ENOUGH!

[TimbreDeBrass]

In response to the OP, there has been a lot of bashing of one of the 4 above mentioned corps that has hit a young friend of mind hard. He participated in one of these corps and the season for him was quite bittersweet, and not entirely positive. They all deserve their positive support.

[glory]

... perhaps some people on DCP should try to be more constructive and direct with their suggestions. Contact the corps directly with your concerns. Public flogging only makes recruiting and financial support more difficult for the corps whom you claim to support. Anything else is simply talk radio.

Constructive is key - and unfortunately what's mostly missing from DCP.

HH

[IntheMood]

For more than 24 hours, I have been reading (with astonishment) the public airing of grievances by some alleged alums and/or supposed supporters of several drum corps. Bluntly, some folks here on DCP (most of whom are NOT regulars on here) have been trashing the staffs and design teams of the Glassmen, Blue Stars, Madison, and SCV....I assume in response to each of these corps failing to meet their expectations competitively.

I am a Boston supporter, so I don't really have a vested interest here, except to say that this behavior in unconscionable. Look, I get the fact that this IS a discussion board, and that some folks are disappointed or even downright angry with their corps' final result.

Having said that, it really bristles me that certain lap top commandos see fit to come on here and trash these pople. While most of us were spending the summer in our air conditioned homes and offices, these staffs were right there with the kids day in and day out....and in many cases, that probably included members of their design teams as well. I've been around drum corps long enough to know that kids form strong bonds with drum corps staffs....and many of them read DCP. This public dirty laundry display by some folks on DCP is counterproductive for each organization, and frankly, just plain mean.

If you are someone who really does support your corps, try emailing the director, or pick up the darned phone. These kids have had to endure a rough summer in many cases as it was, and to see these "supporters" suddenly showing on here out of nowhere and calling for the firing of this staff person or that is both disingenuous and juvenile.

There are probably a good deal of kids out there for whom this season was bittersweet. Do we really have to make it worse? Seriously?

WOW JUST WOW.....Your post drips with irony considering you support BAC the birth place of some people who were very strong advocates of free speech and some who even gave their lives for the right for one to have free speech....... Right, wrong. or indifferent, here is my interpretation of your post.... You make some assumption that is very untrue...And I am sure you know the old saying about one who assumes...... So here is the rest of the story...$.02 to Paul Harvey....

You assumed that some of the Alumni did not email Brian.....In fact if you would of read all the post you would of seen an Alum who did in fact email Brian not to B*&ch but to offer his help....And to this day has received no reply back....Because you brought this up....At the beginning of the season I emailed a BoD member asking if Brian was still the Corps Dir. because I along with other Alum emailed Brian not to B*&ch but to offer help in our 50th Ann. and received no reply back.......

You clam there were statements made that slammed or came close to slamming CMM's....I challenge you to find a statement from any Glassmen Alumni in both Glassmen threads that even came close to crossing that line...If you can not produce the post then IMHO you own the Glassmen Family an apology for making false and misleading statements...Which by the way goes against DCP guidelines.....

You assumed that most of the grievances aired on DCP was because of the placement of the Glassmen...I challenge you to go back and look at the dates on both Glassmen threads and look at the dates of the post...You will find out that most of the issues were raised at a time when the Glassmen had momentum and was moving up in the standings....Not after we knew for sure they were going to place out of Finals.... The issues that have been raised this year have been festering for years...However you are an outsider trying to look in...The catalyst and what makes this year different then in previous years was how the Glassmen handled our 50th Ann....And more and more Alum are speaking out for the first time in public not in private any more.....

I will concede that DCP should not be the first option when one wants to talk about their Corps issues....However if all forms of communication between the Alumni and the front office for the most part has been eliminated or censored and one cares about the direction of their Corps then DCP is indeed an valid option...Even though you may disagree. I am so glad that DCP is more tolerant of free speech then it seems you are as long as the post stay within the DCP guidelines.....

Finally for you to even hint that some of us who posted and aired some of the issues that are hindering the Glassmen family just set behind the computer and do nothing for the Corps is very insulting....You have no clue how much time, money and resources we have donated to the Glassmen over the years....Once again you assumed and once again you are so wrong in your assessment of the Alumni who posted in both of the Glassmen threads..........

[craiga]

WOW JUST WOW.....Your post drips with irony considering you support BAC the birth place of some people who were very strong advocates of free speech and some who even gave their lives for the right for one to have free speech....... Right, wrong. or indifferent, here is my interpretation of your post.... You make some assumption that is very untrue...And I am sure you know the old saying about one who assumes...... So here is the rest of the story...$.02 to Paul Harvey....

You assumed that some of the Alumni did not email Brian.....In fact if you would of read all the post you would of seen an Alum who did in fact email Brian not to B*&ch but to offer his help....And to this day has received no reply back....Because you brought this up....At the beginning of the season I emailed a BoD member asking if Brian was still the Corps Dir. because I along with other Alum emailed Brian not to B*&ch but to offer help in our 50th Ann. and received no reply back.......

You clam there were statements made that slammed or came close to slamming CMM's....I challenge you to find a statement from any Glassmen Alumni in both Glassmen threads that even came close to crossing that line...If you can not produce the post then IMHO you own the Glassmen Family an apology for making false and misleading statements...Which by the way goes against DCP guidelines.....

