acolli17 Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 less facebook status updating, more practicing Do they update all that often? I must not be their fan/friend on facebook. So sorry about the Confederation Cup final, by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 No, just saying that Friday night is as far as they are likely to go ... You can read my Stanford review here ... I read your article, and in part, you wrote this: The show is, for the most part, dull as a cardboard butter knife. Rinnnng, Rinnnnng: "Hello, this is the metaphor abuse hotline, what is your complaint?" Pretty cool review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerguy315 Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 Do they update all that often? I must not be their fan/friend on facebook. So sorry about the Confederation Cup final, by the way. haha I have no idea. I just think it's weird that someone who is marching would facebook about their scores, especially in June. US was clearly out of their league in the confederations cup, but played some gutsy soccer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller30 Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 less facebook status updating, more practicing Less standing in line for the payphone after practice, more practicing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acolli17 Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 haha I have no idea. I just think it's weird that someone who is marching would facebook about their scores, especially in June.US was clearly out of their league in the confederations cup, but played some gutsy soccer. Yeah, I know they're not the only ones to do it. I actually get updates from Cadets members far more often than Troop. They played a great first half. Lost their confidence with that goal in the first minute of the second half though. If they can play all the time like they did in the first half, we'll be in good shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peel Paint Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 (edited) Every summer we get breathless posts from fans of a particular corps or show predicting a big move up, as in more than three or four spots in the standings in one year. It's not impossible. It does happen. But it happens much less often than fans of a particular corps or show would like, because 1. Not only does your favorite corps have to have a phenomenal year, but... 2. A string of corps above you have to have years in which they do NOT ALSO improve more than your corps-- in fact, they usually have to have off (weak) years for you to pass them-- two or three corps, yes it can happen, but six corps in a row??-- and 3. You have to dislodge one or more corps in the level above yours (semifinal over quarterfinal corps, finalist over semifinal corps), and 4. The judges have to like your corps' performance skill and show design enough to take any heat from the staffs of corps above you about your advancement. (This one is subtle and hard to prove, but one can argue that this can hold an upwardly mobile corps back a spot or two, especially if you're talking about dislodging a perennial top three, top six, or finalist corps.) Example from critique: Famous staff member: "You think X's drumline was better than our drumline?? How many times has THAT happened in the last ten years??" Rookie judge: "Tonight I did." Big name staff member: ")(*&)(*&)(*!!!!!" It's hard, and the higher you go, the harder it is to defend, as a judge. It's very hard to get all those stars aligned for more than three or four corps above your corps in one season. That's why big moves up, like Star of Indiana in their early years, or corps like Cadets or Cavaliers when they resurged back up from longtime semifinal status to contending-for-the-championship level, occur over several very good consecutive building years. You have to be good enough to retain your veterans and become a destination corps in auditions from your peer-level competition. The fact is, with small judging panels and six corps shows, they may tend to be more tightly grouped in score now than they will be at regionals and championships. Edited June 28, 2009 by Peel Paint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acolli17 Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 (edited) Every summer we get breathless posts from fans of a particular corps or show predicting a big move up, as in more than three or four spots in the standings in one year. It's not impossible. It does happen. But it happens much less often than fans of a particular corps or show would like, because1. Not only does your favorite corps have to have a phenomenal year, but... 2. A string of corps above you have to have years in which they do NOT ALSO have phenomenal years at least as good as your corps has, and 3. You have to dislodge one or more corps in the level above yours (semifinal over quarterfinal corps, finalist over semifinal corps), and 4. The judges have to like your corps' performance skill and show design enough to take any heat from the staffs of corps above you about your advancement. (This one is subtle and hard to prove, but one can argue that this can hold an upwardly mobile corps back a spot or two, especially if you're talking about dislodging a perennial top three or top six corps.) It's very hard to get all those stars aligned for more than three or four corps above your corps in one season. That's why big moves up, like Star of Indiana in their early years, or corps like Cadets or Cavaliers when they resurged back up from longtime semifinal corps to contending-for-the-championship level, occur over several very good consecutive building years. You have to be good enough to retain your veterans and become a destination corps in auditions from your peer-level competition. The fact is, with small judging panels and six corps shows, they may tend to be more tightly grouped in score now than they will be at regionals and championships. I do agree with you, I think it is incredibly hard. But if we were to argue that Troopers are vaguely on the same kind of path as Cadets or Cavaliers, albeit on a smaller scale, I would believe that we are still at the beginning of it. A corps that goes inactive for a year, comes back entirely restructured, starts out at the bottom and quickly moves up the rankings. So yeah, they haven't been at the top in a long time. It's also a lot harder to improve from 16th to 12th than from 20th to 16th like they did last year. But in my own opinion, based on the things that I've seen and heard, I do believe they have a chance at making as big of a jump as they did last year. I'm kinda proving