AlexL

They moved away from that this year, i believe, which was unfortunate.

Its not just DCA that dislikes BD.

Well... most of the time a financing company will require you to carry insurance to cover it in case of loss. Also, if you quit paying, the bank is going to come and take your car.

Could guess that a big factor is that that those areas dont get full-slate, late season drum corps very often. Spend a few years there and the novelty may wear off. (heck, look at the drop between year 1 and year 2 in indiana)

The problem is, the divisions just keep getting smaller and smaller. There aren't enough corps for 3 divisions. If you want to start a division for 'starter corps', you probably would move some (the top end) of open class into world, and then have a fairly small 'starter' division in open.

Agreed. Lets look at the 2 that mattered this year (from the numbers in the post above): Blue Devils 24 Carolina Crown 33 Would 9 more full rehearsal days instead of show days (since you tend to lose about a half a day's worth of rehearsal days, lets say this was worth about 4-5 entire days of rehearsal) have meant a difference in their scoring margin?

They did, but held back from dropping the death penalty on them like many on the NCAA board wanted them to do. Its also the first time they actually did something.... ever... because they basically had to.

The connection would probably be more with indianapolis i guess.

The economy isn't really much worse now than it was the last 4 years, is it? Could just as easily be 'dont spend a week someplace since i dont want to use vacation time on a city ive been to multiple times (that isnt much of a tourist attraction in the first place), so go only to finals'.

Numbers were flat, actually slightly down for 3 days. The real devil is in the details unreleased. How many were discounted group tickets, etc. I'd also be curious to see what the % is locals year over year. Over time, it wouldnt surprise me if they gain locals who make it a yearly thing (and bring friends, who bring their friends), but lose those who travel in.

Finals night attendance slightly up, overall attendance (across 3 nights) slightly down. 36617 in 2011 36494 in 2012 Great news on the theater show though.

Oddly enough, its the opposite. The NCAA's biggest problem is that they don't get involved enough, and theyre afraid to drop the hammer on the big name, money programs, not that they get involved too much.

Agreed. Plus some could be 18 and not in college or a senior in HS. At 16 kids can drive, are often pretty independent (i know i was, especially when i had jobs that kept me out after midnight), and in most states theyre above the age of consent (addressing the 'sex on tour' issue).

That's exactly the point the OP is making. If doing less shows = more full rehearsal days, that means more time spent getting clean and making improvements instead of doing all the pre-show prep. If everyone decided they didn't want to do as many shows, it wouldn't be good for the tour, and i think a case could be made that if anything the 'standard bearer' (with 15 titles) should trend towards the upper end of appearances.

First, i agree with those that don't like the gray. Wouldnt surprise me to see that go away whenever the next uniform change is made. As to the old (-06) uniform, it really had to go. The helmet never fit a lot of members well despite numerous different things tried (in addtion, they also stained pretty easily, especially with those red plumes). The cross straps detracted from the corps visually (a giant X on everyone's chest is great for showing off dirt). The old uniform cut also had issues (Though that could be fixed). If it were my choice, i'd go for something based off of the 08-09 uniform. The main problem with it was the jacket was designed for the half and half pants that went with it, so while the switch to white pants looked a ton better (and was much less of a visual nightmare), it never quite fit. Design it with white pants from the start and it'd be great. Wouldn't be opposed to some sort of helmet if it fit with the design, but would need to be something new, designed to fit better.

Count me as one who will not be going out of my way to see finals (there's a chance work may have me in indy in 2014) in the oil can again. Its just a terrible environment for sound and for the audience experience. I would much rather go spend a day in Minneapolis or even one of the other regional sites if i'm going to travel far (at least it'd be a more fun city than Indy), but i'm sick of Indy. I miss bloomington and madison. I miss variety. I predict paid finals attendance will continue to drop as long as it keeps repeating there. Signing such a long term deal was a poor decision.

While some of this definitely happens, if theyre not ready for it by 16, they won't ever be. Its not like this stuff doesn't go on locally behind closed doors either (drinking, smoking, sex, etc).

Star 91 Blue Stars 07-08 SCV 04-05 Crown anywhere from 07 to now, 07, 09 and 11 the most.

Generally the higher placing corps have a higher average age. Also, i'm going to go ahead and guess by 'rookies' they mean 'rookies to the blue devils'. This doesn't count transfers from other organizations and BDB. And how many of those rookies were rook-outs who, while new to BD, were probably a bit more experienced than your average rookie.

If you think its about 'a favorite not winning', you're missing the point entirely.

Innovative

Haha, no. But i owned no stocks then (as i was just getting out of college and into my first job at the time). I bought in in early 09 though, and made a decent chunk of change on some good buy-ins. But the stock market has a history where you can say 'buy into the lows'. Where does DCI have that history?

I'm just saying past performance is the greatest indicator of future results.

It may not be about BD, but they are the greatest example of fan dissatisfaction. They aren't the only one, but they are the highlight for the direction of judging that fans are dissatisfied with.

Well no #### they wouldnt. People feel that the judging system is consistently not rewarding the best shows, and is rewarding shows like BDs that shy away from exposure and demand and focus on safety and cleanliness (in other words, having it ###-backwards in terms of what engages an audience). If a show they believe is most definitely NOT the best in drum corps was not winning, then they would not have to believe that the judging system is severely flawed. They would still dislike BD's show for its flaws, but its implications on drum corps at large would be lessened as they would not be held up by the judging system as the best drum corps has to offer.