did the staff at Cadets approve such a bad concept? And then there's the prop, YIKES! I applaud the Cadets for trying a different appraoch to show design. My problem is that they missed the boat big time with this one and they will more than likely forge ahead in the same bad direction. I'm not going to get into the Hopkins bashing. I do respect the man but I am more than a little confused why he continues to pursue something that clearly does not work in this venue. The Cadets pursuit of happiness is making the vast majority of drum corps fans unhappy!

I used to get so mad reading all the anti-Cadets stuff. I would just consider the source, and say oh well, its just the same old anti-Cadets/Hopkins crowd. Although there is a crowd of folks that will not like the Cadets know matter what they do, the number of reasonable, intelligent, open-minded, civil people that do not like what the Cadets are putting on the field is growing rapidly. It is not about the fact that the Cadets are different, it is a matter of them losing their entertainment value and appeal. The subject matter of this years show is to dark and personal for this venue. People attend a Drum Corps show to be entertained and escape some of the harsh realities of life. Have the Cadets abandoned the quest to entertain the paying public? They certainly can't be surprised after last year that only a few would find this show entertaining. I love the Cadets and will continue to cheer for them this year, even if they do have me scratching my head.

At least it would have some entertainment value