Elmo Blatch Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 At this point, many corps (fans, etc.) have come to the inevitable certainty of the final product of the year, and additionally, a pretty good estimate where the corps will finish. When you marched, did you ever come to a point when you felt disappointed because you realized that the corps wasn't going to finish as high in the standings as you originally thought? I realize that the overall score means various things to different people, but still, the overriding feeling that your product isn't as good as you thought it would be is still discouraging to many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGarrett Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 (edited) Well, "throwing in the towel" so to speak, is not in the best interest of a corps or the mindset of a person that age. I know that's not what you are in any way implying that anyone should do... this year or ANY year. But what I'm saying is that if the staff or members of any corps decide "well, that's as good as it's going to get this year..." then the caring stops; the effort stops; the money spent is wasted and the hopeful "ultimate lesson" is lost as well. Naively pressing forward with a gung ho "we can still win this!" would be more than likely equally as "damaging" to ones psyche if everyone around is less than "gung ho" too. To answer your question: YES, I did have a point when I marched where I finally realized we were only going to be in about this or that spot from the way things were playing out. But I never let it effect my desire to do my best show to that date every time. It didn't matter, I was there to compete and perform, and no matter where I ended up in the position of the competition, I was in it for the effort and the "we all together make this happen" thing... Edited July 29, 2009 by GGarrett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortAndFast Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I'm sure almost everyone who has marched was pretty sure of their final placement (at least +/- 1 position) before they marched their last show. I doubt in most cases that it matters much - why would anybody would devote a summer to marching just so they could learn the opinions of 8 guys in green shirts? As opposed to whether they gave some outstanding performances, entertained the audience, put something they are proud of on the DVD, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMKLAVIER Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 When a corps has a bad year, they certainly know it. (We ALL know which corps is thinking that now.) BUT, that doesn't mean they throw in the towel. There is STILL something to prove. Just to move up a bit. Just to surge at finals. Just to show that this is STILL the corps we know. I'm close to certain that the kids still know that they are out there for a reason, and that they are gonna GET IT. (Even if "IT" is 6th or 7th) And yeah, they KNOW that next year they're gonna do something.... Even if that "they" is the design/visual staff. It's possible to look forward to next year while still HOPING for some validation this year. Take it from an 80's Brave's fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvjesse Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 (edited) At this point, many corps (fans, etc.) have come to the inevitable certainty of the final product of the year, and additionally, a pretty good estimate where the corps will finish. When you marched, did you ever come to a point when you felt disappointed because you realized that the corps wasn't going to finish as high in the standings as you originally thought? I realize that the overall score means various things to different people, but still, the overriding feeling that your product isn't as good as you thought it would be is still discouraging to many. There came a point where I (and, I'm sure, everybody else I marched with, and the staff) realized that we were not going to win in 2000. But that did not stop us from putting on an incredible performance. Myron Rosander was quoted as saying that 2000 SCV (finals night) was one of the best performances he had ever seen. I tend to agree, although I'm obviously biased. That being said, with 2000 SCV being such a landmark show and favorite for so many people, would that still have been the case had we "thrown in the towel"? Of course not. Every once in a while, I see a thread on these forums where dozens of people claim that 2000 SCV was one of their favorite shows of all time.... how many 4th place shows share that distinction? Never give up. Always push to the end. Even if you don't finish with the gold, you can still win some hearts. Edited July 29, 2009 by scvjesse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
behold888 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I marched two very interesting years of drum corps: Cadets 2006 and 2007. In 2006, all we rookies thought that nothing could touch the Cadets after 2005. We quickly learned that "history repeats" itself because aside from the 3-peat, they have never done well after a championship year (except 2001). After the season went on, we knew we had show design issues and a young corps. We threw in the towel as far as a championship, but we wanted to be top 4. We finally got there around ATL, but it was up and down with Bluecoats. Then at finals we were seeded 4th and eventually lost to Bluecoats. However, we kept the fire going until finals night with that battle. Let it be known that this was the first time Cadets had come in lower than 4th in 15 years. I had a hunch that would happen... I should listen to my hunches more often... but I digest... On to 2007, the whole season we had the fire in our eyes, just like this year, like we had something to prove. We had traded places with BD a bit, but they kind of stayed on top, until 2 shows before finals, we squeaked by them by almost the smallest margin possible (.025). In quarters, we had the hashmarks debacle and penalties, but we won't get into that. Semis, we had pulled the closest margin possible trick again and then in finals the spread opened up. Point of all this is that we always had some smaller goal to attain. Maybe that's the whole "work ethic" thing Hopkins taught us, or maybe we all just knew there was a job to be finished here, even if competition was in the back of our minds irrelevant, the deed wasn't yet finished. And that sums up the two greatest summers of my life, folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumcorpsfan471 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 For me it was never a "Well there is always next year" it was always more of a "Man I can't wait to get back next year to personally be that much better." So I as always so excited to get back and keep improving my marching and playing through my entire career and was never became complacent with how I performed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPUEuph Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 When I marched I always came into every year with high hopes and a belief that we'd improve upon the previous year however, I also would come in knowing that regardless of how we began our scores would drop as we headed East and we'd end up fighting it out for semis. The exception would be 2007 when we were competing very well back East but I always came into every year knowing that we would only make it so far. Now that didn't discourage me in working my butt off to do my utmost best but though I didn't think about it I knew only so much could be expected. Unfortunately this is part of the reason people would leave my corp as we always witnessed a good amount of "valleys" back East and people got fed up with it over time and moved elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rifuarian Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Well, we usually asked ourselves "Will there be a next year?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
behold888 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 For me it was never a "Well there is always next year" it was always more of a "Man I can't wait to get back next year to personally be that much better." So I as always so excited to get back and keep improving my marching and playing through my entire career and was never became complacent with how I performed. Hey patrick! it's bill from the pit lol fancy seeing you here, how we're both reminiscing about our old cadets days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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