Blue Devils Reaction to Finals

[WhaddupLOCO??]

I am a BD alum and as much as I would have liked to have won the years that I marched, I was then and still am now more proud of the compliments I receive of the sheer power and performance qualities that have endured to this day.

Were there some knuckleheads that got out of character, and misrepresented the corps? Sure! But there are so many other examples that can be cited of the same types of behavior from a huge percentage of 2nd place corps throughout DCI's history....AND ALL OF IT, REGARDLESS OF ORGANIZATION IS REPREHENSIBLE...and how much you wanna bet that next year's 2nd place corps will do the same? and the next year, the next year, and the year after that-regardless which corps it is....

Now I'm not gonna sit here and say that I wasn't looking to win when I marched, but in no way shape or form was that a reflection of the organization...I AM COMPETITIVE and that's that. I still get ###### when I lose at Madden, Guitar Hero, Chess, or even at the Thanksgiving Day football game that all of us have played on one occasion or another....the difference is I am ###### at myself!!However, I had the sense to know that the winners of the years that I marched, deserved it, and I gave them their do!!

When you practice and perform at the highest levels, not just in Drum Corps, but in school, or at work, there is a competitive aspect that is ever-present....bottom line!

Is there arrogance on the part of BD members past and present? Here's a hint....ABSOLUTELY!!!! That is why we go to Concord year after year.....And if you don't think that future members won't have this arrogance, well then talk to me if and when you are fortunate enough to march there, and prove me wrong!!

Other than that, in the grand scheme of things, it is just still a juiced up marching band show...now excuse me while I go and pay my mortgage.....

[WhaddupLOCO??]

Oh and by the way, if you must compare a sports franchise to BD, I would liken them to the Chicago Bulls of the 90's....those guys knew how to win, and being a Miami Heat fan, I hated em!!!!

[rightofway]

Dude...arrogant ######...really? Look are they ###### about losing by a quarter of a point. I hope so because that is what makes even better corps the next year. Is BD full a bunch of arrogant attitudes...Yep ...always has always will. Why , because they have some of the best GD talent from year to year to year. Now what is unique about BD is their ability to take all these head cases and make champions out of them rather than have them do what they do in some other corps and tear them apart. When I marched I knew some Prime Grade A

A - Holes, but man could they play their butt off. Not only that they were uber competitive and wanted to win and nothing else would do. There were also some guard members who walked around like their stuff did't stink, but you know what they would dance and run on that field even when they were injured and sick and you would be mesmerized by them.

Oh and I remember being in Stillwater in 1983 and getting trashed within ear shot so I could hear by folks wearing Phantom Jackets #####ing about the fact BD winning all the time, so you know what no one is perfect. Oh and if I remember correctly it was a certain corps that complained about the mouth wetting spray we would get before every show causing DCI to inspect it as well. So what if a few folks got a little loud about losing by a quarter point. It doesn't mean they hate Phantom or what they pulled off it simply means losing sucks and they don't want it to happen again.

I agree with you 100%.

Quarter of a tenth of a point, though.

[84BDsop]

FYWW?

F### you....we won

[va9590jm]

There's more to life than "winning." There's more to drum corps than winning. I wish some people would realize that.

You know just as well as I that unfortunately, that seems to be the norm in today's society. To be the best of the best. To win. To be on top. To be the most recognized for what you do. To make the most money. Its what society tries to brainwash everyone into thinking. That's why so many people go from the corps that place lower and move up to the corps that place higher, using the "lower" corps as a stepping stone. In the end, it just hurts those lower organizations, and keeps them there, struggling to keep a steady and reliable membership. And then in turn, sometimes leads to corps folding. Gee...might that be a reason that we see the same few corps win year after year? Probably. Is that why we see fewer and fewer corps year after year? Probably a contributing factor.

[corpsnewbie]

As an age-out member of the 2008 Blue Devils I would like to say a few things.

I rarely read this forum, in fact this is the first time I have been on since finals night. I am deeply saddened and very offended by some of the views expressed in this thread about my corps. First off, I would like to apologize on behalf of myself and my corpsmates for any rude or classless behavior that any drum corps member or fan might have seen from us after finals night. I Play Baritone Good- Judging by your opinions, it seems that the Blue Devils have personally insulted you in some way. I apologize for this, and hope you give us another chance.

