jjeffeory Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Ah yes: the "inflation" argument. Or to be more precise, when a corps is consistently dominant early season to nearly every other corps they see on a regular basis. Their closest "competition" tonight was Madison Scouts, who is no where NEAR the level of BD, who were nearly 10 pointed! They scored an 84.9 last night over Cavaliers 81. For a judge, when a corps is that much better than the next-closest corps, it's easy to pop a huge spread, and do that X5 and before you know it the overall number is high. Once Devs go up against Cadets and Crown, we'll see where the numbers/spreads are I guess. Here's the thing. They supposed to be using the "Boxes" to help them derive a number., so their score should really be that much off from their competitors at other shows. To let their score get that high, they MUST be that good, or the judges are just being goofy. I dunno, I'm going to fly up to Wisconsin tomorrow. I'll see them in the Midwest ( after seeing them sorta at Riverside). Should be fun to see if I think they really improved all that much in a week, not that my opinion means squat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleveland1 Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I don't understand the hate that has gone OP's way. Yes, full panels would be nice. But not every west coast show even has full panels, most of them do not. It seems ridiculous to say "lets trade... full panels at all shows for a west coast tour" when its not even something that is tradeable. While there may be slightly less shows in the first few weeks, i think they can still do a lot of shows. Not considering how much driving is done at night. If you start in socal, there are a lot of shows you can do. The difference is there wont be 3 shows per night. And i feel the frustration of OP. I live in Columbus OH. There is a show in columbus that features most west corps (substituting madison for crossmen and no BD) Im also a 2 hr drive from akron where i saw all 7 top 10 corps that are on the east. And then there were two other shows in ohio where i could see some of these corps again, but with troopers or spirit. And then massillon is a TOC event this year and will feature all the G7 minus BD and Cavies, plus Boston and Madison. Right before finals when corps are at their best. And an open class show that features many of the top OC corps. All of these shows are not more than 3 hours from me. And i can see every major corps except BD, Crossmen, Oregon, Colts, Academy, Mandarins, Pioneer. And 2 of these shows are in the final weeks of the tour. Where OP only sees the corps in the first couple weeks when the quality is not quite there. And i also live 3 hours from finals. Where i can see every corps perform if i want. And its been like this for several years now. I know when i've got it good. I wish others could have it good as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I'll apologize ahead of time for the rant that is about to follow, but I feel like venting about something. I always appreciate it when an eastern corps makes the trip out west to start the season, like Crown and BAC have recently (and The Crossmen this year ... although they are based west of the Mississippi). But lets be honest ... these corps are only doing something once every decade or so that BD, SCV, BK, etc. do every single year. People claim that it is too expensive to have all the eastern corps travel to the west coast each year, but that is exactly what the western corps do every year and they don't seem to be struggling more than anyone else. When I lived in Virginia, I attended the DCI show in Salem where I could usually see six or seven corps, including three or four corps that were likely to be DCI finalists for $30. Last time I went, I saw Crown, The Cadets, and BD in the same show for $30. Salem is near Roanoke and there are about 300,000 in the area. If I couldn't attend that show, I could travel a few hours in the other direction and attend a similar show in Northern Virginia. Now, I live in Utah, and for the same price as the Salem, VA show I can see a show with a SCV, BK, and several open class corps and world class corps that are unlikely to be finalists. BD is even skipping the Ogden show this year (they will be in Illinois on the same night). I don't mean any offense to the corps that will be at Ogden this year. I am very excited to see them perform and am happy to pay $30+ to see them, plus money spent on concessions and other souvenirs. With that said, I would be willing to pay even more to see the corps at the very top of the activity. Ogden is near Salt Lake City on the Wasatch Front where over 2,000,000 live. I've been to the Ogden show for two years in a row before that, and it is always packed. High School students come from as much as 2-3 hours away, or more, to see the show. The next closest show is in Denver, which is 8 hours away. The first year I went to the show, I didn't get tickets until about a month before the show and all the best seats were sold out. I had to settle for tickets on about the 20 yard line. Last year I ordered tickets as soon as they were on sell in order to get closer to the 50 yard time. When I bought tickets in the first week, the center section of the stadium was almost sold out already. This was during the height of the recession. I just checked if there were still tickets available to the show this year (next