Troopers Bad Luck

[sburstall]

George Hopkins is not their director. He would get it fixed. b**bs

Seriously, I honestly think they have been hurt a lot by their performance order. Hate to say it, but I do believe it.

I agree with your last sentence. Seeding should be random because as long as the corps are seeded in order of scores, the scores will reflect the seeding, except in some rare instances.

[morganhill]

I am also a little disappointed that Troopers didn't score any higher. However, all things considered, they did themselves proud for what realistically is a "first year corps." One thing I am certain, it's nice to have them back. Knowing the Troopers as I do, I am certain we can expect bigger and better things from them in 2008. Perhaps a place in the Top 12 wouldn't be out of the question?!

[morganhill]

Pioneer also had a hard time of it. Those kids work very hard and yet the scores seem to hover around the same range. The scores only started going up towards the very end.

I saw the Pioneers in San Diego, Long Beach and at quarter finals. I had the opportunity to see the Troopers several times this summer as well. While the Pioneers did presnt a somewhat improved unit over past offerings, IMHO, they aren't even in the same league as the Troopers. That wasn't meant as an insult, just a personal observation and opinion

[brassboy]

I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I don’t think that DCI has it out for Troop. And yet, what the HELL IS GOING ON?

1. The corps is penalized in seeding for doing a full tour while those who took a weekend or two off get a boost via math.

2. The corps takes the biggest show-to-regional drop of the season, losing over five points going into Denver.

3. The corps is within .2 of Cascades at TWO SHOWS the weekend before Finals, has their best show of the season at Quarters, AND DROPS OVER THREE POINTS. (And don’t tell me that they obviously didn’t have their best show on Thursday. I was the last three shows. Thursday WAS the best.)

There’s always an explanation. There’s always a reason. But still, WTF? I challenge you to give me an example of another corps in open class that has had worse luck when it came to scores. I’m serious.

1. While it's certainly unfortunate for Troopers that they were set to perform 2nd, it was based on an averaging system that was decided and agreed upon by directors as far back as February.

2. Looking at the show-to-regional score drop to which you're referring (Hutchinson to Denver), it's pretty apparent that the score in Hutchinson was more likely to be the scoring fluke. Up to that point, Troopers had been in the 73/74 range. In other words, try looking at Troopers' scoring tendencies for all shows leading into Denver EXCEPT for Hutchinson...I think you'll find that their Denver score wasn't too far off from what could be expected.

3. I don't have much of an explanation for why the spread between Troop and Cascades opened up, but I'll take a couple guesses. It's more than likely that Cascades also had the "show of their lives" yesterday, boosting their scores in various captions. Also, if you look at the Denver regional, the spread between Troopers and Cascades is similar (a BIT smaller, but not by much). It would also be interesting to look at the particular judging panel from yesterday and see how they've scored both corps this season. For example, Marie Czapinzki judged GE Visual both last night and at the San Antonio regional. She had a clear distinction in score between Cascades and Troopers at both shows. Her number at yesterday's show made up for a full point of the spread alone.

Edited August 10, 2007 by brassboy

[BeinGreen]

werent the performance conditions less than optimal at Qtrs?

I was squinting watching the sun in the eyes of the marchers.

Close ups of the field made the turf look rough too.

Edited August 10, 2007 by BeinGreen

[Daave]

1. While it's certainly unfortunate for Troopers that they were set to perform 2nd, it was based on an averaging system that was decided and agreed upon by directors as far back as February.

2. Looking at the show-to-regional score drop to which you're referring (Hutchinson to Denver), it's pretty apparent that the score in Hutchinson was more likely to be the scoring fluke. Up to that point, Troopers had been in the 73/74 range. In other words, try looking at Troopers' scoring tendencies for all shows leading into Denver EXCEPT for Hutchinson...I think you'll find that their Denver score wasn't too far off from what could be expected.

3. I don't have much of an explanation for why the spread between Troop and Cascades opened up, but I'll take a couple guesses. It's more than likely that Cascades also had the "show of their lives" yesterday, boosting their scores in various captions. Also, if you look at the Denver regional, the spread between Troopers and Cascades is similar (a BIT smaller, but not by much). It would also be interesting to look at the particular judging panel from yesterday and see how they've scored both corps this season. For example, Marie Czapinzki judged GE Visual both last night and at the San Antonio regional. She had a clear distinction in score between Cascades and Troopers at both shows. Her number at yesterday's show made up for a full point of the spread alone.

How would one explains these numbers that are based on score improvement between Denver/Indy and Tempe/Stanford, then?

Troopers...6.275

Cascades...4.325

Mandarins...3.95

Pac Crest...3.5

Southwind...2.7

Pioneer...1.725

and then square that with a 3(+) point drop for quarters?

I know it's rhetorical... but in the immortal words of Joe Dirt, "Daaaaaaaaaaang!!"

[ripper]

They should determine the performance groupings the way they determined the order this year and then randomly draw the order in groups of 6 corps. ie..

BD, Cadets, Cavies, Bluecoats, Phantom Crown - 1st group

SCV, BK, Boston, Colts Glassmen, Spirit - Second Group

Academy, B Stars, Crossmen, Madison, PC, Cascades, - third group

Southwind, Mandarins, Troopers, Pioneer - fourth Group

I think this was tried in 88

[ajedrummer]

I think this was tried in 88

But that was at finals....kinda makes more sense at Q/F.

I still don't understand the purpose of the show tonight - other than to pick 12/13 and make more money!

[Pinwiz]

This probably isn't the place to say it either but I think folks expected a bit too much of the Troop this season. There were people on this website not 4 months ago calling them a deadlock for making Saturday night. Get serious folks.

1. Everyone is a finalist in the pre-season. We all know this.

2. This isn't a result of high expectations, but a reasonable assumption based on scores that Troop received during the season. I've been through so many highs and lows during the season because of the erratic scoring that at times I didn't know what to think. If this were happening to Phantom or BD, the website would implode. People have noticed, but I thought it should be pointed out clearly what they've been through.

[Tekneek]

But that was at finals....kinda makes more sense at Q/F.

I still don't understand the purpose of the show tonight - other than to pick 12/13 and make more money!

They used to have random seeding for Quarters at least, I think, even as recent as 1990...