I'd like to tell the people who read this forum a few things about the Blue Devils, not the drum corps, but the members themselves. For the past few years the Blue Devils staff have started trying to create a new type of Blue Devil. The types of kids accepted in to the corps recently are a different breed than the Blue Devils of old. The staff are searching for younger kids with a better attitude and higher moral values. Did you know that the Blue Devils have a corps bible study group? There were around 50 members of the group this year. In case you didn't know we had 25 vets in the hornline this year. Mostly 2 years. How many did the cavaliers have? Can you imagine the pressure on all of those rookies, having to live up to the perfection expected of a Blue Devil every day? Hardly the bunch of scary ###### that for some reason most drum corps fans think we are. When I made the Blue Devils, I was shocked at how nicely I was treated as a rookie. Much nicer than my former corps. It's true, we have some members who can be jerks, but doesn't every corps? Please don't judge the entire membership of the corps on a few bad apples. We're doing our best to change.

We all know what happened finals night. Maybe some of you were expecting it. We sure weren't. We were a corps of mostly rookies, we worked so hard to be worthy of just being called Blue Devils. We thought that we had worked hard enough to attain our dream of being a World Champion. We had a chant on the Hound after we learned the score of every show we won. It went like this: "We're not that good! We're not that good!" We believed we could never stop working hard. A corps of rookies. Not a lot of experience, but tons of heart. I'm sorry we don't play emotional music, but don't think we don't have just as much heart as any other corps.

Finals night was truthfully the most heartbreaking night of my life. Not only did we not attain our dream we had been working so hard for, it seemed like the whole world was ecstatic about our failure, as it seems like some members of this forum are. Happy that the Regiment won their first solo championship, but even happier that it was the big bad Blue Devils that had been defeated at the end. It was the first time I had cried since I was 7. Our rookies were absolutely devastated. We felt like we had let Joe down. It was a very hard way to leave drum corps forever. Unfortunately, I will probably remember that night more than the night when I actually won the championship for the rest of my life.

I'm completely offended by the things that some people on this forum can say about a group of KIDS that had their hearts broken. Some of you need to realize that this is not a professional sport, kids make mistakes. Kids say stupid things when they are upset. I could tell you about all of the snide and outright mean things said to me AND MY PARENTS after finals night, but I'm not. I lost my belief in this activity when my father was insulted only for having a son in the Blue Devils. Some of the other corps aren't as "funny" or "clever" as you think by the way.

The blind opinions about the Blue Devils are garbage.

The people who can be happy about kids having their hearts broken are garbage.

Makes me wanna puke.

Yo man, don't let the haters get to you. As a member of a different blue-uniform sporting corps on the field with you at finals retreat, I'd say I have a fairly unbiased perspective. Now I wouldn't know what its like to lose an undefeated season like that at the last second (in fact I'm pretty familiar with jumping other corps in placement on finals haha) but I think I can sympathize..maybe. I have many friends that marched Cavaliers and Phantom and so on, and if anyone said that those corps are classy about competing, you'd be sorely mistaken haha. I've heard it all from from "i hope we cream their ##### next year" to "i was laughing so hard when they lost" etc etc. I've heard people say the Cavies were classy in congratulating Phantom as champs, and vice versa in 06. Well no ####, both corps would've hated to see BD win. Do you really think either of those corps would've congratulated Blue Devils had they held on and won this year? Yeah didn't think so, because they are rivals. On top of that, my roomate in college is a Cadet so I hear him say how tired he is of people hating on them all the time.

Anyways all I have to say is this: While I personally don't enjoy arrogance/rude attitudes at ALL from anyone, I respect the Devil's dedication to being the best. Let's be honest here people, when you've won that many times/been in the top 5 for a ridiculous amount of years, everyone will want to hunt you down. You have to live with having a bulls-eye on your back, its the nature of competition, and yes, this is a competitive activity. When you shoot that high, you have to be willing to fall that hard. I respect that. Just look at Professional or college sports, and think about all the neutral fans that all of a sudden cheered for the Giants to take down the big, bad Patriots (myself included ). America loves the underdog, and the Blue Devils are definitely not that. (P.S. the Texas Longhorns should have rightfully made it to the college football national championship over Oklahoma......extreme bias here lol)

Basically, all you can do is to keep your chin up, try your best to hold your tongue, and come out firing again next year. If it was your age out, rest assured knowing the Corps will rebound.

Best of luck to all Corps in 09, I hope we can somehow top 08 in sheer quality of shows, its gonna be tough

[84BDsop]

Heh, ask Sam about how it feels to lose a ring by the slimmest of margins.

