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ESPN2 (the review)


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Or, IMOO (in my opinionated opinion)!

Bobbie'

I think I'll just post my review here.

BOO! 2 minutes of drum corps and 7 minutes of commercials. wash, rinse, repeat.

There was a time, when PBS showed everything that happened ALL DAY, live! :D

Then it was cut down to just the top 12, but their WHOLE SHOWS! :)

Then it was cut down to highlights of the top 12, but the winners WHOLE SHOW! :laugh:

Then ESPN cut it down to just highlights of the night. :blink:

They can show a car doing 500 laps at a race track, but can't show even ONE corps entire 11 minutes on a field. What's next? They just announce the scores and show commericals for 30 minutes?

Edited by apoch003
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I thought the program was awesome.

In fact, here's a little story that a bunch of die-hard fans who yearn for the good old days of 15hr live broadcasts for free won't want to hear.

My mother called me today to tell me she watched the show on ESPN2 last night. She actually called me during the commercials last night, too but I had my phone turned off... so I also have a string of voice mails from her.

A little history, my mother has never been "into" drum corps. She has often loudly commented about how she couldn't wait until I "outgrew this phase" and started behaving like an adult in the summer for once. She was NOT a fan -- even after all my 20-something years involved. She tolerated it, but just barely.

So.. fast-forward to today. She calls me at work and she's positively GUSHING about the show. She said she didn't even know it was on but came home just a little after it started and sat down and watched the whole thing.

She said, "I loved the bit of background they gave about each group" (she knows better than to call them bands.. though I know she wanted to) "and then they show you some of their show.. It was really exciting! I even called my neighbor!"

In her voicemails last night, she had me and my friends chuckling about "the North Carolina Crown" and "the Phantom Regimentals" and how good their precision was.. and how she liked their guard uniforms.

So today, after we talked about it for a little bit, I asked her who her favorite was. She told me she "really liked Blue Knights because of their uniforms" and then (oh my god, batten the hatches folks, a total non-fan response about to hit the fan) she said, "but I REALLY loved the Cadets! I liked how they said it straight out and then they were playing all that fun music and going so fast!"

I swear to you I am not making this up. My mom LIKED the Cadets AND SPECIFICALLY their narration. O. M. G. :o

It is fair to say that my mom grew up in North Jersey but never heard of Garfield or Holy Name or even CBC until I discovered them in 1984.. so I suspect she went in liking them because of the Jersey roots talked about in the little preamble.. but then they knocked her socks off.

She said that.

She said they knocked her socks off.

My 60-something year old (oh Lordy, don't anybody tell her I almost posted her age) mother who has only ever been a drum corps "tolerator" even said to me, "I think I might like to see a show next season if it's that good."

That's where I almost had to pick myself up off the floor.

I have taken my mom to shows in the past. She sat through them.. always wanted to leave early.. complained about the heat.. really never liked it much... all the while I kept telling her, "wait.. the next corps is really really good..." and through her crossed arms and single arched eyebrow, I knew I wasn't getting anywhere.

Then she saw it on ESPN2 and she got herself a little hooked.

Thank you DCI and ESPN2 for finally showing my mom what drum corps is in a way that made sense to her. Thank you for helping her finally see that it really IS something she can actually enjoy with her daughter -- not just tolerate.

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I think I'll just post my review here.

BOO! 2 minutes of drum corps and 7 minutes of commercials. wash, rinse, repeat.

There was a time, when PBS showed everything that happened ALL DAY, live! :D

Then it was cut down to just the top 12, but their WHOLE SHOWS! :)

Then it was cut down to highlights of the top 12, but the winners WHOLE SHOW! :blush:

Then ESPN cut it down to just highlights of the night. :huh:

They can show a car doing 500 laps at a race track, but can't show even ONE corps entire 11 minutes on a field. What's next? They just announce the scores and show commericals for 30 minutes?

OK Old Man....time to take your meds and change your diaper.

Did they have a 5 hour live broadcast from quarterfinals on the big screens of movie theaters in your day?

Did they have live streaming of Semi-finals on your computer...err typwriter?

Did that offer DVDs with multiple audio tracks, commentaries, camera angles and more?

Did they broadcast on a prestigious network like ESPN that made our goofy little activity seem a little less nerdy to the rest of the world because we were on the same channel the cool jocks watch?

Didn't think so. See you at Denny's for the early bird special.

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I thought the program was awesome.

In fact, here's a little story that a bunch of die-hard fans who yearn for the good old days of 15hr live broadcasts for free won't want to hear.

My mother called me today to tell me she watched the show on ESPN2 last night. She actually called me during the commercials last night, too but I had my phone turned off... so I also have a string of voice mails from her.

A little history, my mother has never been "into" drum corps. She has often loudly commented about how she couldn't wait until I "outgrew this phase" and started behaving like an adult in the summer for once. She was NOT a fan -- even after all my 20-something years involved. She tolerated it, but just barely.

