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Chief Guns

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    A Great Article on The Cadets

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, spacewill said:

    Man, on that one.  I used to officiate flag, peewee, junior high, and some high school football.  The day I knew I needed to quit was when I was officiating a 11-12 year old tackle football game.  This kid kept going down injured and then would come back in 2 plays later.  We as officials had no power to stop the kid from coming back in but I asked a coach what's going on.  The coach said the kid basically had no cartilage left in his knee but his dad is forcing him to play and putting pressure on the coaches to play him (apparently he was high enough in the organization to get away with it).  That, that day was the day I told my wife I was basically done and quit doing peewee immediately and then all officiating a year later.  To this day I don't regret the decision.  Some parents just ruin it for everyone.

    Much respect to you. Referees have one of the most thankless jobs on the planet. 

    I played football at a powerhouse high school program in SoCal back in the early/mid 90s. Watching our coaches absolutely shred the refs every game was brutal. Playing in the CIF Southern Section, you were literally desensitized hearing about high school refs receiving death threats etc.

    You are a bad*** in my book and a bigger man than me. No way I could do that job on any level of football.

    • Like 1

    A Great Article on The Cadets

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:

    No lies detected.  That’s why Jim quit coaching football.  The parents were terrible. 

    One of my fellow Chiefs I was stationed with in San Diego was a volunteer coach for Pop Warner football. 

    One day he asked me if I wanted to volunteer to coach. I told him no I couldn't handle it and would end up choke slamming someone thru the bleachers. He laughs and says "Bro the kids aren't that bad".........my response.........."I wasn't talking about the kids, I was talking about the parents".

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    A Great Article on The Cadets

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    4 hours ago, BigW said:

    "The Worst Band Parents Ever"

     

    Jeff was really young when a lot of this happened so I'm not sure how much he knows about.

    The HS no longer exists. It was merged into another school in Central Pennsylvania. in the late 70's it was arguably the finest small marching band in the country (under 50-60 musicians) with a really great Director- very kind, developed talent from his students. Never a problem then that anyone heard of. His son was also fantastic, ended up in the Crossmen HoF.

     

    He gets a job offer @1980 for a school that has a good program with three times the kids and offers him twice what he's currently paid. He leaves and turns that program into a Wrecking Ball in Pennsylvania for the next 15 or so years.

     

    That's when things go bad. They hire an individual right out of college, my guess was to save money. They weren't bad, they weren't a bad person, they weren't untalented but who could really replace this guy right out of college? The band came down to earth and other bands started to beat them. After about two years the Parents rioted and had the District get rid of them before they got tenure.

     

    They then managed to hire an experienced guy, who was also a really good and decent fellow, who already had led a pretty successful program. He manages to dig them out of the hole but after about two years, he ends up with stress related illnesses and runs to another program where he takes that program and makes it flourish. The word on the street was the parents drove him to near insanity. He was a lot happier when he got out of there. You could see the relief on his face.

     

    They then managed to find someone who had things figured out. They brought in a very good design team and their shows were very airtight and complimentary. The total packages were fantastic, and that's what kept them above everyone. Here's where things unravel.

     

    Sometime in the late 80's, the Circuit Championship had to be held indoors at Carlisle HS. Wind gusts in excess of 50 MPH, ice all over everything, and wind chill factors well below Zero. Their parents lose their minds. Standstill contest, no drill, they know that they're losing their major asset of having a total show. I'm working the floor entrance. They lose to someone who better handled the situation. Kids from this band are crying, The Band Parents are flipping out and outraged making all sorts of comments that this show should have been held outside. I glared at them and said, "Your children aren't gladiators." The loudest mouthed parent is obviously thinking of starting something, and I was ready to slug it out.

     

    This guy is older. Word on the street a lot of those Boosters hadn't had children in that band for years and pretty much ran the show anyway. The Circuit commissioner gets an "AxxHxxe Certificate" in the mail with no return address. It wasn't hard to figure out the likely culprits. I didn't hear any other complaints from the other competitors.

     

    This director leaves. Word on the street was they had enough of the Parents, especially after their obnoxious behavior in public, and the fit the kids had. The job comes open again. I need a job. Dad encourages me. I tell him what's going on. He helps me with a cover letter to the HS Principal stating basically that "The word on the street is that your Band Parents are out of control, and that they interfere with the director's ability to direct the program as they see fit to direct the program as professional educators. As the principal, you'd be my boss. If the Parents get out of line, will you have my back and get these parents under control?" 