*twitch twitch twitch*

Yeah....it hurt a lot....I was a rook-out....had never even SEEN a corps live until 83 (so true BD rooks DO exist)

I cried in the retreat block....I cried outside the stadium...I cried hearing the crowd go nuts for Garfield's encore performance...a performance that had been ours at the last show before Nats.

I've always joked that anyone who marched 84 Garfield has my ring....but in truth, I got over it shortly thereafter....and six months later I had to admit that I LOVE the show that beat me.

I even have a picture with the 84 ring on my hand, courtesy of 84 Garfield Cymbal-slinger Dave Fowler from when he was out in L.A. for the holidays a few years back.

Yeah...we were ###### at losing by 1/10th -- the closest possioble score under the rules of the day (sound familiar?)...we won brass (let's be honest here...SCV and Garfield tied us!! ), drums (9/10ths over Garfield), guard (although it didn't count in the scores as a seperate caption back then), lost GE (Garfield 9/10th over us), and were 1/10th back in M&M (SCV and Garfield tied for that caption)...it WAS, in fact, the low point of my life....where not an hour before had been the highest...that's the nature of competition.

It's one thing for a corps just getting into the Saturday show to drop from 10th to 12th.....it's another for a multiple time champ to lose by such a close margin...the emotional charge is totally different.

Losing by a tenth sucks at the time....ask anyone else from 84 BD...or 87 SCV....or 93 Star

But if you think BD alums are all always classless....ask anyone from 84 Garfield about the BD member who congratulated them on their win as they marched back to their busses after the encore (they would've been in the front of the line....I said the congrats to Rich Armstrong, their DM...he heard and thanked me).

As for Regiment this year...yeah....I wanted BD to win...more for Joe than for anything else...I got MY thrill wqhen they won in 07 (50th anniversary, a year when I was instrumental in getting the alum group going, winning in California, and only 20 miles from my house), but I HAVE said ON THIS BOARD that I was happy for Regiment....the show was spectacular, emotional, theatrical (with no narration necessarry at any level), and I stood and yelled SUTA at the end durign the theater showing. 08 Regiment was and always will be a worthy champion.

But cust a little slack for those who feel the stung of losing after winning almost all year...that pain is not unique to BD.

[corpsnewbie]

I am a BD alum and as much as I would have liked to have won the years that I marched, I was then and still am now more proud of the compliments I receive of the sheer power and performance qualities that have endured to this day.

Were there some knuckleheads that got out of character, and misrepresented the corps? Sure! But there are so many other examples that can be cited of the same types of behavior from a huge percentage of 2nd place corps throughout DCI's history....AND ALL OF IT, REGARDLESS OF ORGANIZATION IS REPREHENSIBLE...and how much you wanna bet that next year's 2nd place corps will do the same? and the next year, the next year, and the year after that-regardless which corps it is....

Now I'm not gonna sit here and say that I wasn't looking to win when I marched, but in no way shape or form was that a reflection of the organization...I AM COMPETITIVE and that's that. I still get ###### when I lose at Madden, Guitar Hero, Chess, or even at the Thanksgiving Day football game that all of us have played on one occasion or another....the difference is I am ###### at myself!!However, I had the sense to know that the winners of the years that I marched, deserved it, and I gave them their do!!

When you practice and perform at the highest levels, not just in Drum Corps, but in school, or at work, there is a competitive aspect that is ever-present....bottom line!

Is there arrogance on the part of BD members past and present? Here's a hint....ABSOLUTELY!!!! That is why we go to Concord year after year.....And if you don't think that future members won't have this arrogance, well then talk to me if and when you are fortunate enough to march there, and prove me wrong!!

Other than that, in the grand scheme of things, it is just still a juiced up marching band show...now excuse me while I go and pay my mortgage.....

OFFTOPIC.... but there are other Boricuas that march drum corps?! WTF i thought i was the only one :P

i guess we are all naturally competitive hahahah

[Piper]

If you miss a title by 20 points you think "Well, we got our butts kicked tonight - let's go home and work on it". But when you miss one by .025 you start counting all the little things in your mind that might have been, could have been, should have been etc. The close one's always hurt the most. Drum Corps is competetive by design. Anyone who's old enough can probably remember some fights in the parking lot. But in all fairness to the Blue Devils, I can't remember anyone on DCP who wrote that "Phantom sucked" or "BD got screwed". They might have been a bit frustrated, but I've been on that side of the fence before too and I know how it feels.

[DCP-er]

bd 08 = cadets 07 = bd 04 = cavies/cadets 03 = bd/cadets 01 = ......