mikespeed Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 1375113010[/url]' post='3297128']Right back atcha! In fact, I probably would prefer to eat with someone who didn't spit so much food during the conversation, that rain gear was required! It's agreed then, we'll get seperate tables. In fact, I think I'll just stay home and bang rocks together. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hostrauser Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 The most raucous booing I've heard in drum corps throughout the years is when a corps (eg. 2013 Blue Devils) puts something on the field that most folks at best "tolerate" and then it's rewarded by the judges as the best show of the night. The elites would have you to believe that the middle-aged couple wearing their Wisconsin Badger sweatshirt, sitting on a seat cushion and eating a brat don't have the first clue about what's good and what isn't. But guess what? Most of them actually do know what is pleasing and what isn't. They paid for the ticket and the only way they can voice their opinion in some cases is to boo. Well, to use your own argument against you: in the "real world" no one gives a crap how popular you are. Your boss won't mind if you're the funniest guy in the office, but if you can't cut it at your job, you're gone. In the REAL world, people only care how GOOD you are at what you do. The popular clique in high school, if they didn't apply themselves in college, are the ones bagging your groceries now. So if that is your argument for drum corps, that it should be preparing kids for the "real world," I'd say the Blue Devils are pretty much right on track. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shempy Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 The excuse of "it's booing the judges, not the performers," is a crock. Whether you want to believe it or not, what you are saying when you boo is "You don't deserve the accolades you received." The age of the performers is irrelevant; it's just disrespectful as a whole. You wouldn't boo at an awards banquet for anything else, why is it ok just because these events are held on football fields? Also, I got a hearty laugh out of Granny calling someone else sanctimonious and then proceeding to elevate their generation over all young people today. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tja273 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Why stop at booing? Some are already shouting obscenities. Let's turn it up a notch and shout more rude things at "the judges", even if the performers ARE on the field (a la the NC TOC show where the members were on the field due to the mass encore). Next, we start throwing things. Hey, we paid good money and need to express ourselves. My two boys and I have season tickets to a local college football team. We attend all of the home games and used to take a trip once a year to one of the away games (whichever one we thought would make a fun trip). We have stopped making these trips, due to the behavior of some of the local fans at these games. I see no reason to subject my kids to that environment. When DCI crowds reach this level (and they seem to be on their way), we will no longer attend these shows either. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plan9 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 (edited) As an aged drum corps fellow, I would never boo the kids on the field. They work WAY too hard to deserve that. I've been boo'd before and as a 19 year old kid (THESE ARE KIDS OUT THERE!!... yes, I'm shouting) I can tell you it rips your heart out. If I could I would boo the judges and the DCI organization as a whole. I'm sorry, I just don't get what the Blue Devils have been doing the last few years. After watching their show last night I shook my head not understanding how the judges are rewarding these shows. Again, no attack on the kids. They perform wonderfully. I keep hearing "clean wins" but come on, if that were true there are many corps out there that are clean and are not in the upper echelon of DCI. My fear is that others corps will start copying BD's success. I can't imagine seeing 10 shows like that on the field. If there is, I am done. Thank God for corps like Cadets, PR, SVC, etc. who keep me coming back as they present some resemblance of "drum corps" not WGI with horns. This post is perhaps the most honest and revealing response to the OP.... (of course we all love Granny, and even if I disagree with the old girl, she doesn't need me to aggravate that bothersome sacroiliac of her's......besides, she's pretty wise too! />). Having said that...some kids internalize negative reaction differently...I'm sure in quiet moments it grinds at them, but then they process it or rationalize it...and move on. As a BD alum (90's I think) posted earlier this year.... crowd negative reaction can sometimes have the reverse effect that you would assume. He suggested that it made his BD corps that much more resolved and focused and unified. I'm suggesting that, not to gode anyone to say..."OK, you want to be more focused? here you go!".........