truman Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 (edited) And there's the crux of our difference of opinion. I think he was honest without being rude. That is not the debate. There is no debate in regard to the opinions of the local community, school district administration, and band director. Read the comments they made! Edited July 22, 2013 by truman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skywhopper Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 From the amount of times the "50 million dollar school" was mentioned in the replies to his post....my guess is that folks got their nose out of joint because Cadets chose not to stay at their shiny new high school. Hop said: "as the days get closer, it is coming to pass that our housing locations in Layfayette, LA and Ocean Spring, MS Are less than wonderful." So if you had proudly offered The Cadets(!) your brand new school as a housing location, and then a few days before they arrive, the director of Cadets posts this to Facebook. "our housing locations in [your town] are less than wonderful". That's not honesty, that's not expressing that "the facilities don't fit our needs". That's just a plain rude thing to say. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Hop said: "as the days get closer, it is coming to pass that our housing locations in Layfayette, LA and Ocean Spring, MS Are less than wonderful." I know what "less than wonderful" can be translated to about 2 hours east of Allentown. But you'd need to hear the tone of voice or facial expressions to tell better..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Getting what you want 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleveland1 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 My thoughts. Does hopkins hate the south... i dont know and i dont care. Is there southern biggotry in the north, yessir. But i feel it is exaggerated these days compared to what existed in the 1930s... Anyway. Hopkins essentially made it public that he doesnt like touring in the deep south. His reasons may be simply accomodations are always lacking. But saying that does alienate fans of the cadets that happen to live in that region. Cadets have a huge fan base and a lot of alums that are throughout the country. Im sure that ordeal with the Mississippi university band created a group of cadets fans in that region at that time, many of which have now moved on to other parts of the country. But corps tour the deep south every year. Logically these issues hopkins has to deal with are also issues that other corps have to deal with. I dont see it as a collusion of southern high schools and school districts to try and ruin the cadets, is what that means. So why dont we see other corps complaining? Do they do so in private? Or does hopkins have a higher standard that other corps dont have when it comes to rehearsal space? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daave Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Getting what you want Daave's Theorum to the DCI Axiom clearly states, "He who is in a position to cry first, loudest, longest, hardest and most... gets." :tongue:/> 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CuriousMe Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Hop said: "as the days get closer, it is coming to pass that our housing locations in Layfayette, LA and Ocean Spring, MS Are less than wonderful." So if you had proudly offered The Cadets(!) your brand new school as a housing location, and then a few days before they arrive, the director of Cadets posts this to Facebook. "our housing locations in [your town] are less than wonderful". That's not honesty, that's not expressing that "the facilities don't fit our needs". That's just a plain rude thing to say. Am I able to read the entire post, or am I just allowed to read that line? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wadep66 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Well, I've read a lot of comments, and a LOT of generalizations. Those of you citing Hopkins supporters as apologists are missing the point, and those who are condemning the entire Cadets organization because of 1 person's actions are casting a generalization at the corps which is, in FACT, false. I have seen the pot stirrers and those who just love to bash Hopkins at any chance they get. The bottom line here is that a corps director became frustrated by a situation that was not ideal and where he was told he would get one thing (for the corps) and ultimately that agreement changed. If you've every run a top 12 corps you know how big a deal this is. Every rehearsal day can cost a corps or really help. I would think any director would be irate over this. Now, would other directors lash out the way he did? Some might, but most would not. GH has always been very "open" and public with his life, his emotions, his thoughts, and his love for the activity. We may not like his ideas, and most other directors do not blog and FB and tweat like he does, but there are both pros and cons to such openness. Nobody in the activity offers more off-season info and media than do the Cadets. That is because of GH. With the good comes the bad. He can also be very vocal and open when he is upset, and in this case he was clearly wrong, using poor judgement and he demonstrated a lack of good leadership skills. He has apologized to my knowledge, and he has blogged about his unprofessional actions (in this case) as a letter to his corps. I read it and it was quite sincere. Now, is GH the first leader to make a mistake? No. Have all of you made mistakes? Yes. Hell, I've said some sh-t when things have gone wrong with my band program and I'm just glad that I don't FB or Tweat those things. But I'm also not as open as GH is. In the long run, GH knows the South has good reason to be mad at him. Hopefully intelligent people will realize that it was a corps director in a heated moment that made a bad mistake and nothing more. The crudest and less-intelligent will generalize the whole situation and boo the Cadets, make false statements about how the Cadets are classless and complain about rehearsal sites, etc. This is what the uninformed do and it's what less-than-intelligent people do...they embellish, generalize, cast a wide stone, and then place themselves on the perch of "I would never have done this horrible act." Personally I would have been ###### at those schools and at DCI, and who knows what would have come out of my mouth. I can only hope I would not have posted it. Corps directors definitely have a lot of stress and they want the best for their members, staff, and for the benefit of their competitive chances. That's not an apology for GH's actions. It's just a summary of why these things can happen from time to time. Clearly he was wrong. I only ask that we stop casting over-arching stones at the total organization. I have seen and heard far worse in this activity, and with corps that many of you think are sacred. Thanks for stating that so eloquently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 What year did Hop age out of Crossmen? If he was still marching in 79, perhaps the deep emotional scarring of what happened to them at prelims in Birmingham AL has never healed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euponitone Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 What year did Hop age out of Crossmen? If he was still marching in 79, perhaps the deep emotional scarring of what happened to them at prelims in Birmingham AL has never healed. As far as I know, he was still in Crossmen. He was there for 8-9 years or something...not at all unusual back then. I'll ask....what happened at Birmingham ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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