njprbuick

Just to clear up some confusion about what happened in the immediate aftermath of Ryan's injury, here's Stan's account of what happened: "Managed to break my right ankle trying to help Ryan off the field after he suffered a fracture going down during finals. More about having a view than anything else. Jim, Maggie & another woman were dragging him off the field. I was watching the far side when I saw them go, went to help & tripped when Jim's weight shifted. Got back up and was breathing with Ryan to keep him from hyper ventilating. Gathered stuff and was walking off, field crew and a DCI board member insisted I get checked out. Doc recommended hospital. And the kicker is I wasn't going on the field. Megh gave me a pass as I was getting off the bus and they were on when I got to the end of the tunnel so I guess I was supposed to be there."

Both Mr. Hopkins' initial complaint AFTER the corps had already entered the field and subsequent tantrum at the issuance of a penalty at quarterfinals were wholly unprofessional. The argument that the field needed to be relined had been raised by both the Bluecoats and the Cavaliers but you didn't see David Glasgow or Jeff Fiedler blatantly and deliberately making a ruckus in front of their corps' members and paying audience. Regardless of the actual condition of the field or the validity of prior complaints, the reality is that DCI serves two primary purposes: to maintain a level playing field for all competitors and to put on a good show for a paying audience. Due to Mr. Hopkins actions, The Cadets were late to field by all measures used by the DCI timing judge and should have been penalized for the impact upon the other competing corps and spectators nationwide. The fact that the penalty has been removed without any sort of justification or formal appeal process shows remarkable inconsistency on the part of DCI. Such an action would seriously undermine a sanctioning body's credibility to administer a "World Championship" event in other competitive venues. However, since DCI is the only option for national touring junior corps, the activity now moves into the future with an unfortunate precedent that concrete, measurable actions which interfere with competition and entertainment value may be argued away by an irate corps director. Gabriel Olochwoszcz Phantom Regiment 1999-2000 Jersey Surf 1997-1998