     

    Needless to say, I didn't get an interview. They find a decent guy but by now the program's a wreck and he's pulling every stunt in the book like having suspended cymbals "WOOOSH!" ing at the end of nearly very phrase to try and mask that they can't end a phrase together. They're down to 16 musicians (including percussion) trying to play 8 note chords. The same old big-mouthed clown who hadn't had a kid in the band for years and nearly beat on me over the gladiator comment nearly attacked me for pointing these things out quietly to someone within his earshot once.

    The whole mess died when they merged with their next-door rivals. Because of the hatred that both schools had for each other, and the parents had for each other, all their sports programs and extracurricular activities crapped out and haven't recovered 35 years later.

     

    So, that's the story of the Worst Band Parents Ever. Obsessed with winning over education taking place and wanting to send their kids on an icy field in 40+mph wind gusts and sub-zero Wind chill. And I frankly don't feel bad for them. I do feel bad for a generation of kids that need an activity like this to get them out of the depressed little town they live in and deserve better.

    Brother you should see the parents in Little League Football. 

    Ten year olds playing on the field, with parents acting like nine year olds in the stands. 

    And Lord help you if you have to deal with the parents who think their kid is the next Joe Montana, and can't understand why their son isn't above reproach, and why he isn't getting superstar treatment from the coaches. 

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    A Great Article on The Cadets

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    2 hours ago, greg_orangecounty said:

    Someone should pitch the show concept to Bravo; "The Real Band Moms of Chino Hills".  Follow them through marching season; drama, power struggles, betrayal, inner-rivalries, favortisim, and everything else that makes for good entertainment.

    I'd watch that one. 

     

     

    You are not lying about the band moms out here in SoCal. Especially the three-way rivalry between the SoCal powerhouses Vista Murrieta, Chino Hills, and Ayala. There were times where I thought the three should just have a Triple Threat Match at WWE SummerSlam lol.

    But here is a hilarious story about some band moms I encountered.

    Back in October 2019, my son was in his sophomore year with the Vista Murrieta band, and they were hosting a competition, Of course Chino Hills and Ayala were there for the big showdown.

    Anyhow, during the intermission between 3A and 4A, there were some band moms from another 5A competing band sitting in front of me. Not going to lie, they were giving off the "Entitled Karen Vibe". So eventually their discussion veered toward drum corps, and one of the mom's (we'll call her son Johnny) says "OMG! Johnny dragged me to one of those drum corps shows at the Rose Bowl a few months ago, and honestly I wasn't impressed with any of those corps. I mean our kids high school band COULD TOTALLY COMPETE AND BEAT ALL THOSE CORPS". 

    Keep in mind when she went to the Rose Bowl, she saw the eventual champion Ghostlight, Bronze Medalist Vox Eversio, and phenomenal shows like Wrong Side of the Tracks, Everglow, and subTerra from Cavies, PC, and Mandarins to name a few. 

    And to top it off, the other moms just chimed in and started agreeing with her (mob mentality) that their kids were totally world class level, and there was no difference between high school band and drum corps. 

    I couldn't help it and laughed out loud, they turned and looked at me, but I passed it off as I was laughing at something else as it would have been a no-win situation getting into it with them. Another guy near us looked at them, and just shook his head lol. 

    So naturally when their kids band came on the field, I was hype and ready to see a historic performance considering these kids could allegedly beat BD head-to-head. 

    Uh yea....................no. They ended up dead last in 5A and got waxed by the competition. 

    Another lesson in its ok to root and support your kids and think they are great, but on the flip side, learn to keep things in reality and know there are levels to this. Lol.

    • Like 9

    Shows that surprised you and glad you saw live

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    Gotta add another one to this list.

    Cavaliers 2019. 

    Us California fans are always so appreciative when corps from the midwest/east coast make the long trip out west. We always make sure to show those corps lots of love. 

    2019 Cavies was no exception, and boy did they bring it!!

    Saw them in San Bernardino. Of all the corps that performed that night, only one got two massive standing ovations, The Cavaliers. 

    Just an absolute electric performance, and they set the Inland Empire on fire that night. 

    So thankful I got to see them live that year. 

    • Like 2

    Shows that surprised you and glad you saw live

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    5 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

    I’m not going very far back.  Mandarins last year. I’m usually kind of meh about them. Not that they aren’t good because they are.  It’s me. But when I saw them in Cincinnati last August…holy moly… 🥰

    First runner up:  2022 Troopers.  Didn’t see that coming either. .  

