Ya know guys, what do rankings matter?

[Marigaux]

(Only read first post)

When I marched, I really couldn't care less about rankings and scores. I dont know a single score from our entire season and I could MAYBE tell you what we got at finals, but not 100% sure even.

Drum Corps, to me, epitomizes the saying that "its about the journey, not the destination." Scores and rankings only exist to provide a framework for the activity to operate within. Beyond that, they don't matter one bit. And, sure, its always fun to win a ring, but really, would you have enjoyed the season any less if you hadn't gotten bling at the end of it? Would you still have marched the season if you knew that you wouldn't be the next world champion? I know I would have for sure. You only get a few years to do this activity, so you sure as heck better make the most of it.

[Todd Tanji]

(Only read first post)

When I marched, I really couldn't care less about rankings and scores. I dont know a single score from our entire season and I could MAYBE tell you what we got at finals, but not 100% sure even.

Drum Corps, to me, epitomizes the saying that "its about the journey, not the destination." Scores and rankings only exist to provide a framework for the activity to operate within. Beyond that, they don't matter one bit. And, sure, its always fun to win a ring, but really, would you have enjoyed the season any less if you hadn't gotten bling at the end of it? Would you still have marched the season if you knew that you wouldn't be the next world champion? I know I would have for sure. You only get a few years to do this activity, so you sure as heck better make the most of it.

A good summary of what I think the OP was trying to say.

Scores are important for the members and staff to make sure standards as high as they can be.

Competition brings out the best efforts from the kids.

But fans are much better off just kicking back and just enjoying the shows.

Edited July 24, 2009 by BDUFLS

[Todd Tanji]

A good majority of the people posting on this board have not marched drum corps. Most people on this board are 16 years old. The most fervent honks are parents. Granny Smith is not real (I mean, come on, an old person using the Internet? Yeah right.).

So take DCP as it is. If you don't like it, don't participate in it.

I think I have it figured out. Granny Smith is really Anthony Perkins.

[BRASSO]

In my opinion, DCP posters and their comments on the whole here are WAY more tame than we see on just about ANY college sports team message board. Some people might want to spend a week testing out the comments on a ( say )college football message board, then come back here and tell us how the comments we see on those boards re. 17-22 year olders who also are amateurs are treated compared with 17-22 marchers in the " Marching Major Leagues ". And it makes me chuckle to hear how some get worked up on our our 17-22 year olders are somtimes criticized when they are in uniform. Then I contrast this criticism with those 17-22 year olders in uniform in 1968-1973 that got off the plane from surviving the rice paddies of South Vietnam where they were being shot at and landed back on US soil and were subjected to bags of urine being tossed at them and with echo screams of " baby killers " being leveled at them and so forth. It makes me chuckle to read that some people think that a critical comment on a Drum Corps show re. 17-22 year olders is worth getting worked up over. I agree it would be great if all the comments on these shows and the performers were all sunshine and lolipops here. But guess, what ? That's not real life. Life is sometimes unfair. And hearing unfair and unwarranted criticisms is a part of real life. My suggestion for people who don't like to see these Corps and staff and kids criticised on occasion is to simply learn to develop a thick skin and learn to simply chuckle at it all. Nobody's booing them, nobody's throwing stuff at them and nobody's trying to kill them. They are blessed to be spending their summers doing Drum Corps despite a few jabs by a few folks from time toi time on their 11-13 minute show.

[Liahona]

To quote Sean Connery, "Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and #### the prom queen." Sorry to bust your bubble, but at the end of the season there is one winner, and that is whomever places first. You can get all philosophical if you want and talk about how great everyone is for the effort they've put in, and how success isn't measured by placement alone, and I'll agree with you 100%. But in the end there is one winner. Period.

great movie

[Liahona]

I understand ALL of your opinions, and what you think about the situation.

it's the fact that you have people who have nothing but Negative stuff to say,

Noone is holding a gun to your head to remain here and read the negativity either...

[SF2K4]

Can I just say I've never seen such a large group of people opposed to competition anywhere else. I don't mean that to be mean but what happened to that scrapping attitude we all had when we were kids where we wanted everything to be a contest? Yet now in DCI a large number of you act as though scores somehow hurt the feelings of some of the members? What gives?

[CuriousMe]

A good summary of what I think the OP was trying to say.

Scores are important for the members and staff to make sure standards as high as they can be.

Competition brings out the best efforts from the kids.

But fans are much better off just kicking back and just enjoying the shows.

I see your point; I think the collective blood pressure of fans would be significantly lowered if folks just sat back and watched the shows.....but that's not near the fun.

Drum Corps folks are a bit more hands on than that. As a member you get to be hands on by working on perfecting your show; so scores are less meaningful...you know when for the first time in a show you don't tick in a specific area that you've been working on....or when in a show you make a stupid mindless tick....at least for me, that was the stuff I was looking at show to show, rehearsal to rehearsal...the scores were unimportant....it was my instructors' feedback (they also knew what I had mastered and what I was working on) that I was looking for outside of my own analysis of my performance. I don't know any of the scores we got when i marched, not even the years we won....I barely remember our placements (with two exceptions that stuck out for obvious reasons).

But as fans...we can't do any of that, just sit back and watch....so folks follow scores (to the point of analyzing them ad nauseam at times)and armchair quarterback for lack of anything else. It's part of the fun....just like for football, or baseball or whatever else folks follow.

Yes, DCI is a youth activity (which is why I think booing at shows is wholly inappropriate)....but this forum isn't. There's always been negative feedback from fans, I recall having fans stop me--I was in a corps jacket--and having them vent their spleen about our show. Corps administration knew it would happen too...they prepared us for it (BTW, the response to such a vent is to smile and say, "Thank you very much, you have a very nice drum corps."). The only difference with DCP is that it's digital, and allows folks to vent together.

My .02

Peace,

CuriousMe

Edited July 24, 2009 by CuriousMe

[Brigscontrachik05]

Well, I have a slow day at work and some free time, so I'll voice my opinion on the matter:

This is a discussion forum. Vets, alums, paying fans, they all come here to discuss, argue, review, criticize about something they love. It's the whole point. Wherever there is a performance, whether it being in figure skating, swimming, or drum corps, people watching will have an opinion of it.

You can judge them for judging others all you want, but people here won't stop having an opinion about the show that's being performed in front of them, even more if they paid to see it, just because there is hard work behind it from the performers.

As a marcher on the field I never cared for scores or rank, only of my personal best performance. As a fan, now, I do rank corps I see based on my personal preferences. Deal with it.

And I don't believe kids should all receive a pat on the back for the effort either. There is way too much of that today, in life in general. I mean... a 1st grade graduation? Really? "Wow kid, you can abstract paint with your fingers, here is a medal"

Nope. It is young adults performing. They need to have a thicker skin. I appreciate and fully understand the effort behind a drum corps performance, but if the baritone line is out of step at finals, there is something wrong with either the performers or the staff and I'll point it out.

That's how life is.

Of course some are more rude or "classless" than others. It's a social network with all kinds of people. I think you can block the people you dislike here (but I've never tried) so your DCP experience is a little more "puppies and rainbows" like.

Just a suggestion

Edited July 24, 2009 by Brigscontrachik05

[Carl306]

To quote Sean Connery, "Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and #### the prom queen." Sorry to bust your bubble, but at the end of the season there is one winner, and that is whomever places first. You can get all philosophical if you want and talk about how great everyone is for the effort they've put in, and how success isn't measured by placement alone, and I'll agree with you 100%. But in the end there is one winner. Period.

I forgot to add the