your point, but I do believe that it's less than impossible, slightly less than improbable. They've been making improvements behind the scenes, new staff, new design ideas, an ever growing more difficult book, more interest - especially in the guard, and they're finally starting to pull away from the Americana stereotype that they've been labeled with for so long. Combine all of those facts with the fact that nearly everyone wants to see them do well, and I think that they do have as much a chance as Spirit, Colts, and Crossmen at taking Finals this year. Edited June 28, 2009 by acolli17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinwiz Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 1. Not only does your favorite corps have to have a phenomenal year, but...2. A string of corps above you have to have years in which they do NOT ALSO have phenomenal years at least as good as your corps has, and 3. You have to dislodge one or more corps in the level above yours (semifinal over quarterfinal corps, finalist over semifinal corps), and 4. The judges have to like your corps' performance skill and show design enough to take any heat from the staffs of corps above you about your advancement. (This one is subtle and hard to prove, but one can argue that this can hold an upwardly mobile corps back a spot or two, especially if you're talking about dislodging a perennial top three or top six corps.) Agreed. Troop's got a long way to go. However to your points above: 1. They have a phenomenal show. 2. I've seen Spirit, Colts, and Glassmen live. That's three shows where there is a potential for an upset. I'd even say that there's going to be a "new" Quarterfinals corps this summer. 3. See above. 4. Fair enough. It's very hard to get all those stars aligned for more than three or four corps above your corps in one season. That's why big moves up, like Star of Indiana in their early years, or corps like Cadets or Cavaliers when they resurged back up from longtime semifinal corps to contending-for-the-championship level, occur over several very good consecutive building years. You have to be good enough to retain your veterans and become a destination corps in auditions from your peer-level competition. The fact is, with small judging panels and six corps shows, they may tend to be more tightly grouped in score now than they will be at regionals and championships. Four corps = Finals. And Troop's score was from a full 9-judge panel, and if just look at the spread between corps at Stanford (the only real comparison we can make) then Troopers are in an excellent place. I'm not going to say that they're a lock for Finals, because it's way too soon to call, but this is the first time that the corps has had a chance since 1995. I'm doing everything I can to avoid over-hyping the competitive side of the show and just enjoy it, and I hope that the corps can ignore all of this and just work on cleaning and cleaning and... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peel Paint Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 Guys, I don't doubt it. I love The Troopers. I'd love to see them pull it off, believe me. But hearts operate on one level, and rationality on another. For every 100 times we hear these breathless predictions early in the season on DCP, at least 98 times out of 100, it doesn't happen. The odds are HEAVILY against that big a move in one year, no matter how improved a corps is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesleyrp Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 Every summer we get breathless posts from fans of a particular corps or show predicting a big move up, as in more than three or four spots in the standings in one year. It's not impossible. It does happen. But it happens much less often than fans of a particular corps or show would like, because1. Not only does your favorite corps have to have a phenomenal year, but... 2. A string of corps above you have to have years in which they do NOT ALSO have phenomenal years at least as good as your corps has, and 3. You have to dislodge one or more corps in the level above yours (semifinal over quarterfinal corps, finalist over semifinal corps), and 4. The judges have to like your corps' performance skill and show design enough to take any heat from the staffs of corps above you about your advancement. (This one is subtle and hard to prove, but one can argue that this can hold an upwardly mobile corps back a spot or two, especially if you're talking about dislodging a perennial top three or top six corps.) It's very hard to get all those stars aligned for more than three or four corps above your corps in one season. That's why big moves up, like Star of Indiana in their early years, or corps like Cadets or Cavaliers when they resurged back up from longtime semifinal corps to contending-for-the-championship level, occur over several very good consecutive building years. You have to be good enough to retain your veterans and become a destination corps in auditions from your peer-level competition. The fact is, with small judging panels and six corps shows, they may tend to be more tightly grouped in score now than they will be at regionals and championships. True, but in the case of the Troopers last night it was judged by a full panel... I would say this, they beat Madison a few times last season and flirted with making a run at finals. I think most would agree that the problem with them a year ago was the guard. This year that is not a problem and the corps they will have to beat to get to finals are not necessarily having "stellar" year/pulling away this season so far. It is very competitive year in and out and I would agree that as corps get better it becomes harder to uproot say the top 3, but 12th place? Maybe not... I feel that the gap between the finalist corps and semi-finals corps is closing. In 1997 there were 13 corps that were finalist caliber corps, but last year you had at least 14-15 that at any given year were at that level. I believe this makes more excitement and thus prediction harder. The Blue Star climb for one is an example, the Madison battle with X-Men last year. The Colts going from mid-teens in '07 to place 10th are all examples of how unpredictable the activity has become and especially the race for the bottom tier of finals... I agree with much of your post but feel that it does not apply to the lower end of the top12 and those vying for it... Good discussion points. I do feel that even if the Troopers don't make finals, they are going to be close, it will be fun to watch! Wes P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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