    So glad you enjoyed Sinnerman Ms. Terri. 

    It's funny cause my son said the Cincinnati show was one of their worst runs of the season lol.

    • Haha 1

    Shows that surprised you and glad you saw live

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted · Edited by Chief Guns

    June 28th, 2014, Glendora CA, witnessing Felliniesque.

    It was my first live show of the season, and all also the night the DCI season officially ended, because it didn't matter what anyone else was doing that year. DCI needed an alien drum corps from another world in 2014, because no one on earth was beating BD and that show. 

     

    • Like 3

    Ticket Prices

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:

    Yep.  It’s expensive. That’s why we’re not going to an Ohio State game.  It would be $1000 just for tickets.  I don’t even think I could enjoy myself. Hahaha. I told him go to go up the road to Putters and watch with the rest of the fanatics. 

    Yea that's the one downside to your team being good. Ticket prices soar. 2015-2018 when the Niners were sucking, me, wifey, son and daughter could all go to the game and I would spend less than $200 on the tickets total. Since 2019, Niners have been Super Bowl contenders, ticket prices are outrageous! My wallet was sending out distress signals lol. 

    And God help you if you're thinking about buying food at Levi's Stadium. One time, I got four pretzels, and four bottled waters for us, they wanted me to harvest my organs to pay for it. The prices there are insane. 

    • Haha 1

    Ticket Prices

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    8 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:

    There’s no comparison in ticket prices for sporting events, theater, or concerts. Drum corps is much more affordable.   We bought tickets for the Cubs/Reds game at Great American Ball Park  in July. $475 for two tickets. Great seats right by the dugout but still. 👀  We’re going to Leonid and Friends in April.  Pretty affordable $65 a seat so that is a great value.  

     

    Two months ago, my son and I went to the 49ers/Ravens game on Xmas night. Cost of two tickets, hotel, food, and gas driving the 860 mile round-trip from Murrieta to Santa Clara and back, I spent almost $1500. 

    • Like 3

    Shows you regret NOT seeing "Live"?

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    June 1999. At the time I was stationed aboard the USS Germantown in Sasebo Japan.

    I went home on leave back to LA to see my family for 30 days. Decided to take a few days and drive up to Oakland to see one of my knucklehead high school friends that moved up to the Bay Area. 

    Well the weekend I went up there, DCI had a show in Concord. I contemplated going as I hadn't attended a show since I joined the Navy couple years prior. Instead I chose to hang out with my friend and a couple of his buddies. All we did was drive around Oakland, and go to some dirty, nasty, stank rundown club in Richmond where you would probably catch something just standing in the club. I wanted to set my clothes on fire once we left there. Complete waste of a night.

    Meanwhile 20 miles up the road in Concord, the show that I passed up, turned out to be the famous "Lights Out" performance, where the stadium lights went out during the middle of BDs performance, and they kept going and finished the show completely in the dark. 

    Years later someone posted that performance on YT, and when the lights went out and BD kept going, the crowd lost their freaking minds. I remember someone here on DCP talking about being there that night. They said not only were there babies being thrown, grown adults were also being tossed onto the field as it was one of the most electric moments in DCI history, and there were times the crowd was so loud, you couldn't even hear BD. 

    But I chose to go hang out and drive around Oakland. 

    You can tell that I made smart decisions back then at the age of 21............................says no one ever. 

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    Houston, Do we have a problem?

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    15 minutes ago, lawdn said:

    Hoping DCI avoids last year’s fiasco of the Rose Bowl forcing a schedule change on them, which required DCI to revamp the schedule for multiple CA shows. Now we should hope they can avoid that for Houston show too. But it sounds like Houston has a lot of venue options.

    Amen brother! 

    Just noticed that Academy isn't coming to the three SoCal shows, but will be in NorCal. That sucks. I always enjoyed Academy. I am sure they have their reasons. 

    • Like 2

    Houston, Do we have a problem?

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    41 minutes ago, Barneveld said:

    My apologies to the Mandarins, the BD Faithful have programed me to believe NBBD. 

    (Nobody Beats BD)

    How do you think I feel lol. I am a BD Honk all the way, but I am now also Team Mandarins with my son marching there. 

    Now I know how my buddy felt. He is a USC graduate, but his son got a football scholarship to UCLA lol. 

    Seeing him rock Bruins colors as a diehard Trojan was hilarious. 

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