Academy and the Part Time Penalty

[xxxdcifanxxx]

Looking back on some of the scores from 2004, it seems like PC was going up and up until Indy when it looks like they dropped into the 17th place range. From then on out, the score kept going down and down until it settled 6 points lower than what it was the week before. I think this was also the year that DCI made Esperanza and PC perform before the national anthem, I'm not confident though.

[ouooga]

Sorry, but I don't agree. I was there in 04 watching everyone. I thought the judges got all of the placements right - including PC. Could it be that you came out strong with an easier product that plateaued, while some of the other corps had more difficult or dirtier programs that cleaned up and passed you guys in 04? I think that is the more likely scenario than there being some kind of "part time penalty", now don't you think?

If it were over a season I'd agree with you, but Indy was only five days before quarters.

And yes, that was the year PC and Esperanza went on before the national anthem. Everyone else performed in their placement order at Indy.

I personally think it's unfair, but I also personally feel that a successful Division 1 drum and bugle corps should do a full tour. This is why I left PC. If this is how DCI shows the corps that they should be touring, then it's apparently working. Pacific Crest is doing their biggest tour ever, and I'd say they are pretty much a lock in semis at this point.

[skajerk]

I have believed all along that the Academy would have problems after San Antonio. They have been on a 8am - 10pm schedule 5 days a week cleaning almost since May. Now all of a sudden, they have to deal with FLOOR TIME, and riding buses until 3 or 4 am and not staying in their own beds most of the time.

They have a real schedule advantage in that the last two weeks is back on home turf. 2 or 3 Arizona shows and then Pasadina....gee there's a long drive!! Let's see....Boston, North Carolina....the Midwest, etc. Everything is in their favor at the end. But, they will struggle with all the things everyone else has been working with for 2 months and are used to. There scores are bound to plumet, then rebound. But will they recover?

Next year, they will have to tour a lot more with the finals in Indy. That should level the playing field alot!

Explain this to me in English, please. What schedule advantage? I didn't hear, was there a schedule change that sent everyone but Academy back east so now those corps have to drive straight from Boston to PasdEna while Academy only has to start at Tempe? I know! Academy has some kind of transporter that will send them and no one else straight to Pasadena, right? Is the route from Tempe to Pasadena somehow shorter for Acadamy than it is for Blue Stars? I guess that means the corps taking the northern route through Ogden, Boise, Portland, Stanford and Clovis are really getting screwed, yeah? Did you not expect a corps from AZ not to tour through AZ if given the chance? If finals were in San Antonio would we hear the same complaints if Crossmen had shows in oh... let's say Dallas, Denton, Midland or Wichita Falls on their way to finals?

You know, I'm wondering what's left to complain about? It doesn't rain enough in AZ so that gives them advantage? It's a "dry heat" so that gives them an advantage? They have the Grand Canyon so that gives them an advantage? They have the AZ Cardinals so that give... whoops! Scratch that last one. They are on tour now. What more do some of you guys want?

Seriously, I want to know what schedule advantage they have now?

Edited July 24, 2007 by skajerk

[Lance]

Closed at author's request.