Parents Speak Up

[Kekkles]

Also, some of the worst behavior I have ever seen has been at high school marching band shows, where parents from other schools literally trashed the opposition while the band performed. Did this truly hurt the kids?

Part of the problem for the cadets kids is it's aimed at their director. Agree or not, many fans feel the only way to express their opinion is to say./yell things while the corps is out there. But these kids should know going into camp 1 at YEA world headquarters that they are going to a corps that is a target, and to expect it. I have a friend who marched Star 93, the most heckled corps pre the recent cadets, and those kids ate it up.....they thrived on it.

maybe, instead of hop trying to make the kids victims in his postings, he should teach the kids to eat it up and use it to their advantage. When I was involved with coaching sports briefly, when going into a hostile territory for an away game, we told the kids to eat it up and use it to their advantage.

and none of those kids were ever the worse for it

truth. people hated my high school band. not our director, not what we did, just clean cut disdain for our organization. we were always taught to take it as a badge of honor.

very few people condone launching hate at a bunch of kids for pretty much any reason, but it happens. instead of complaining about how rude it is, learn to deal with it, because that's something you can control. you'll never keep everyone who has something rude to say quiet, but you can learn to snicker to yourself at how jealous they are.

[CrunchyTenor]

Any opponent is going to get booed by the Eagles fans in Philly.

The Eagles get booed in Philly. Santa Claus gets booed in Philly!

Garry in Vegas

[year1buick]

The Eagles get booed in Philly. Santa Claus gets booed in Philly!

Garry in Vegas

However, broken necks (Michael Irvin) get cheers!

[Scerpella]

Just saying, i think its a little unfair to use a basically dead pov to justify something based on extremism. Does that make any sense...?

The fact it hasnt been expressed for some time does not mean it is dead. In any case it was simply illustrative of the fact that not only do some believe that corps should not be criticized, anything less than thunderous ovations, even if only for the effort the "kids" put into the activity, is tantamount to booing. If one has been around more than a year, they have seen this beleif expressed a number of times, typically by mothers like the OP who like to think their children must be insulated from the real world, even though they chose a highly specialized competitive activity and a corps which has become synonymous with controversy. Personally I would be embarassed had my mommy told all the bad people who were fans when I marched D1 they had to love me just because. And ultimately Cadet members earn a top three spot year in year out whether fans like them or not. Pretty nice trade off.

[DRUMAJOR]

Parents speak out.

I hope parents from all the corps will post here and relate how you would feel if this happened to your son or daughters corps.

I am the parent of a Cadet .I’m not a musician. I don’t judge shows I just watch and enjoy. It is not my place to tell the directors how to run things. My place is to shell out the $$ and support my sons passion for music. I am at the point where I am afraid for my son’s safety. The venom and hate being bandied around these boards just curdles my blood. It makes me fear a lynch mob will show up at one of the show venues .

<SNIP>

Folks, this writer is a phony. The post is identical in style and content to the attack on the online drum corps community a few years ago. Note the similarity in writing, and the practiced errors of punctuation, trying to imitate an internet newbie.

[IRMO]

The fact it hasnt been expressed for some time does not mean it is dead. In any case it was simply illustrative of the fact that not only do some believe that corps should not be criticized, anything less than thunderous ovations, even if only for the effort the "kids" put into the activity, is tantamount to booing. If one has been around more than a year, they have seen this beleif expressed a number of times, typically by mothers like the OP who like to think their children must be insulated from the real world, even though they chose a highly specialized competitive activity and a corps which has become synonymous with controversy. Personally I would be embarassed had my mommy told all the bad people who were fans when I marched D1 they had to love me just because. And ultimately Cadet members earn a top three spot year in year out whether fans like them or not. Pretty nice trade off.

...from the ridiculous to the absurd.

No one is saying the kids all need thunderous applause and lets say someone somewhere actually did post that I think we have enough sense not to take THAT seriously. Or, at least I hope we do.

Your "typical mother" and "mommy" comments are "typical" of something you'd post wrt the Cadets. But whatever, Dan. I can see how you'd think only crazed mommy types would object to booing where clear minded men like you would rise above such dribble. What gives you away is that you can't even rise above change. ACK!

