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Hopblog thoughts on "Hash-gate"


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I'm not weighing in on George or his contention that not having hash marks was a safety issue. I do know that 23 DCA corps marched DCA prelims last year with no hash marks, only one line on the field (the 50), in the middle of hurricane Ernesto's storm surge, and it wasn't considered a safety issue.

Talk about differing perceptions of what is a safety issue...

I don't see dca corps marching a show anything close to that of the cadets or cavaliers are performing.

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I think I said this somewhere else, but looking at all of the evidence from it all, this is what I have come up with.

George Hopkins saw a problem, thought about its context for the show and his kids, and did something about it. After reviewing the situation, he realized that his kids and every other kid on that field deserved hash marks that were not put there as was agreed upon. If he had seen it before Cavies went on, I think he still would have said something, so it's my opinion it wasn't just his kids he was thinking about...that's just when he saw the problem.

That said, I think he handled the situation poorly and made a mistake. There were other, possibly more professional ways of fixing the problem that I personally feel he could have chosen instead, and he did not. Everything after that again could have been handled much more delicately, and he made a mistake.

But he is man enough to admit that in his blog, and that is all I ask for. He knew he embarressed himself and what that meant for his kids, and acknowledged it. That's all we as humans can ask for.

I am not a George Hopkins fan...I do not care for how he runs his corps, the decisions he has helped make for the future of drum corps, and I personally feel he is arrogant. But beyond that, the man knows what he is doing in his own right, and every year the Cadets are a wonderful group to watch and enjoy. In my opinion, George Hopkins is an adversary towards what I believe drum corps and DCI are all about, but he is still a successful music educator that consistently builds amazing things, and for that he does have my respect.

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I'm not weighing in on George or his contention that not having hash marks was a safety issue. I do know that 23 DCA corps marched DCA prelims last year with no hash marks, only one line on the field (the 50), in the middle of hurricane Ernesto's storm surge, and it wasn't considered a safety issue.

Talk about differing perceptions of what is a safety issue...

I also know about a ton of corps that marched using symmetrical drill. Not to many people fell there.

Maybe we should go back to that.

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I don't see dca corps marching a show anything close to that of the cadets or cavaliers are performing.

this is not a debate we want to have. trust me.

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this is not a debate we want to have. trust me.

Why not? We've had quite a few DCA guys coming into this discussion making light of the whole issue and how the hash marks should not have mattered. Apples and oranges I say, but it seems to me this has been made an issue by those on the DCA side of the fence.

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Why not? We've had quite a few DCA guys coming into this discussion making light of the whole issue and how the hash marks should not have mattered. Apples and oranges I say, but it seems to me this has been made an issue by those on the DCA side of the fence.

I take you've never seen a DCA corps. They may not have the 200+ sets or march at 200+bpm or change massive amount of their shows on the whim of a judge , but I've seen, and talked, with friends from other DCA corps. They can anywhere from 100 to 150 sets, they make changes in drill given the time frame they work with. DCA is not for wimps thinking that they can just walk in a learn a show in a few hours. DCA corps work with guiding off each for their show with a few key point sets needed to set the drill, thus the need for hash marks are not AS NECESSARY.

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I take you've never seen a DCA corps. They may not have the 200+ sets or march at 200+bpm or change massive amount of their shows on the whim of a judge , but I've seen, and talked, with friends from other DCA corps. They can anywhere from 100 to 150 sets, they make changes in drill given the time frame they work with. DCA is not for wimps thinking that they can just walk in a learn a show in a few hours. DCA corps work with guiding off each for their show with a few key point sets needed to set the drill, thus the need for hash marks are not AS NECESSARY.

Yes, I have seen DCA corps.

I did not provide any commentary on them either here in this thread.

My point was that this has become an issue in this thread because people have come in saying how DCA corps don't need them, blah blah blah. Why all of a sudden when that cue (from DCA guys) is taken do we not want to have this discussion?

Noone here is trashing DCA.

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My Blue Devils benefitted from george's hash marks!

True, true. I wonder how they would have done without them...

:P

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Yes, I have seen DCA corps.

I did not provide any commentary on them either here in this thread.

My point was that this has become an issue in this thread because people have come in saying how DCA corps don't need them, blah blah blah. Why all of a sudden when that cue (from DCA guys) is taken do we not want to have this discussion?

Noone here is trashing DCA.

Careful, Mike! :rolleyes:

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