So.. fast-forward to today. She calls me at work and she's positively GUSHING about the show. She said she didn't even know it was on but came home just a little after it started and sat down and watched the whole thing.

She said, "I loved the bit of background they gave about each group" (she knows better than to call them bands.. though I know she wanted to) "and then they show you some of their show.. It was really exciting! I even called my neighbor!"

In her voicemails last night, she had me and my friends chuckling about "the North Carolina Crown" and "the Phantom Regimentals" and how good their precision was.. and how she liked their guard uniforms.

So today, after we talked about it for a little bit, I asked her who her favorite was. She told me she "really liked Blue Knights because of their uniforms" and then (oh my god, batten the hatches folks, a total non-fan response about to hit the fan) she said, "but I REALLY loved the Cadets! I liked how they said it straight out and then they were playing all that fun music and going so fast!"

I swear to you I am not making this up. My mom LIKED the Cadets AND SPECIFICALLY their narration. O. M. G. :o

It is fair to say that my mom grew up in North Jersey but never heard of Garfield or Holy Name or even CBC until I discovered them in 1984.. so I suspect she went in liking them because of the Jersey roots talked about in the little preamble.. but then they knocked her socks off.

She said that.

She said they knocked her socks off.

My 60-something year old (oh Lordy, don't anybody tell her I almost posted her age) mother who has only ever been a drum corps "tolerator" even said to me, "I think I might like to see a show next season if it's that good."

That's where I almost had to pick myself up off the floor.

I have taken my mom to shows in the past. She sat through them.. always wanted to leave early.. complained about the heat.. really never liked it much... all the while I kept telling her, "wait.. the next corps is really really good..." and through her crossed arms and single arched eyebrow, I knew I wasn't getting anywhere.

Then she saw it on ESPN2 and she got herself a little hooked.

Thank you DCI and ESPN2 for finally showing my mom what drum corps is in a way that made sense to her. Thank you for helping her finally see that it really IS something she can actually enjoy with her daughter -- not just tolerate.

Thank you very much Not Jennifer. :) I'm sorry, but I don't know your real name. You took a good deal of time to share your thoughts in your post. And, you captured EXACTLY the objective of the ESPN broadcast. well said, thank you again for sharing.

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You'd better get her behind the Green team if she's gonna go to shows with ME!!!!! B)

HAHAHA!

Honey, I'll let you duke that out with HER. :) (p.s., she talks a big game but she can't hold her liquor..unlike her daughter :blush: )

:huh:

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it sucked.

Wow, there is my immature answer.

If DCI really wants to bring in more folks, show at least the full shows of the top 6.

Too many commericials, not enough substance.

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OK Old Man....time to take your meds and change your diaper.

Did they have a 5 hour live broadcast from quarterfinals on the big screens of movie theaters in your day?

Did they have live streaming of Semi-finals on your computer...err typwriter?

Did that offer DVDs with multiple audio tracks, commentaries, camera angles and more?

Did they broadcast on a prestigious network like ESPN that made our goofy little activity seem a little less nerdy to the rest of the world because we were on the same channel the cool jocks watch?

Didn't think so. See you at Denny's for the early bird special.

1.. They didn't need to. It was on PBS.

2.. Live streaming of the semi-finals.. THAT YOU HAVE TO PAY TO ACCESS.

3.. They had this thing called video tape. It wasn't as good as a dvd, I'll grant you.

4.. PBS isn't a prestigious network? Perhaps you should look up the word, young man. "esteemed: having an illustrious reputation; respected".

Somehow, cheerleading championships and golf don't fit that category to me.

5.. How many "cool jocks" watch ESPN ------- TWO?

It's nice to know you like to go to Denny's too. I look forward to seeing you there.

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1.. They didn't need to. It was on PBS.

<snip>

Somehow, cheerleading championships and golf don't fit that category to me.

Here's a "did you know" for ya..

Did you know that PBS didn't want to carry DCI's broadcast anymore? Do you know why? I do! Their ratio of pledges to payments from OUR FANS was positively DISMAL. Fewer and fewer PBS affiliates were willing to even give it the time of day on their air because it represented too big a block for too little dividend.

I clearly remember living in a market that DIDN'T carry it for too many years.. so my nightmare was finding someone who'd taped it in theirs or forking out the money for the less than stellar VHS tapes of the full finals -- which I almost never wanted. I always wanted to watch the broadcast with the backstories and the "on the road again" segment.. so it was ANYTHING but 'readily available' simply because it was on PBS in certain markets.

IMIO, the broadcast is WAY better now!

And I started thinking about this last night on the drive home from work: I wonder how many die-hard cheerleading fans and former participants look at the broadcasts they see on ESPN for THEIR hobby of choice and find themselves all up in arms because it doesn't show ALL levels of their activity and it doesn't give ALL of what they, as die-hard fans, would prefer to see.

food for thought.

Edited by ScribeToo
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