HollywoodNeoCon

That's ridiculous, and entirely representative of the sort of cynical myopia I was talking about. Celebrity judges? Shorter shows? Focus groups? Not likely. Now, corporate sponsorship of individual corps? That's a heckuva lot more likely.

As the (largely) drunken hordes here in Chicago celebrate the Blackhawks' second Stanley Cup Championship in three years, I cannot help but think back to October 2007, in the days just prior to the death of Bill Wirtz. Stick with me here. I'm going somewhere with this... Back then, the 'Hawks' were being consistently outdrawn by our local American Hockey League team, the Chicago Wolves, had one of the worst attendance records in the NHL, and a season ticket base of about 4500. They also weren't televised or broadcast anywhere, a decision Bill Wirtz stubbornly clung to, believing that to do so would only further damper his club's dismal ticket sales. All that changed, however, when Bill died. His son, Rocky, took over, and with the help of new CEO and team president John McDonough, the two began what would ultimately become one of the greatest, and quickest, turnarounds in professional sports. From the linked article: The now-legendary phone call had CSN Chicago ask Rocky, "Where do you want them? TV? Radio?" "EVERYWHERE," came his reply. Wirtz knew that you can't market what people can't see, and disregarded those in his family who felt that hockey was simply "too niche" to succeed on any level appreciable enough to justify what they saw as "giving away" their product to people who obviously weren't interested enough to actually go to the games, anyway. "Tell that to NASCAR," he said at a press conference shortly after the call. Six years later, and the Blackhawks have, for the fourth straight season, led the NHL in home attendance, and sold out their last 202 games. Now, fully understanding that an Original Six NHL team and DCI are hardly similar, an ineffective marketing strategy is an ineffective marketing strategy; wasteful at best - cancerous at worst. For decades, Bill Wirtz clung to the notion that keeping his team off TV would indeed translate to more robust ticket sales. Instead, what he got were hockey games so eerily quiet, you would swear you were actually watching a practice. WGN-TV's Mark Suppelsa recalled taking his young son to a game back in 2004 or so, and was gobsmacked to realize he could hear the puck being hit off the sticks. In doing some research for this screed, I happened upon the infamous CNN G-7 article from a few years ago. I hadn't read it previously. Heck, I didn't even know it existed, but this stuck out for me: A few things here. First, while I loathe Mr. Hopkins for trying to take over the civilized world 11.5 minutes at a time, I think the man raises some very valid points about why La Musica Cosa Nostra has dwindled to 50 or so active corps. No, this isn't 1972 anymore, and while some corps have been successful in making the necessary adjustments over the years, far too many more failed. So, you get what he have here, which is the way George wants it. Well, he gets it, and I don't like it anymore than you folks do. Unless he finally lets the corps play Rocky Point in it's entirety, in which case, I'll drink whatever Kool-Aid he's serving that particular year. But I digress. My larger point here is that whenever the subject of DCI on TV comes up, I invariably hear "too niche" as one of the biggest reasons why we're all now faced with two options come Nats: book a vacation to Indiana, or go sit in a movie theater for Prelims somewhere and pray that nobody along the line screws anything up. Otherwise, we get a Fan Network subscription and wait a day or two to see the VOD. Hopefully, we've got a wicked-fast broadband account, a decent laptop with A/V output and a big HDTV. But that's us. We're already fans, and we're not the ones I'm interested in. No, I'm talking about growth, and growth does not occur by referring to yourself as a "niche activity," as I've read dozens of people on this very forum claim proudly. "Niche," to anyone with any sales training, is a four-letter word. It is limiting, self-defeating and ultimately, gives the prospect a reason to tell you no. Competitive putt-putt is a "niche." The PGA? Not so much. "Niche" is an excuse, not a selling point. So with this in mind, I cannot for the life of me understand why DCI has, for all intents and purposes, geared its marketing campaign exclusively (or so it seems on occasion ) toward that demographic already disposed to awareness of the drum corps brand. And make no mistake, drum corps is a brand, and one that deserves a far wider audience than it presently enjoys. It is a uniquely American art form that has enriched the lives of countless young men and women around the world, and an even larger number of folks who, for one reason or another, never got to experience it from the starting line. Having said that, and as a film producer with numerous projects in various stages of development, I would submit that if DCI were to market itself as savvily as all of us in "the industry" are compelled to (if we want to raise the ridiculous amounts of money we need to get our projects made, that is), I'm quite certain it wouldn't have any significant problems finding enough advertisers to justify pitching it to a network. It can be done. It has been done. Heck, I've done it, and with far less saleable a product than the Madison Scouts. In conclusion, Bill Cook. Were it not for a DCI telecast, none of us would still be arguing about Star of Indiana 20 years after they packed up their act and took it to Broadway. Call me, Dan. Let's do lunch.