You assumed that most of the grievances aired on DCP was because of the placement of the Glassmen...I challenge you to go back and look at the dates on both Glassmen threads and look at the dates of the post...You will find out that most of the issues were raised at a time when the Glassmen had momentum and was moving up in the standings....Not after we knew for sure they were going to place out of Finals.... The issues that have been raised this year have been festering for years...However you are an outsider trying to look in...The catalyst and what makes this year different then in previous years was how the Glassmen handled our 50th Ann....And more and more Alum are speaking out for the first time in public not in private any more.....

I will concede that DCP should not be the first option when one wants to talk about their Corps issues....However if all forms of communication between the Alumni and the front office for the most part has been eliminated or censored and one cares about the direction of their Corps then DCP is indeed an valid option...Even though you may disagree. I am so glad that DCP is more tolerant of free speech then it seems you are as long as the post stay within the DCP guidelines.....

Finally for you to even hint that some of us who posted and aired some of the issues that are hindering the Glassmen family just set behind the computer and do nothing for the Corps is very insulting....You have no clue how much time, money and resources we have donated to the Glassmen over the years....Once again you assumed and once again you are so wrong in your assessment of the Alumni who posted in both of the Glassmen threads..........

Actually, I was referencing all four corps that I mentioned at the outset. The direct reference to Glassmen was only intended as an example. As for your diatribe on me being from Boston and my regard for free speech, that dog won't hunt because there is no element of government control over what anyone on DCP says.

I continue to maintain that DCP is not the proper avenue for internal grievances, regardless of the corps. As for hanging one's dirty laundry in public, you have made my point for me.

[rkfdPRphan]

I think a big part of the problem here is all the hype we read BEFORE the season starts for 'certain' corps.

This hype comes from either alumni or 'persons in the know' and so many DCP readers take the hype for FACT.

Then, when the season fails to live up to the hype, the readers need someone to blame.

They don't know the people who originally posted the hype, so they go after the next best things - the staff and the DCI judges.

After all, the people who hyped the shows MUST know what they are talking about!

Shouldn't THEY?

Even though this was a fantastic year, top to bottom, the readers that took the hype to heart and believed every word are really deeply disappointed right now.

Look at which corps had the most hype this year (and which corps you couldn't say a bad thing about without being crucified). Where did these corps place at FINALS?

....we need to take a grain of salt with all this pre-season hype people and not take so much of it to heart as being fact!

And now the 'hypers' are quietly waiting and planning their posts for 2012, while the readers who took the hype in as fact are complaining bitterly about what they believed was done to their corps.

THIS is a social gathering at DCP and some posters are going to be able to twist words into facts and some reader is going to take those 'facts' to heart and be severly disappointed when the 'facts' don't come true.

[BRASSO]

Actually, I was referencing all four corps that I mentioned at the outset. The direct reference to Glassmen was only intended as an example. As for your diatribe on me being from Boston and my regard for free speech, that dog won't hunt because there is no element of government control over what anyone on DCP says.

I continue to maintain that DCP is not the proper avenue for internal grievances, regardless of the corps. As for hanging one's dirty laundry in public, you have made my point for me.

Craiga... your noble effort to have people consider toning down airing out their very public grievances with staff's design, bathroom facilities, Corps halls, music selection, teaching techniques, etc has gone unheeded to those whom you made such a decent and perfectly understandable ( in my view ) request. There is a big difference ( lost on a couple of posters it appears ) between " Freedom of Speech " and " Wisdom of Speech ". I agree with you that going public with their anger on the current plight of their favorite Corps is an unwise decision and is actually counter productive to what one would hope to be their intended hope for the future... improvement.

That said, if there are fans or alums of a handful or less of Corps that want to come onto DCP and publically trash their Corps in a public forum like this ( after being given feedback of that unwise choice, and the potentially counter productive nature of this airing of dirty laundry ), then by all means let them publically trash their Corps on here as much as they desire. I think its wrong headed too. But hey, its a free country as the poster said, so let him ( or any others so inclined ) rip their Corps to shred on here to their heart's content if they want now. You've spoken. They've spoken. And its all cool. People can do whatever they want from here on in re. the public ( and once private ) display of their favorite Corps internal and/or external dissension within their Corps ranks.

Edited August 15, 2011 by BRASSO

[rmurrey74]

If you have an issue with what your corps is doing, contact the director. If he/she is ignoring you, then go to the Board and follow up from there. I can't see where bashing your corps director on here is going to fix anything and ever cause your relationship to get better. If I were a corps director and there were former members spouting off like this on DCP, I wouldn't answer their calls either. No way.

I personally really liked the Glassmen this year. I'm glad they continued to try to put out the best and fresh product they could without trying to rehash a bunch of old years simply because of an anniversary. Could they have done better? Did they fall short? They would probably agree that they did and I'm sure they realize that a lot of decisions they made didn't work. I also know a good number of the members who said they had an amazing summer and wouldn't trade it for the world.

[cybersnyder]

If my football team doesn't live up to expectations, I'll point out where I think there are faults. Same thing with corps. These are the big boys, not a little league team where everyone gets an ice cream cone win or lose.

[craiga]

BRASSO, ever the diplomat....

I shall now take my sunshine, puppies, lollipops, ice cream cones and whatever other metaphors have been hurled in my direction and fade into the sunset.

Edited August 15, 2011 by craiga

[BRASSO]

If my football team doesn't live up to expectations, I'll point out where I think there are faults. Same thing with corps. These are the big boys, not a little league team where everyone gets an ice cream cone win or lose.

.

Theres an old saying.. "if you're in a big enough hole already, stop digging ."

But if people want to keep digging,.....then keep digging. Its not my shovel and its not my hole.

Edited August 15, 2011 by BRASSO