[JimF-LowBari]

Also, some of the worst behavior I have ever seen has been at high school marching band shows, where parents from other schools literally trashed the opposition while the band performed. Did this truly hurt the kids?

LMAO, got told by the head of the local band parents group I "should cheer for OUR band" when I yelled at some corpmates I saw with another band. Got ye olde "if looks could kill" bit when I replied I cheer for my friends.

Kicker was when a drum tech from yet another school (Jeffs dad) sat next to me during his bands show. Poor guy couldn't figure out why the nutty woman front of us kept turning around with her mouth hanging open.

Kids weren't hurt but our band parents org looked like a bunch of a-holes because of this crap.

Back to On Topic: IMO, yeah ya got a right to free speech. But if using your right to free speech you interfere with the rights of people to enjoy the show, you're wrong. And ya might get punched out (post from a few pages back). Just get a #### hot dog or take a leak.

Edited July 1, 2008 by JimF-3rdBari

[Bruckner8]

During the 2004 season in Denver, my friend and I came up with a T-shirt idea for this problem, but it was mostly aimed at the corps on during the day at Quarters: "YAY KIDS! BOOOOOO STAFF!" Somehow, kids in those corps reached good levels of achievement, in spite of being surrounded by horrible designs and questionable instruction.

However, aren't most of the "kids" in question (ie, Cadets membership) in the 18-22 age group? Legal, young adults, with choices, cars, jobs, responsibility.

I have no problem booing adults, even young adults. They choose to go there. They might even go there BECAUSE something controversial has a high probability of happening.

But I understand how a parent (I'm 44, no kids) would ALWAYS feel bad for a "kid" getting booed, even if the "kid" were a professional athelete.

I look at Top 6 "kids" as professional atheletes. They shoulder some of the accountability for supporting their organziation, and are free game for the paying public's wrath. And I bet they'd agree, and welcome this responsibility. Their maturity, and understanding this concept, is what makes them special, in a good way. They WANT to be on the cutting edge, even if it's originally perceived as unpopular. They WANT to be challenged. They WANT to be remembered as a membership that took a high-risk show, and performed the h*ll out of it.

So don't kid yourselves. These are mature, Young Adults, who will go on to lead this country someday. They can take the heat, even if their parents can't!

[euponitone]

I dont get it. Noone is saying that every corps deserves a standing O. I see some people saying THEY give every corps applause, but noone is taking the POV that everyone should clap for things they dont like. All I would expect is for people not to voice their displeasure during the middle of the show. There are things I dont like either, but I dont voice them loud enough for people around me to hear, and certainly not during the show. I dont know...I just feel like that would be...rude... I'm not even thinking of the 'kids' on the field...I'm thinking of the people that paid for seats. Perhaps I should try to heckle the cavaliers if I dont enjoy their show design choices this year (its an example, I havent seen them yet). Better yet - every person that doesnt enjoy something should make sure to voice their displeasure - after all the performers should be able to handle it right?? I bet that would make for an enjoyable show viewing experience...

In summary - I dont care if you cheer, or get a hotdog, or sit on your hands. You paid for the show, just like I did, and you have a choice. You dont have the right to interfere with my enjoyment of the show any more than I have the right to stand up in front of you and do the chicken dance during your favorite corps' performance.

[Phansouth]

In 2005, sure; in 2006, ok; in 2007, maybe; but in 2008, if there's a member that joins the Cadets to experience unconditional love from the stands, it's a little hard to feel sympathy. They've made a purposeful choice to buy into a controversial experience.

I have to agree with this. Like almost everyone has said, the disgruntlement is toward Hop and whoever decides to overkill narration. But the kids choosing to march there this year had to have some idea of what would probably occur this season. Maybe they were misled to believe this year would be different. I don't believe there are many fans out there who WANT to hate the Cadets' shows. The kids who march there MUST be fully aware of fan$ freedom to voice their displeasure at a product that is so close to being likeable, and then ruined by one bad ingredient. Kinda like the exquisite batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies that has just a little dog doo in them. It just ruins the chance to enjoy them.