elphaba01 Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 (edited) "Other Champions out There": Well said. This is actually a REALLY good post. It's been a long time since I've seen this much commentary after a DCA Championship. "Revolution" in the air? Elphaba WWW Edited September 11, 2015 by elphaba01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Recently, there have been a few blog posts traveling the web suggesting that the Reading Buccaneers are killing DCA. If you read a little further into the posts, you will find that the author has some radical ideas to help fix DCA. Some of the ideas include having a championship corps not compete the following season in an effort to allow another corps a chance to win. To me, it sounds like this blog poster is looking to have a corps fold because they win too much. Essentially, this is what could happen if a corps was forced to sit out of championships for a year. HOW IS THIS GOOD FOR THE CIRCUIT??? This is the exact same "Soccer Mom, everybody wins" mentallity that drives the public crazy!!! What I do know is this.The Reading Buccaneers have driven DCA to a place many thought it would have never gotten to. They have risen the performance bar and A LOT of corps are rising to the challenge. There will come a day when the Reading Buccaneers are no longer champions, and DCA will be better because of the hard work, sweat, and dedication given from the members and staff of the Buccaneers. You may not be a fan and you may not be a proud alumni any longer, but don't attack one group for something out of their control. You end your post with "I would end this note by warning everyone if you don’t do something, people could lose interest in the competitive aspects of DCA". If you want it to change, come out from behind your keyboard and make it happen. If you view drum corps as a competitive sport, parity - not dynasty - is good for the sport. The "on any given Sunday" is what helped propel the National Football League to its current prominence. I don't think anyone would want forced parity. However, when there is suspense to the eventual winner, this would be good for drum corps - be it in DCI or DCA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 I'm only tangentally a fan of DCA, and that's really only because of working for DCP for a while, but I *really* miss the Renegades. Mike I do too. I miss Empire too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 If Reading is the best corps on the field then so be it. However, The passed few years I'm not seeing this. Yet they are being used as the yardstick. While I was not at finals and watch the live feed from the comfort of my living room on Big Screen and Surround sound..which by the way was pretty impressive, and maybe this is good for the corps and maybe its not. But lets be realistic here. Based on what fans are seeing they were not the most stellar corps on the field. From what I saw on the thread others have said the same who were there. So I feel that what Lee is saying has merit. Maybe HIS suggestions in most cases are completely unrealistic, but the reason for them are not. Champions are out there. They just aren't in first place. It's a sad state of affairs and is making it less desirable to go to shows or even pay the nominal fee for live feed when you have to remove yourself from the competition aspect of the activity. I watch some really great shows but know that results will never parallel the performances. I feel horrible for the members who go out there every weekend and show clear improvement and because of some bureaucratic hypocrisy not get rewarded for it. you're right. I feel bad for every corps that's been good, but not good enough. let's give them all medals too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 If Reading is the best corps on the field, then so be it. However, in the past few years, I'm not seeing this. Yet they are being used as the yardstick. I was not at Finals and watched the live feed from the comfort of my living room on Big Screen and Surround Sound--which by the way was pretty impressive--and maybe this is good for the corps and maybe its not. But lets be realistic here. Based on what fans are saying, they were not the most stellar corps on the field. From what I saw on the thread, others have said the same who were there. So I feel that what Lee is saying has merit. Maybe HIS suggestions in most cases are completely unrealistic, but the reason for them are not. Champions are out there. They just aren't in first place. It's a sad state of affairs and is making it less desirable to go to shows or even pay the nominal fee for live feed when you have to remove yourself from the competition aspect of the activity. I watch some really great shows but know that results will never parallel the performances. I feel horrible for the members who go out there every weekend and show clear improvement and because of some bureaucratic hypocrisy not get rewarded for it. Everyone is entitled to form their own opinion about who was best, of course. But there have been precious few comments here claiming that Bucs were not the best corps last Sunday. There were more doubts expressed as to whether C2 deserved to be ahead of Cabs (personally, I say yes) and whether Cabs deserved to be behind MBI (I say no). Furthermore, on Sunday, I found that I was sitting just in front of a lot of Cadets2 family and friends, many of whom had not seen the other corps this year. They were so proud of C2's achievement this year and cheered loudly--but they were very impressed by the Bucs' performance and expected them to win. (I kept hearing, "They're so fast!") Are other champions "out there"? I think in almost every year there are a few shows that, if they were executed at the highest possible level, could contend for the championship. And in some years that execution is achieved by two or more of those corps, so that it's a case of who puts on the extra heat any given night. Last year there were, in my opinion, three corps whose design and execution put them at that plane. At Prelims, they were ranked 1. Cabs; 2. MBI; 3. Bucs (personally, I would have had it 1. Cabs; 2. Bucs; 3. MBI) and at Finals, setting aside the penalty, they were ranked 1. Bucs; 2. Cabs & MBI (too close to call between all three for me; I thought Bucs and MBI both stepped up their game but that Cabs had done enough to barely hold on). But no results in the past four seasons (since I started following DCA) suggests that "bureaucratic hypocrisy" has played any part. Meanwhile, Blue Devils have been nearly as dominant in DCI as Buccaneers have been in DCA, and yet DCI's attendance is rising. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 It's so easy to critique without any criteria . It's much harder to actually judge by written criteria and without Bias. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 If you view drum corps as a competitive sport, parity - not dynasty - is good for the sport. The "on any given Sunday" is what helped propel the National Football League to its current prominence. I don't think anyone would want forced parity. However, when there is suspense to the eventual winner, this would be good for drum corps - be it in DCI or DCA. So what do you think the answer is? Punish a corps that just is good and knows how to win? change sheets however anyone wants , winners just know how to win sometimes and no matter how one wants to flip things around I think you won't see different outcomes. If cadets continue like this year you could see some flip flopping for a title. After a while if they find their formula to success do we start punishing them. I don't think so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 So what do you think the answer is? Punish a corps that just is good and knows how to win? Change sheets however anyone wants, winners just know how to win sometimes, and no matter how one wants to flip things around, I think you won't see different outcomes. It is possible--although I would say unlikely in this case--that the system is unintentionally "rigged" in some structural way that favors the Buccaneers. This certainly happens in other aspects. It could be that there's some subtle aspect of DCA's organization or rules that that means that, no matter how hard or smart any other corps works, they have only a very slight chance of beating the Bucs. If the Buccaneers should continue to win every contest every year, it would certainly behoove DCA to look into this question, because eventually the apparent impossibility of anyone else winning would probably have the effect that Lee describes of driving audiences away (by first causing other corps to just give up). However, as I said before, we're only one year from Bucs placing third in Prelims, so it's far too early to write off the rest of the DCA corps as perpetual bridesmaids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErieSopMike Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 So what do you think the answer is? Punish a corps that just is good and knows how to win? change sheets however anyone wants , winners just know how to win sometimes and no matter how one wants to flip things around I think you won't see different outcomes. If cadets continue like this year you could see some flip flopping for a title. After a while if they find their formula to success do we start punishing them. I don't think so. I don't think there is a clear cut answer. I think there needs to be something done to encourage more growth and bring back some corps. I'm willing to be one that goes the distance with putting something together with a corps. It was a dream I helped start in Erie 10 years ago to put the Tbirds back on the field, and they completed their first season back at prelims. I understand that there's a ton of things behind the scenes and such to get things together to get a corps together, and the economy still isn't the friendliest either, but these corps that recently have gone inactive... the uniforms and equipment are somewhere (if they weren't donated to another group) and the people have either just stopped or gone to other nearby corps, if they exist. Go back through the DCA historical scores for the last 10 years. There's a lot of groups on there that aren't around anymore. The families of those performers came to championships to support them. When those groups ceased operations, those performers and their families (if they didn't find another corps), weren't coming back the next year to Championships. Each inactive corps has/had their reasons for why the operations stopped. The challenge is: Can there be a way to bring back some of these recently inactive groups with a new set of leadership? I'm one for jumping in, taking the reigns and seeing what I can do to either bring back one or start one with a group of like minded individuals in my area. I want to see the activity thrive as it is good for everyone involved. There's a lot of talent out there that has no home, as well as there's talent out there that has yet to be discovered. I'm one for finding that group of driven people to come together and see what we can accomplish. Do you have to win your first time/year out? No, but getting something established and making progress is the way to building a championship organization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 It is possible--although I would say unlikely in this case--that the system is unintentionally "rigged" in some structural way that favors the Buccaneers. This certainly happens in other aspects. It could be that there's some subtle aspect of DCA's organization or rules that that means that, no matter how hard or smart any other corps works, they have only a very slight chance of beating the Bucs. If the Buccaneers should continue to win every contest every year, it would certainly behoove DCA to look into this question, because eventually the apparent impossibility of anyone else winning would probably have the effect that Lee describes of driving audiences away (by first causing other corps to just give up). However, as I said before, we're only one year from Bucs placing third in Prelims, so it's far too early to write off the rest of the DCA corps as perpetual bridesmaids. I dont think it favors them at all BUT if it did wouldnt it make sense that others should find the formula to success for themselves. The problem is DCI as well as DCA is there are 2 corps who figured out how to win. Others are certainly close enough to make it happen for themselves. It takes IMO several elements , not just 1 out of 5 or 4 out of 5 it needs ALL things to make the end successful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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