See, it's insightful commentary like this that I've come to depend upon from this joint.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit wearing Depends.

If, by "######," you mean "badbuttocks, (except you know what I mean)" then I agree with you wholeheartedly. :D

My ancient mother (who marched, while unbeknownst to her, with me in her tummy at VFW Nats in 1965), always blathers about this cat named "Scotty" (?) who was the Kiltie DM back before snow shovels, or something. Anyone know who this guy is??? Make a nice mom happy.

THIS

I just saw Crown's finals performance a week or two back when DCI streamed it online for free. Would I be dreadfully late to the party if I took the opportunity now to say that that was, in all likelihood, the best horn book and hornline I have ever seen. Right up there with never having gotten to see Sinatra, is my having missed this live. Oy vey.

Heh...I dated a girl who marched contra with the Regiment that year for three reasons... 1. She was a contra, and I love nothing, if not a physically strong woman, 2. She spent the summer taking showers with Ms. Spears, because, vicariousness, and 3. Which I've already gone into here on another thread which almost got me banned, so no.

This guy. Madison Scouts, 1980. This cat was every bit as entertaining as the corps itself. Don't know his name, but it's a #### shame this is the only picture I could find of him.

The Scouts just tweeted that "what was good in May is no longer good enough," and hashtagged "elimination block." As one of those who remember hours of basics blocks, is this as ominous as it sounds???? Just curious...

YES!!!! 1980...great year!

Fast forward to 1:00 :D

Troopers. Period.

1980 DCI Midwest, Warhawk Stadium, Whitewater, Wisconsin All I could see was the haze, cigarette smoke and bugs, but I sure as **** heard the crowd. And Brandt Crocker. My first brogasm.

I apologize in advance if this is a topic that has already been discussed, but has anyone ever approached a venture capitalist about underwriting the organization of a new World Class corps? I know that most, if not all, venture capitalists invest in not-for-profits in order to take advantage of the substantial tax deduction, and given the phenomenal evolution of the activity and it's apolitical nature, I'd be very interested in approaching a few with an eye toward resurrecting the Royal-Airs. I had thought a few years ago about approaching the Los Angeles Archdiocese about sponsoring or even undertaking reforming Blessed Sacrament on the west coast, and given my question, I think that may be a realistic backup plan. I'd be grateful for your thoughts.

You marched 1965 Nats at McCormick Place with your Imperial mom while in utero, while your dad competed against her with the Cavies. Neither knew you were there. Sie Lurye hit on your mom a year later while she was downstairs at Eddie's BBQ joint (pigging out on his cheese popcorn) in Logan Square while your dad was upstairs in Cavie hall hangin with his brothers. Your grandma was best friends with Tru Crawford's mom and talked him into sticking with the Marines. You realized that 8 pages in, it was time to just move the hell on.

And your grandma marched Skokie Indians...

Cynic. LOL

You leaned how to high mark time in 16 count increments.

You know what edge dressing is. If you wore black shoes, they probably once belonged to your dad. Your color guard had the same uniform as you. Except for the skirts and boots. You bring rolls of quarters on tour. For phone calls. Only the rich kids and bus drivers had cots and air mattresses. "Snack" either came from a vending machine or McDonald's. Roughly half the males in the corps had beards and looked 30. Your socks went up to your knees and had colored stripes. Your shorts were made of satin and came down just past your butt. Everyone smelled like coconuts. And Off. From an aerosol can. If you wore jeans, your back pockets were probably torn off. Your corps "mom" cussed like a sailor. Your sister was a fireman. Ok...that last one is timeless.

My God... Just watched the preview vid over at the Troopers' site, and was actually moved to a few tears of pure joy. I don't usually get "corps weepy" until April at the earliest, so this was a wonderful late winter gift, and I can't wait to see it on the field this summer. Given that, I have to say that while my family has an association with the Cavaliers that goes back to 1964, the Troopers have long been among our two or three most beloved drum corps. As little kids, my brother and I used to play Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would get to wear one of dad's old Cavie t-shirts to bed each night. The "loser" (if you wish to refer to him as such) had to wear one of his Trooper T's (I remember him always having one in his wardrobe). I must now confess that more often than not, I let my little brother "win." Call me melodramatic, but I can't imagine being a part of an activity that doesn't field a corps from Casper.

Matt "Spag" McDonough from Mudvayne marched snare with Phantom Regiment: Unless you're into harder "math metal," you may never have heard of Mudvayne, but trust me, while you may not like the music, they don't call it math metal for nothing. These guys are incredible musicians, so I've never been surprised by the number of drummers in that genre who trace their musical roots back to rudimental, corps-style percussion.

Slut.