Booing and the Cadets

[sburstall]

For all those that continue to compare this event to a sporting event...

In a football, baseball, or basketball game, the crowd boos when a bad call is made that they didn't like or when a player shows inappropriate conduct (like throwing a punch, hitting another player, etc). How many times have you ever seen or heard of a crowd booing the team because they didn't like the choice of offensive or defensive plays that the coaches call? (other than intentional walks in baseballl...)

I take it you've never seen the Detroit Lions? I'm not kidding. They get booed a lot, especially with regards to Matt Millen.

[LAMystreaux]

If you did not know that mass booing is generally found in large stadiums and arenas, there really isn't much for us to discuss then. You clearly are out of touch with venues.

So simply sitting at the Rose Bowl (since it is about the venue) makes booing something or someone you don't like a natural behavior. Makes complete sense.

[CoreyD]

28 pages of combined threads... and I'm still puzzled as to what on earth is so important about a drum corps show that it would prompt anyone to boo a corps. Honestly, I'm stumped. Is it because they stopped to have the field re-lined? Is it because they speak during their show? That's all I can imagine, and really, that's the best you've got to be upset about?

I think they were booing because they caused a delay I thought the field had faded but not in the way people saying they "feared for there lives."

[sixtysomething]

I stopped reading on the first page of this thread but let me point out something from a performer's perspective.

I marched Glassmen in '98 when we beat the Madison Scouts in finals for 5th place. I heard boos when our score was announced. I know it wasn't directed to me or my corps personally but it still bothered me to hear that in our "moment of glory" of making the top 6 for the first time.

I'm sure there are members of the Cadets who are marching in their very first finals. If they hear the boos coming on to or leaving the field it is bound to have an effect on them. They might know it isn't directed being them personally but it still has an impact on the members regardless of who it is directed at.

What I experienced and what the Cadet's members experienced isn't even in the same ball park so I can only imagine what some members of Cadets went through not only tonight, but all season.

And you know what? You're probably a much more 'rounded' and stable individual because you had a life lesson and learned to deal with adversity. Not everything is fair, nor nice, nor politically correct, nor does everyone like you. We are way too overprotective of our youth today. I'll leave my 'to boo or not to boo' comments for another post, but suffice to say I wouldn't.

[Danpod]

You boo puppets and you hiss villans in silent movies. Don't boo The Cadets. They are just doing what they are told.

[Tekneek]

For all those that continue to compare this event to a sporting event...

In a football, baseball, or basketball game, the crowd boos when a bad call is made that they didn't like or when a player shows inappropriate conduct (like throwing a punch, hitting another player, etc). How many times have you ever seen or heard of a crowd booing the team because they didn't like the choice of offensive or defensive plays that the coaches call? (other than intentional walks in baseballl...)

All the time. They boo when QBs make bad passes. They boo when RBs fumble footballs. They boo when players make errors. Have you ever heard of Bill Buckner? Coming back to football, they boo sometimes when coaches don't go for it on fourth down. They boo when the coaches keep calling the same plays and not generating any offense. It seems you don't watch much football at all. There is a lot of booing that happens in professional sports and the players/coaches are never exempt from being targeted. Listen to a hockey game crowd after the home team just had a really bad period and they will be booed all the way to the locker room.

[2000Cadet]

So this not a shame on anyone posting. Just some thoughts. Not meant to change anyone. Just some thoughts. Not saying cadets are better than anyone else, or that other corps are not any good. Just some thoughts. This is not a posting from an alum who has drank the Hop Kool-Aid. Not at all, there are things he has done I don’t agree with and right now if I saw him he might ignore me completely. So this post is not about him. It is about the corps.

I sat at my breakfast table this morning as a concerned Cadet alum reading through these pages on booing, on hash marks, on everything. I was reading on how people were tired of Hop, not booing the Cadets, how these were are not kids, they knew what they were getting into, etc….

I was concerned and mad. I was mad that anyone would Boo my family. Now I don’t want to get into this booing because it is not the point of my posting. I disagree with those who say they are not booing the corps because all you have to do is read threads that say "I heard that when Blue Devils go back East they are booed, now they are out west" to know that not everyone is booing Hop.

But again, not the point. I started to wonder how the corps was taking last night. What they were thinking.

I can GUARANTEE you that there were some kids on the field last night that didn’t know why people were booing. Not that they didn’t know people didn’t like Hop, but why booing them now on that stage in front of everyone else. They had to have been ABSOLUTELY effected by it in some way. You don’t hear that and simply chalk it off to someone being ticked off at old Hoppy.

You justify it however you want to, it does and will effect their performance and it is a bit sad.

But here is the real part for me. I stopped being concerned and became proud, almost giddy. Because I knew exactly how the corps would handle it.

They would still be up at 7am this morning working even harder. Working on a show they love in a family they love.

They would discuss it with each other a bit over the captain crunch cereal and "purple" drink. They would talk about their show and then once they tapped off 8's it would be back to business. They would be working.

Working on a show that people booed last night, knowing there will be more boos tonight, and knowing that IF they don’t win, there will be as many cheers for them losing as there will be for Devs winning. They know that right now and they will still get up because that is what they believe. You could approach anyone of them right now and say "Devs (or whoever..) is going to win finals. Do you want to change places with someone from that corps? They would say, "No thanks, I have a 4 hour marching blcok to head off to".