(fill in the guttural sound). But having had several years of being around it very closely, I can tell you that it's all of those things....from personal hurt to a weird kind of elation. Anyway, enough touchy feely! Yuk! A more important point has to do with the booer more than the booee. IMO, BD's show is extraordinarily entertaining...although perhaps not in the company front, big brass, kaleidoscopic drill, peel the enamel off your teeth drum corps that blows Granny's bloomers into the cheap seats. But it's design genius (as many of the half decade BD offerings have been). And what do you think a drum corp fan who is also a judge is going to think after seeing one corps after another over 8 hours do those traditional things (I mentioned above) and then (pulling up the rear) is this perfectly (or near perfectly) executed anomaly, possessing all the qualities of drum corps greatness (superb guard, percussion, brass and drill design)? They will do what they have been experienced to do......judge. There's no judge's "meeting of the minds" conjuring outcomes and political posturing.....hell, you would think just the opposite based on the BS from some fans that has happened at finals in recent years. What would be their motivation? It's just about excellence.....period! If someone doesn't like a show....that's a matter of personal taste....and their reaction is also personal... applaud, don't applaud...stand up, don't stand up....grunt and howl, don't grunt and howl..... or run outside the stadium and scream at anyone who'll listen, "Drum Corps is dead to me"! When ultimately, it's just about placement...same exact shows, but BD comes in 5th or 6th....then it's just a quirky design, something different, not my cup of tea but they play well....end of story... no boos (well, a little booze), no renting of garments or frothing at the mouth. So.....it really isn't about the show at all....it's about the reward, favorites, dominance and wanting someone else to win.....all very understandable. Lastly, there is no indication at all that what BD is doing is going to scar DCI and chase corps into "the World of the Weird" ($1 to BRASSO....I love that). And most importantly............it ain't over til' the fat blogger sings (I'm lookin' at you Boo />). Edited July 29, 2013 by Plan9 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 (edited) People scream and cheer and boo because they are passionate about the activity. If people were not pleased and didn't boo we might as well curtail every passionate response to what we do. If we are going to be competitive then we must accept and embrace that people will boo. At the same token those people who boo will likely be the same passionate fans who will scream and cheer their heads off if their favorite corps wins. The raw emotion proves that this activity is still something people love dearly. I think we need to understand that people who boo are not DCI terrorists who vehemently and single handily destroy what DCI is about. If we don't want people to boo then get rid of the competive aspect of the performance. While booing is in itself disrespectful it's just as important to not over analyze people's passionate gut responses to scores. I don't think people booed after BD's performance so I don't think we should assume the boos are towards BD's performance. I think it's towards the judges opinions. It's a fine-line... Edited July 29, 2013 by charlie1223 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Smith Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 So basically - if people don't want the audience being jerks and booing, maybe the first step is to stop acting like some, or most of, the audience is your enemy. Don't you think on some level their shows (or late) are a bit of a "finger in the eye" of most fans? I'm wondering if the show actually communicates a bit of a "screw you" mentality? This is a sincere question: What do you think the designers are saying? By now they clearly know this style of show is not even close to being popular with the people paying the ticket prices. They have a storied history of COOLNESS but have abandoned it. Is it a matter of "variety" as some have said? Is it simply because they've found a winning formula and are riding that wave? I'm just wondering what those who designed these shows would say is their motivator? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Smith Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Well, to use your own argument against you: in the "real world" no one gives a crap how popular you are. Your boss won't mind if you're the funniest guy in the office, but if you can't cut it at your job, you're gone. In the REAL world, people only care how GOOD you are at what you do. The popular clique in high school, if they didn't apply themselves in college, are the ones bagging your groceries now. So if that is your argument for drum corps, that it should be preparing kids for the "real world," I'd say the Blue Devils are pretty much right on track. huh? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Smith Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Why stop at booing? Some are already shouting obscenities. Let's turn it up a notch and shout more rude things at "the judges", even if the performers ARE on the field (a la the NC TOC show where the members were on the field due to the mass encore). Next, we start throwing things. Hey, we paid good money and need to express ourselves. Heck yeah! Let's throw toilet paper! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 (edited) Disagree. Are you saying that these kids are ready for the real world the same as a 30 year old who's gone through college, worked a job of 10 years, is married with with three kids? I think not. It's one thing to treat them as adults helping them grow, it's another to expect them to be adults. Have you hung out at the mall lately? :rolleyes:/>/> Are you kidding ? Forget " the mall ". Have you gone to a high school or college sports game lately ? I'm not condoning the booing, but thousands of athletes, younger than BD MM's in many cases, are called creatively profane and obscene names that would make a sailor blush, ... and as soon as they get off the bus in the parking lot, thru to the time they get back on it. We've even heard home town school's fans call out the mother of their own 19 year old QB, and they're not heard yelling out complimenrtary things from the stands on that 19 year old QB's mother either. I'm not condoning ANY of this. But for perspective here, the MM's in Drum Corps are treated with MUCH better audience respect in competition than the typical 16-22 year older in high school and college sports is treated by attendees at competition. Edited July 29, 2013 by BRASSO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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