A Drum Corps Blind Spot

[Jeff Ream]

turned out well for them too. But hey, keep amusing me with all your "examples"

Hey, why stop with Belichek. When it comes to attire, " they mocked " the Messiah nationwide too, big deal.

[BRASSO]

turned out well for them too. But hey, keep amusing me with all your "examples"

Well, I'd say it's... inconclusive...( for the attire critics of The Messiah ) that " it turned out well for them ". That said, I'm pretty confident that clothing choices has been " put on the back burner " for most of'em at this juncture.

Edited May 11, 2010 by BRASSO

[Jeff Ream]

i was being sarcastic about how it turned out for them

[BRASSO]

i was being sarcastic about how it turned out for them

Ok..got it.

Edited May 11, 2010 by BRASSO

[corpsband]

he's also been fined personally, as well as the team for breaking rules. do you really want to go there Mike?

I despise the guy. But he's one of the very best at what he does. I don't think anyone matches him in halftime adjustments. But the fines were NOT for dressing bad. That makes them completely irrelevant to the point at hand ( dress code <=> excellence).

And there's an endless supply of examples in other activities -- you just happened to mention football. You're commentary on Belichick so far does nothing to invalidate my point. He's on every list of top coaches in the NFL and he dresses like a slob on the sideline. In fact that's how he dresses at work all the time. So I guess it's pretty much not important ie. who cares!

I agree staff should not be obscenely or indecently clothed. And sure it "looks nice" to see a coaching staff all in their teamware. On the flip side I've seen many a "professionally dressed" band staff and in nearly every case their band sucks. Why? Because their priorities are WAY messed up. Staff dress code is so far down the priority list that no one should have the time and/or resources to address it. Why? Because OTHER more important things are occupying their time. Maybe Belichick feels he has more important things to do than worry about how he dresses for football games. Maybe he is occupied with more important things too! He wears clothing appropriate to the activity (just like DC staff). His players are not adversely affected (just like drum corps). In fact I'd go so far as to say that dressing in "work clothes" sends a positive message to his players (we're here to be excellent not look pretty -- lets get down to business). Gee I wonder what drum corps kids would think if their staff (a) cut practice short so they could dress up for every show (b) didn't run warmups because it might affect their image © didn't go in to watch shows because they don't matter once you go through the gate.

For some reason I get the feeling that a lot of the dress code nazi's here are pretty far out of touch with how things work on a day-to-day basis in today's junior corps. Even just "throwing on a polo" would involve acquiring and laundering a *lot* of shirts (unless you want the polo's to be wrinkled stinky messes -- and that would be worse than the current situation). That takes space, money, time, and manpower all of which are stretched to the limit at most corps. Could they figure it out? Undoubtedly they could. But in the cost/benefit equation it just wouldn't come close to balancing. In fact all it would do it satisfy a few people who "choose" to offended by what staff wears now. It's just not worth it. There are better uses for the time and money. If drum corps were the NFL I'd be on the other side of this. In the NFL it's a detail worth pursuing (despite Bill Belichick proving that it doesn't matter in any significant way). But those are exceptionally well-funded organizations -- pretty much the polar opposite of a drum corps.

If the dress code nazis on here want to hand clean staff polos to each staff just before they get to the gate for every single show I suspect you could get the staff to look pretty. Otherwise IMHO it's a low enough priority just to say "who cares".

[Jeff Ream]

well Mike, I've seen band staffs dressed to the 9s or in matching purple and gold sweat suits that their band rocked as well.

look...DCI is trying to create more of an image to attract sponsors. While maybe music manufacturers may be ok with it, maybe companies like Nike, Under Armour etc may not be. So, maybe, settling for however they look may be good to some, it may be hurting DCI in the eyes of others...like those willing to fork out bucks.

is that shooting for excellence?

[Kamarag]

Comparing DCI staffs to NFL coaching staffs only works to a certain degree. The main difference? NFL coaching staffs are paid well, and are *provided* with game-wear by the league's uniform and apparel sponsor, Nike. NFL coaches are also seen on national television on a regular basis, corps staffers are not.

Now if my corps or DCI had an endorsement deal with a clothing manufacturer, I'd happily wear any gear they provided and cared for. But that's simply not realistic. I'd much rather see my corps buying new equipment or reducing member fees by a few dollars rather than buying enough logo gear for our staff to wear every night (in lieu of a clothing sponsor).

I still believe this alleged problem is way overblown. While there mat be staff members of some corps somewhere that didn't dress appropriately for a DCI show, I haven't seen it. Without exception every single corps staffer I saw in 2009 looked fine, every single night.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Kamarag

[corpsband]

well Mike, I've seen band staffs dressed to the 9s or in matching purple and gold sweat suits that their band rocked as well.

look...DCI is trying to create more of an image to attract sponsors. While maybe music manufacturers may be ok with it, maybe companies like Nike, Under Armour etc may not be. So, maybe, settling for however they look may be good to some, it may be hurting DCI in the eyes of others...like those willing to fork out bucks.

is that shooting for excellence?

Let's make some assumptions...

A. Sponsors are unhappy about staff dress

B. Sponsors tell DCI about it.

C. DCI tells the corps.

D. Staff continue to appear the same.

What can you infer from this?

Options

(choose 1 -- feel free to add)

1. Staff ignores corps management

2. Corps mgmt ignores DCI

3. DCI ignores sponsors

4. Staff thinks they *are* dressing up

5. Maybe it's not so simple

Which is it?

[BRASSO]

well Mike, I've seen band staffs dressed to the 9s or in matching purple and gold sweat suits that their band rocked as well.

look...DCI is trying to create more of an image to attract sponsors. While maybe music manufacturers may be ok with it, maybe companies like Nike, Under Armour etc may not be. So, maybe, settling for however they look may be good to some, it may be hurting DCI in the eyes of others...like those willing to fork out bucks.

is that shooting for excellence?

You know what attracts sponsors more than a few well dressed staff in polo shirts ?

Fannies in the seats. And the more of 'em the better. Preferably fannies covered in great looking duds, but they'll make allowances even for that if the fans in those seats ( well dressed fans or not so well dressed fans ) can make the cash register open up, and go.. kaching, kaching ... over and over again for that sponsor.

Edited May 11, 2010 by BRASSO

[Jeff Ream]

fannies in the seats happens when a) the economy is better, and 2) long time fans start to trickle back in...with music budgets being cut at schools daily, we wont have much of a following there much longer.

and Mike...if DCi ignores sponsors, then they only have themselves to blame.