So make know mistake the booing will take effect, it is only human nature to want to be accepted as a group. But they will be fine. They will get up Saturday, eat some pancakes, sing Holy Name for the Age Outs, and work as hard on the last few hours of finals day than they worked when they were a rookie not knowing if they had made the line yet and were dry heaving in the Teterboro airport bathroom from nerves.

That is what I love about being a Cadet. Knowing that that is what people before me did, what I would do and what they will be doing. I was so giddy I almost skipped work and drove up to watch rehearsal just to witness it. But then, skipping work would have been a little bit hypocritical. :}

It is amazing that after marching for multiple years that I still wake up and find myself more proud to be a member of that family than I was the day I aged out.

Brought a tear to my eye.

[paultxsa]

For all those that continue to compare this event to a sporting event...

How many times have you ever seen or heard of a crowd booing the team because they didn't like the choice of offensive or defensive plays that the coaches call? (other than intentional walks in baseballl...)

seriously? ...all the time. NFL ...when the calls are too conservative and the crowds wants a score. NBA...for something as stupid as holding the ball when an extra 2 point means free coffee in the morning for everybody with a tkt...

[LisaLisaMoMeesa]

I just sort of closed my eyes and threw a dart at which "booing" thread I'd respond to........but here goes.

We live in a society that has become decidedly more crass, gouche, rude, tacky, disrespectful and completely lacking of any class. People don't know how to behave, act, or dress appropriately in many situations: court, the ballet, job interviews, or nice restaurants. Couple that with the fact that we also live in a largely "entitlement" society and we see how we arrived at what happened last night. There is a group of people that are completely put off by the Cadets show. Great. We get that. But somehow, they feel "unheard" by George Hopkins. Like he's supposed to take their disgust and change the Cadets show. That he is somehow "ignoring" these people's feelings. This has exercised them beyond belief. They don't have a good enough grasp on how to manage these feelings in a productive, controlled, adult manner, yet these feelings have to let themselves out somehow. So...without the impulse control of a polite, tasteful society, they are urged by their inner demons to boo. Somehow this will redress their grievances....if even only in their own hearts and minds.

It's actually an interesting study in human psychology to watch these people, so utterly disgusted with the activity just keep coming back and coming back and coming back....and each time they're disgusted, disappointed and angry with what's being put on the field. I can't stand science ficition movies. Can't stand them. I especially hate those fantsay movies like Tarabitha or Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Hate them. How stupid would it be for me to go and then sit there through the movie and boo? ...............and then go back again the next day? And then go to a Star Trek convention and talk about how lame those people are with thier stupid costumes and speaking Klingon.

Anyone whose ever marched in a drum corps knows how different it feels to perform to 3 crickets and piece of toast and then perform to a crowd of thousands who are clapping and cheering. It completely changes your psyche and makes you perform better, doesn't it, when the crowd is going insane? Even if they're not going insane for something YOU or YOUR SECTION is doing. It still fills your chest up and suddenly you are playing louder, marching taller, lifting your toes till your calves hurt, spinning faster, drumming harder. You know it, I know it, the man in the moon knows it.

So what do you think it does to someone when the crowd is booing? Whether they're booing for the color of their shoes, the notes they are playing or the hotdogs are too cold. What do you think the sound of the booing does? And this isn't a "it's for the poor little children" type comment. It's a "what do you think it does to ANY HUMAN" comment. So yeah... it does effect the performers on the field. So don't act like you have some invisible tunnel between your mouth and George Hopkins' ear.

I don't know why anyone here thinks any corps OWES you anything vis a vis the content of their show. They don't. I've only talked to a couple of Cadet kids, but the ones I have talked to like their show. (And these are kids that would tell me otherwise if they didn't). None of the Cadet alum I've talked to are terribly outraged over this. If you don't like it, don't donate money to them. Don't buy thier souvies. Don't clap during the show. Make them your hotdog corps, what ever.

But for the sake of your own dignity, quit acting like a completely tacky, uncouth, untamed, ugly rabid jackal --like some white trash drunken fan at a Greenbay game.

Edited August 10, 2007 by LisaLisaMoMeesa

[Newseditor44]

Well, I'll try and give to a " why boo " reason from strictly a competitiion standpoint. Most fans who boo a competitor are hoping to rattle that opponent. Apparently, from reading this tread the OP who was in attendance thought the Cadets members appeared" shaken by the boos". ( not entirely sure how one can tell that ftom a distance, but be that as it may). Sports teams routinely work with their players to block out such negative stimulai. Fans who think they can rattle a free throw shooter in a basketball game or throw off an opposing QB center snap count with noise for instance will routinely boo and take other distracting measures. It's designed to help the home team or the more favored team ultimately.

If the Cadets seemed rattled yesterday, that is a signal that the opponent can be rattled. Thus, I 'd expect The Cadets to hear more boos, not less as the competition goes on. It will be up to The Cadets to see if they have the mettle required in competition to become champions by not succuming to negative fan reactions.

I left the stands following the Cadets show. As I was walking to my car, I saw the kids and staff having picture taken. I had the opportunity to talk breifly with a few of the corps members who told me that while it ultimatly didn't matter, they did feel like they were being booed, and it did shake up a few of the corps members.

I apologize for the spelling errors and typos, I am sending this from a Blackberry