Matt_S

No kidding, man! As a fan of Bluecoats this decade, and especially this year, what a great accomplishment for them already! If they can hang out to 2nd over some incredible shows below them, then that in itself is worth celebrating right there. I can't get too worked up over the Blue Devils winning on Saturday night - it's basically DCI's default setting - but you might just catch me doing a little jig in Section 641 if the Bluecoats stay top two!

Any ticket being resold was originally bought from the DCI Box Office, ergo DCI has already been helped. A second market can be very beneficial to somone who bought tickets and now can't attend, and would otherwise have to just eat the cost. That said, if anyone is reading this thread, then they should also read the DCP Marketplace forum. In my experience, most drum corps fans have been willing to buy at face value, and sell for less

Grumpy, if I had to come up with any complaint, it would be that your review doesn't live up to your name. Excellent job! I'll be reading your thoughts on Indy.

Phew, that's good to know. What a relief!

Heh, you tell me. You seemed to do it pretty easily when discussing another corps, like the Cavaliers.

Cavaliers tonight finished just 1.55 back of the Blue Devils. Bluecoats have been outscoring the Cavaliers all year. It's not over until it's over.

Uh, you guys left one out. 94.25 The Cavaliers

Not surprising, considering the list was created with DCP input: http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/inde...howtopic=136405 Naturally there's going to be some selection bias in the results. I'm going to assume you don't consider Star 1993 to be a crowd-pleasing show.

Don't you mean a redundancy?

Bluecoats have met BD twice. The spreads were 1.75 and 1.90, not 3. The last time Phantom met BD before Championships in 2008, the spread was 1.60. So yes, 2008 is certainly relevant to the discussion. Please do some research, or come up with a better way to phrase... whatever the heck you're trying to say.

The Legend of Zelda: The One-Eyed Sailor? Yes, I'd be interested.

I can remember feeling the same way back when I attended my very first Championships... in 2008.

So if the roof does open, if corps sound better, and then if the next year despite DCI's best efforts the roof has to be closed due to weather, you think that fans will be ###### off? Sure sounds like cynicism to me. A realistic fan would be more understanding that sometimes forces are outside of your control.

My, how cynical of you All this talk of whether the roof might be open or closed, as if the DCI powers-that-be have any control over the weather. What I haven't yet heard is anyone remark that if it does storm, we're going to be awfully thankful that the roof is there after all. Drum corps in a dome sure beats no drum corps at all if Quarterfinals gets rained out. It's all the more true with DCI broadcasting Quarterfinals in theaters across the country. You can't broadcast a rain out... well you could, but good luck getting anyone to pay for it.

Godspeed, Chad. Godspeed.

Wow, the spread between Blue Stars and Phantom is closing every day.

done

I'll be attending World Class Finals. I'll also be in town all week, if any DCP get-together is planned.

I honestly don't think you're ever going to get rid of the attitude of "keeping up with the Joneses", though. Whenever you assign value, you create a market. Like any agent in a market, individual drum corps are incentivized to act in a way that is going to bring them the most value. Any judging system worth a bit of good is going to require some consistency in the way that it hands out points - and consistency means that whenever any corps finds a better way of earning points from the sheets, the remaining corps will be sure to follow that trend. The only real solution I see to "keeping up with the Joneses" seems to be to eliminate judging at all. Let the corps compete in exhibition. I use the term "compete" intentionally. Even if no judging were to occur, the corps would still be competing with each other, just on terms of their own making. If fan support were no longer influenced in any way by competitive placement, the only criteria left would be the entertainment of the show and the performance level as perceived by the hoi polloi. Imagine if instead of being motivated by a tenth of a point here or there in the fight to move up a spot in the standings, corps were instead motivated solely by the desire to engage as many fans as possible. Imagine the sort of shows the top 3 or 7 or 12 could produce if points and placement were of no concern whatsoever. I think the attitude of "keeping up with the Joneses would still exist, but imagine if instead of saying "wow, the Blue Devils did X and got huge points for it. We should do X too" corps instead said "wow, the Blue Devils did X and the crowd loved it, their souvenir stand is always packed. We should do X too". I used to be completely in favor of keeping the activity competitive. I got a thrill out of competitive marching band, and I couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want to win. I still think that competition is a great motivator for kids working to perfect a single show, and I think competition both gives structure to and helps to keep people interested in the season as it goes along. Yet as each year passes, I start to view the entire judging system as arbitrary and unnecessary. Consider the reaction toward the Blue Devils this year. Would this board have been filled with so much hate if a show like that weren't crushing all competitors by nearly two points? If there were no points or placements, the optimist in me is starting to think that maybe we'd have more people on this board celebrating the shows they like, rather than flaming the shows that are beating the shows they like.

The view I posted is actually from the visitors side. It's not exactly what you'll be seeing, but since there's an equal-size screen opposite that one, the effect will be the same. CMFC4Ever's photo unfortunately crops it out. Here's a photo from the home side, right on the 50, section 640. If you look to the upper right of the stands, that entire black area right under the Meijer sign is the second jumbotron.

Ben Davis's school color is purple, though, so the "BD" thing wouldn't quite work.

For those that know, could you also post what your corps' schedule is, and if practice is open to the public? I'll see about getting this pinned, too.

I've heard the Houston and Atlanta APDs now, and I've gotta say I actually prefer Houston, where the electronics were more pronounced. That might just be the result of recording in a dome, but I think some of the effect of the show gets lost when the electronic voices are lost within the rest of the corps. My only question at this point is whether there are any plans for a new ending. I thought they would have added something by Atlanta, but I didn't hear any changes. It's a little abrupt without throwing down right now. I'm hoping they've got something bombastic prepared for Indy.

Here's an excellent picture, showing exactly where the "jumbotron" screen is in relation to the action on the field: It will be on for Finals, so you and me will both be able to see what's happening. What section are you in?

Maggie, thank you for the excellent perspective. DCP needs more posts like yours.