Stu

If the adult staff gets the corps to the gate too late and a timing penilty arises, it is the youth who suffer the scoring penilty not the staff. Correct? So students do suffer as a part of competition; and that suffering is also a vital part of the learning process. And if you read my post on unrestricted and restricted free agency, if another corps wants a talented youth from that corps, or a youth wants to transfer for the next season, it can happen.

If the Honolulu team approached them, or lured them, or enticed them to move, nope the kid would not be allowed to play. See what happened to, I think, Jesuit High School in Dallas, TX where they were actually finding parents of great football players from out of state jobs in the Dallas area to help them move.

Within a body of competing teams, Free Agency, just like Free Market, should be balanced with reasonable team to team parity rules in order to keep one team, or one company, from overly dominating over all others. It is within that harmony where the true spirit of competitive growth arises. It also keeps a low financial area team competitive with a high financial area team like one from the silicon valley. So, here is my opinion on how the concept of Free Agency should be applied as an equitable system within DCI: A) Youth who have never performed in DCI are free to audition for any corps prior to the begining of the season. Unrestricted Free Agency. B) At the end of the season any youth who performed that year with an OC corps is free to audition for any WC corps. And any youth who performed with a WC corps is free to audition for any OC corps. Unrestricted Free Agency. C) At the end of the season any youth who performed with an OC corps transfers to perform with another OC corps the very next season, or any youth who performed with a WC corps transfers to perform with another WC corps the very next season, the receiving corps of that transfer should pay the former corps some sort of fee transfer compensation. (Or the performer can set out a season and transfer without fee compensation). Restricted Free Agency. This would make sure that organizations are detered from pilfering talent from other 'directly competitive organizations' within their division, and also make sure their own success is more self-built than from acquired talent developed from the labors of other organizations.

I need some sleep or I will fall asleep in church and get whacked by my wife, so I will fully answer this after I get out of church. But here is a teaser: Because of the way team owners treated players in the past I am for free agency as long as....

I would venture to say that in the grand scheme of the real world, the Little League World Series is way more important, serious, impactful, significant, earnest, et al than DCI even dreams of being. One tell tail sign is how many fake birth certificates are attempted to be slipped by DCI compared to the Little League? That answer alone will show the real world experience impact. And I did look into not only the AAU, but the NCAA, and a multitude of state high school associations. The athletic transfer issue is extremely problematic with wide spread cheating and corruption. Like I stated in another post, in most cases I am for academic freedom of choice. But in the case of athletic competition, where equibility is paramount for fair engagement, enrollment and recruitment rules need to be strict.

In a vacuum, this would be about freedom of choice. Transferring for athletic reasons would be no different than any other student who moves for any other reason: academics, friendships, etc. Which in a vacuum I am completely for. But this is not a vacuum. Highly competitive team activites are different. You have to have all of the teams which are under the same governing body playing by strict enrollment and recruitment rules in order to have equitable competition. That doesn’t happen to nearly the same degree level in academics like math, science, or even speech-debate. Granted, there are competive elements in those academic events, but not to the impactful degree prodiced by athletic team events. And DCI is way, way closer to athletic team sports than an academic math club competition.

Read the chapter, then make your decision. You might be surprised!

Aw shucks; here I am competing in the Little League World Series. I am hating they way the batting coach is treating me here at Peachtree, I am having a bad experience, my self esteem and feelings are getting hurt; so I will just transfer for my final season to the Honolulu team where I will be more appreciated and happy as player there. Ummmm.... Not going to be allowed to happen.

The true essence of competition is not dog eat dog. That is a perversion. Pick up the book Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey, and read the chapter on the meaning of competition. I subscribe to that very notion.

You have actually answered your own question with the preceeding statement. What is going on with Madison is that they are not providing those things.

Now this is one of the most profound and true statements posted on DCP in many years!!!!!!!!

Ok, compare it to Little League Baseball, which has the same non profit desognation as DCI, but also has transfer rules and regulations like academic sports.

The point, also indicated in the movie, is that by definition winning is doing the best, not just doing 'your' best, but doing 'the' best. Loosers try, and are happy that they tried; but winners both try and win, and they hate trying and losing.

Nope, not held hostage. Just a delay in the name of competitive equibility and fairness; sort of like the necessary rule of transfering from playing for number 16 Texas A&M to playing for number 1 Clemson.

You are not factoring in that this is actually an organization for youth competition not education. Last I checked, the DCI non profit status says nothing about being an actual educational organization with an educational exemption, but is listed as a youth competitive league like the Little League World Series. And with competition, rules which benifit equibility of recruitment and retention amongst the various teams must be maintained.

Currently they would fight against it. Much of their success over the years has come from the members recieving experience at other WC corps which were used as stepping stools. By the way, it is well known on DCP how much I despised the G7 proposal, co-authored by BD, which would have relegated most all other WC corps even farther into becoming feeders for the 7.

Winning does have meaning, and it tastes extremely well!! But how it was accomplished has deeper meaning. We have developed a culture of self centered, immediate gratification, no loyality to anyone or anything other than self promotion, riding on the sacraficial backs of others who got the organization there in the first place, all for a chunk of medal and a ring; and lost the nobility of working together to build something great not only for yourself but especially for others, as in this is our corps, our brotherhood/sisterhood, from cradle to grave, with delayed gratification in order to make something greater than ourselves. Yep, that I will give ya as being true. Oh, and Go Mandarins!!! They, at least for now, seem to be the most loyal!!

"Losers always whine about doing their best. Winners go home and f### the prom queen." - John Mason (Sean Connery) from the movie The Rock.

Where was my call? Well BB I have believed in this for a very long time, but, um, back then there was no internet nor DCP. It irritated me even more that loyality was starting to really wane as the new millennium came where both performers and staff were using mid to lower placing Div 1 corps as springboards to what became the World Class G7 corps. And if you do some digging you will see that I have advocated for something like this ever since joining DCP in 2010. Including blasting the G7 for their condescending attitude and praising not only the Scouts but many other corps including the Colts! And my favorite current corps is the Mandarins!!! All I care about is the equibility within competition, the same in which all other major competitive organizations have seen as a necessity to put in place. So pay your overdue phone bill and call someone else out who is actually guilty.

Since this is a competitive environment I have no issues with Open Class being utilized as a feeder system. However, since this is a competitive environment I have a huge issue with World Class corps being used as feeders. That is why I am for some sort of a World Class to World Class red-shirt type system. Academic sports won't allow NCAA Div I players to direct transfer year to year without a penilty, and major league sports have a waiting period before free agency is allowed. Perform one year with (open class corps) then go to Blue Devils; fine. Perform one year with Madison and desire to go to Blue Devils, do the next year with (open class corps) or sit out a year, then go to Blue Devils.

Electronics.

I can remember going through critique back in the eighties and nineties all season, and as long as some things were changed according to judging comments our tenacity for sticking to our guns on other things eventually changed judges minds and were well rewarded by the end. That changing the judges minds through tenacity of not yielding is what seems to not be happining today.

Who decides what is poor? The designers or the judges? I can remember going through critique back in the eighties and nineties all season, and as long as some things were changed according to judging comments our tenacity for sticking to our guns on other things were eventually changed judges minds and well rewarded by the end.

I have already acknowledged my error. But my question still stands: concerning what happened to the give and take compromise where design staff changed some things to accommodate the judges, and the judges were moved in other areas by discussion from the staff? When did pleasing the judges become where the judges are in 'complete' control?

The vision of 'riding Big Bird' just gave me a new view of Seseme Street which is now going to taint my thoughts from this point forward. Thanks!!