week) and was able to buy four tickets right next to each other in the same row on the 50 yard line. Clearly tickets are not selling as well this year as they have the last couple years. I don't understand why DCI neglects everyone west of the Mississippi. There are a lot of fans in the west and several storied drum corps with a long history of success in the activity. California is the most populous state in the country. The population of other western states is growing rapidly. The handful of shows that are in the west are well attended, and that is without a full lineup of top corps. It seems to me that DCI is leaving a lot of money on the table, and missing out on a large potential fan base, by refusing to support any major shows in the west. The claim that it is too expensive to have corps travel west does not hold water, as the western corps travel to the east coast every year (including non-finalist corps like The Academy and the Mandarins). There should be a major DCI show (where nearly every corps attends) in the bay area and Denver every single year. I know this will cause some of the early eastern shows to go away, but so much more will be gained by having a true national tour. It is just common sense. If we could still give thumbs down, I would welcome as many thumbs down as you want to give. I know this post is annoying, but it is the one thing that I feel the need to get on my soapbox about. I love nearly everything else about drum corps. This is what happens when you are locked into the finals location for many years in a row. I remember wailing and gnashing of teeth and prognostications of west neglect when the Oilcan contract was signed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilme861 Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 The biggest hurdle is just the sheer distance the east coast corps would have to travel during their spring training. It takes almost about 5 days to get from the east coast to the west in DCI. So for a June 18 (ish) opening show, corps on the east coast would need to leave their spring training facilities around June 11 or earlier to start making the trek west. That's 7 more days of touring you have to account for in your budget with food, buses, staffing, volunteers, etc... Then you have to find schools to house you every day between the east coast and west and they have to have suitable practice facilities for you to use. Oh yeah and hopefully they are done with school by that point too. It's a lot of work to pull all that off and I just don't see it happening anytime soon if ever. It does suck for the west coast folk but it just won't happen unless finals is on the west coast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Maybe the folks who live out west should simply move to the midwest! We've got room for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMcomguy Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I don't understand the hate that has gone OP's way. Yes, full panels would be nice. But not every west coast show even has full panels, most of them do not. It seems ridiculous to say "lets trade... full panels at all shows for a west coast tour" when its not even something that is tradeable. Really? What recaps have you been looking at? EVERY California show in June had full panels. With 2 to 3x as many shows hosted out East, only TWO total events had full panels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleveland1 Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I was looking at arizona and oregon as well as the rest of the shows leading up to DATR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmc5682 Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Full judging panels have nothing to do with what this rant was about! The fact is, it is not fair that drum corps fans on the west coast only get to see early versions of only a few top World Class drum corps every year live. There have been a couple exceptions when Finals were in Denver and Pasadena (I am not counting the Tour of Champions that happened one year after Finals). Unfortunately, complaining about it will not change anything. Nothing is going to change until the contract with Lucas Oil is up. Maybe DCI will throw us a bone and have Finals out here again before they sign another long term agreement. It is what it is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDCorno Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) IMcomguy...boy, YOU sure are sour grapes. Ever entertain the possibility that BD are actually that good? Did you attend a show they've been at? If you're watching video, it's not the same. Comparing one year to the next score wise is ridiculous anyway. They're constantly tinkering and messing with the system, so there really isn't any relation. Quit your whining. Edited July 4, 2014 by BDCorno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMcomguy Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 IMcomguy...boy, YOU sure are sour grapes. Ever entertain the possibility that BD are actually that good? Did you attend a show they've been at? If you're watching video, it's not the same. Comparing one year to the next score wise is ridiculous anyway. They're constantly tinkering and messing with the system, so there really isn't any relation. Quit your whining. I like BD this year, so you're pretty mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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