Fairweather Fans

[fsubone]

As this season starts up, and the basketball season just ended, I can't help escape these feelings about fairweather fans. It seems like everyone loves the teams that are winning, but we always seem to forget that there is everyone else around them. After the LA Lakers won last night, everyone turned into a fan, (except of course if you lived in Boston), but all of the neutral fans, or people with no stake in the sport all became fans for whoever won. If the Celtics had taken the title, everyone would have been Celtics fans. It just seems the way it goes, is that everyone likes winning, so they'll become fans of whoever wins until they go south, then it's on to the next team to win. How many people that follow basketball can safely say that they are a diehard Clippers fan, or Raptors, or Jazz? Please speak up if you're out there.

What I'm trying to say here, is to apply this to drum corps, and all of the "diehard fans" that there are, especially on here. Look at your top corps, Blue Devils, Cadets, Cavaliers, SCV, Crown. They're successful, and they have hordes of fans. Now, think about the lower corps, how many honks do you see on these boards for Mandarins, or PC, or Cascades. They don't really exist. I know that alumni make up a huge part of the honk crowd, but would we see the same kind of diehard support for the top corps if they weren't the top? If BD didn't have 13 championships, would people on this board get into lengthy arguments about how amazing they are, and how everyone who doesn't support them isn't right? if say, Cavaliers have a down year, and fall to 7th or 8th, would we see people start to bail on them?

When corps start to do well, everyone seems to jump on the bandwagon. When Cavies picked up this decade, hordes of people jumped on that bandwagon, but now we're starting to see that drop off since their last win in 2006. When Phantom won in 2008, everyone and their mother became Phans, and people still are ranking Spartacus as one of the best shows ever. Now we're seeing it with Crown. They've started making the climb up to the top, they medaled last year, so everyone was looking for their win this year, although the heat has cooled off on them with this new uniform announcement. But the newest example is Madison. When they were falling back, people were bailing from them faster than rats off a sinking ship. Now that they've established this new staff, and before the season even starts, people seem to be jumping on the Madison wagon, and claiming that great things are going to happen with them, and we'll see this stratospheric jump from them this season.

That's the end of my rant, just had to get that all out.

So guys, why do any of you think that this happens? Is it just human nature to only like what wins and is successful, or is it just a sign of the times, when if you don't win, no one wants you?

[TrumpetJ]

I dumped this mindset about 5 years ago when I decided it was too iffy to become of a fan of any particular corps. I was one of those die hard Cavie fans when I first started seeing drum corps just because they won, but then once I got a taste of everyone, I decided to let the shows speak instead of reputations. I think that's why I only enjoyed performing at and not watching BOA is because the finalists were almost always the same, yet I was hardly entertained. Same with drum corps. I honestly could not be a fan of just one corps because they win alot then try to defend a sub par show or maybe a sub par overall corps. That's not to say I don't prefer listening to other corps more than others, I just can't bring myself to pick a corps that I can be a fan of year in and year out.

[rkfdPRphan]

I love drum corp in general and will cheer any of the corps at any time BUT it is different when a corp has your hometown as their hometown. So, until further notice, I remain a Phantom Phan because they are from my hometown. Its been an almost "Chicago Cub" kind of experience until 2008.

But, I would have trouble choosing a corp if there wasnt one nearby.

And, I agree that fans always want to be associated with the corp that is winning....which surprises me that there arent more Blue Devil fans in the Midwest. Guess its because we have so many drum corps that call Illinois/Iowa/Wisconsin home???

[TerriTroop]

I think it depends on why people are fans of a certain corps. I was a fan of SCV in my early years because I loved the shows they put on. I didn't really care about their ranking, though I always liked it when they were up in the top mix. They still have my heart.

I became a fan of Blue Stars for their stick-to-it-iveness. Talk about going through the crucible and coming out bigger, better and stronger. They won my heart.

I'm a fan of drum corps in general. I want every kid to get a good experience out of it. I try to buy souvies from corps that don't get all the traffic. If I see a member from a corps that went on early I'll let them know I appreciated them coming out to entertain me. Those kids win my heart because they're out there on the turf with everyone else.

If you pay any attention at all to most of my posts, I'm obviously a huge honk/homer for Troopers. But if the current administration, design team and staff had come in and basically said "we're done with traditions, we have to be completely different now, sorry folks" I'm not sure how much I'd feel connected to the organization. But that didn't happen - in fact quite the opposite has happened - so they've got my heart until I die or it gets broken.

[megadrive]

I like corps whose shows entertain me.

I don't like corps whose shows do not entertain me.

These corps usually change from year to year.

[Tez]

The reason the corps (or teams if considering other sports) that are winning get all the fans is for precisely the same reason they are winning in the first place. People like greatness. I loved the Boston Celtics this year because of the way they played (major tenacious defense). They were very successful in the post-season because of the way they played..... get it?

Having said that, I agree that I don't understand how people can truly root for one corps over another the way some people do simply because they decided to be a fan of that particular group. If you are an alumni, or a family member of a member, or something closely related, I can understand it, but people who just pick a corps to like, and then blindly find every excuse they can to make that corps seem like the best every year.... I don't get it.

It is perfectly okay to like some corps and be more "fanatic" about them than others. For instance, I generally love the shows that Phantom Regiment and Carolina Crown have put out over the past several years, so I am definitely a huge fan of both of them...... but I never let that take away from my enjoyment of other groups out there. I am a fan of all corps.

On a related note, every year I see so many people trash up and down some corps shows and then rain heaps of love on others. Is there really that much of a difference? The 2009 Blue Devils show was probably my least favorite of theirs I've ever seen live and probably my least favorite of all the shows in the top 11, but I still enjoyed the heck out of watching them. It is still drum corps...... which is better than just about anything else, right?

Edited June 18, 2010 by Tez

[Gbassman5]

i think it's human nature to want to root for or be somehow connected to success. most ppl don't want to be seen as rooting for a loser.

for me, i've loved SCV and Phantom since the first time i saw drum corps, and i'm sticking w/ them. i just love the shows they put out, and are the only two corps whose shows i always watch, but that's just me... i'm sure everyone has their own tastes

[Room_101]

The reason the corps (or teams if considering other sports) that are winning get all the fans is for precisely the same reason they are winning in the first place. People like greatness. I loved the Boston Celtics this year because of the way they played (major tenacious defense). They were very successful in the post-season because of the way they played..... get it?

This is right on the money.

It's not that people are going after the groups with the DCI Championships. They are just going after the corps who they think perform the best shows. It is these "best shows" that in turn usually win the championships!

[wilme861]

Phantom is the reason I got interested in drum corps and I never will bail on them for that reason alone no matter how well they do year to year...

Crown has been my top corps now for the past 5 years as there is just no way for me not to be a fan of the corps I marched with...

If it comes down to Phantom or Crown though, sorry Phantom, Crown is getting my vote!

[2000Cadet]

I've been a Cadets fan since 1995. I became a bigger fan when I marched in the corps. I've been a fan in their down years, and their up years. I don't care where they place. The uniform alone keeps me coming back.