** Food For Thought - DCA Open Class

[Gary Matczak]

You know, like they expect everyone else to do....................................?

Rice

I don't think they expect or even force anyone to do anything,..............all corps choose to participate, don't they?

[Jeff Ream]

In 1966 there were 7 senior and 20 junior corps at the NYS American Legion Championships.

http://corpsreps.com...&showid=1966135

All but 1 senior (Sun) are gone...

At one point (early/mid 60s, I think; I saw a list once) there were about 300 junior and senior competing corps in the State.

Now you can count them with 1 hand.

(Empire, Sun, Fusion Core and.. ?)

The only existing junior I'm aware of is Auburn Purple Lancers, and they're not competing yet.

Of course, one would be hard pressed to find 300 corps in the world any more...

Fusion is NJ

[LegalEagle50]

If the NE corps are "on the same page" and truly interested in growing the organization as you say they are, then why don't those corps travel to shows outside of the NE region to help grow DCA on a national scale?

You know, like they expect everyone else to do....................................?

Rice

Lets see, it's a weekend activity. Which weekend really consists of 2 days unless the very rare 3 days 4th of July weekend makes an appearance. The only 3 day weekend is DCA's.

No one is expecting corps to travel anywhere. It was a choice they made when joining DCA. It seems as if you really don't like DCA so why participate?

[Jeff Ream]

If the NE corps are "on the same page" and truly interested in growing the organization as you say they are, then why don't those corps travel to shows outside of the NE region to help grow DCA on a national scale?

You know, like they expect everyone else to do....................................?

Rice

They don't expect everyone else to travel unless you want to come to championships. Why is championships still up here? The Regions have not proven they can draw the crowd neccesary for regular season shows, let alone finals. They know this. DCA is not going to suddenlybe huge everywhere over night. The corps know this and are realistic about it. You're talking an area that has had corps for 60 years versus areas that have hadcorps for, at most 15 years. Heatwave started it all. The midwest had corps, but were tied into DCM, and most years at bestone corps came in until the last 15 years when Kilties started coming in. Chops and Govies have been in what, since 05?

When the Winston Salem experiment blew up in 05, it set things back. Moving to Annapolis is a step in the right direction. So is having the corps be able to get judged on DCA sheets at DCI shows.

But nowhere is it written that these corps MUST come east during the regular season. So please, stop pushing that myth because it's not true. Given the economy NE corps arent even traveling like they used to, and they are not dumb enough to mandate the othersmust.

sorry to ruin your rant with facts

[Diceman]

Not quite.

From Prelims last year:

Kilties: 83.613

Fusion Corps: 82.188

So that made it 5-5 at the DCA meetings this year.

(add Kilties and subtract Kidsgrove)...

Do Prelims scores count?

I thought it was just Finals scores (Open and Class A)?

[Diceman]

Fusion is NJ

Yeah, I realized that after hitting "Send".

So that makes.. 2... and then only because Sun just came back...

(Sigh)

[Jeff Ream]

Yeah, I realized that after hitting "Send".

So that makes.. 2... and then only because Sun just came back...

(Sigh)

PA is down to 1.

In the past, I'd have been able to hit several local shows by now. This week I finally get to my first.

[oldephard]

A corps is started in Cleveland, OH. However, they decide that in order to grow the activity in their part of the country, they divide their corps into two. One is based out of Cleveland, the other is based out of Canton, about an hour South of Cleveland. These corps work in conjunction with each other, even though they compete against each other, and are supported by DCA as much as possible ($$$, promotion, help with running shows, etc) and grow over a period of a few seasons. Then they both work to start another sattelite corps in two more towns about an hour or two away, maybe Toledo and Columbus. Now you have 5 corps from Ohio that are close enough to each other to each host a show with the other 4 attending. They are also close enough to the Midwest corps that they could have a DCA Midwest Championship in Chicago with 8-10 corps attending. Include some DCI corps and you would have a great regional championship show.

[rwrice]

So essentially you hope that the Rules Congress votes what shows corps participate in? Is that what you think should be done?

No.

I would however like to see the "requirements" applied evenly to all DCA corps.

Example:

DCA requires that a corps participate in at least three shows throughout a season to be "allowed" to participate in the championships show at the end of the year. This requires a lot of travel expenses for the non-NE corps due to the tremendous distances between them and effectively has created an uneven playing field in DCA, at least financially speaking.

Suggestions:

Require that all DCA corps participate in at least one show outside of their region in order to be "allowed" to participate in the championship show. This would help grow the organization on a nationwide scale and establish a fan base outside of the NE. Unfortunately, this puts additional travel requirements on some non-NE corps (California) and further aggravates an already unfair financial arrangement.

Or, DCA could single out the NE corps as a group and require that only they travel outside of their region for at least one show per year due to the fact that all other DCA corps have to travel to their region once a year for the championships. However, I think I already know how that would be received.

Is this the only way to get the NE corps to travel outside of their region?

You people say you want to see DCA grow? Prove it. Put your money where your mouth is.

Rice

[TomPeashey]

No.

I would however like to see the "requirements" applied evenly to all DCA corps.

Example:

DCA requires that a corps participate in at least three shows throughout a season to be "allowed" to participate in the championships show at the end of the year. This requires a lot of travel expenses for the non-NE corps due to the tremendous distances between them and effectively has created an uneven playing field in DCA, at least financially speaking.

Suggestions:

Require that all DCA corps participate in at least one show outside of their region in order to be "allowed" to participate in the championship show. This would help grow the organization on a nationwide scale and establish a fan base outside of the NE. Unfortunately, this puts additional travel requirements on some non-NE corps (California) and further aggravates an already unfair financial arrangement.

Or, DCA could single out the NE corps as a group and require that only they travel outside of their region for at least one show per year due to the fact that all other DCA corps have to travel to their region once a year for the championships. However, I think I already know how that would be received.

Is this the only way to get the NE corps to travel outside of their region?

You people say you want to see DCA grow? Prove it. Put your money where your mouth is.

Rice

"Example:

DCA requires that a corps participate in at least three shows throughout a season to be "allowed" to participate in the championships show at the end of the year. This requires a lot of travel expenses for the non-NE corps due to the tremendous distances between them and effectively has created an uneven playing field in DCA, at least financially speaking."

now he's making things up... this is NOT true...