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Blog Posts are Killing DCA, not the Reading Buccaneers


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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.

It's a very hard thing to accomplish today. rehearsal facilities alone just for a darn winter guard are so expensive. The days of yesteryear are long gone along with the local support that did things like this in the past. IF anyone wants to try to get something at a high level off the ground they better think way out of the box to make it even come close to happening. Corporate sponsorship is also dried up for most.

With all that said, it still doesnt change the fact Bucs know how to win, plain and simple. I think Cadets will reach the same status if they choose but they certainly do look at the activity through their own eye and what works for them

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It's a very hard thing to accomplish today. rehearsal facilities alone just for a darn winter guard are so expensive. The days of yesteryear are long gone along with the local support that did things like this in the past. IF anyone wants to try to get something at a high level off the ground they better think way out of the box to make it even come close to happening. Corporate sponsorship is also dried up for most.

With all that said, it still doesnt change the fact Bucs know how to win, plain and simple. I think Cadets will reach the same status if they choose but they certainly do look at the activity through their own eye and what works for them

Well, you never know if you don't try. I'm aware that things are very tough. For me, I'm willing to start small and work up to bigger and better things. Fusion Core was a small operation and look at where they are now.

Yes. The Bucs know how to win. They've worked hard for many years to find the right combinations and have done their homework. They deserve the kudos they get. They won't stop winning just to give someone else a chance, it's not the nature of sport. What's the saying? To be the best, you have to beat the best.

My thing is, if you can get more groups off the ground, you can find talented individuals that will "think outside the box". With only X corps around, there are only X number of staff spots open and there are plenty of well qualified individuals who don't get those positions. As those new/returning groups get exposure, you hopefully see membership start to increase and the organization can grow into something that fulfills the mission statement of what they are in existence for as well as you'll see the "outside the box" ideas catching up in competition. I'm not saying a new corps next year will come out of nowhere and beat Reading, but it is possible for a new corps to come into DCA and catch the attention of the Buccaneers (whether it be an Open or Class A corps) as well as everyone else.

Edited by ErieSopMike
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Well, you never know if you don't try. I'm aware that things are very tough. For me, I'm willing to start small and work up to bigger and better things. Fusion Core was a small operation and look at where they are now.

Yes. The Bucs know how to win. They've worked hard for many years to find the right combinations and have done their homework. They deserve the kudos they get. They won't stop winning just to give someone else a chance, it's not the nature of sport. What's the saying? To be the best, you have to beat the best.

My thing is, if you can get more groups off the ground, you can find talented individuals that will "think outside the box". With only X corps around, there are only X number of staff spots open and there are plenty of well qualified individuals who don't get those positions. As those new/returning groups get exposure, you hopefully see membership start to increase and the organization can grow into something that fulfills the mission statement of what they are in existence for as well as you'll see the "outside the box" ideas catching up in competition. I'm not saying a new corps next year will come out of nowhere and beat Reading, but it is possible for a new corps to come into DCA and catch the attention of the Buccaneers (whether it be an Open or Class A corps) as well as everyone else.

I think it's admirable for sure. realistic, not so sure BUT never say never. I think as you said a corps coming out and grabbing attention, well that actually did happen with cadets 2. If you remember when they announced they would be a DCA corps the internet was buzzing for sure from theories on why they capped an age to conspiracies of wanting to take over everything..lol.

The only thing Cadets had a well oiled machine backing their efforts. As I said though i've learned over the years never say never..lol....good Luck

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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.

Well said. On the money.

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Only to the ones who actually deserve it. Unfortunately the one who didn't got one. It's the DCA way.

Which corps didn't deserve a medal? I'm assuming you mean a first-place medal.

Admit it... you hate the Govenaires. :tongue:

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Hmm... system favoring the Bucs? IIRC, when they added the communication thing, a few pundits here were rubbing their hands with evil glee and drooling over their keyboards because they felt the Bucs couldn't do that and that other corps would steal that subcaption. Maybe the problem was that the Bucs weren't communicating to them in the way they desire to be communicated to. They seem to be communicating well enough with the judging panels....

As for C2, it's already been mentioned that many of those same pundits figured they'd immediately take over DCA and smack everyone into oblivion forever and ever amen and their panic was amusing. This year was a big one for them. Now, they have to sustain that level. It could be tricky to do so. They have some unusual variables in their equation that aren't in the others.

Edited by BigW
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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.

Well, there is nothing except that on each sheet, there is a "Bucc-bonus" of 0.3 points they receive just for appearing. Those tenths add up!

:cool:

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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.

well said. VERY.

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After reading, or at least skimming I don't think its the Bucs, or Blogs, or anything else killing DCA except DCA. This is a really long response, so I won't take it personally if you skip my post. But this is something that I think the people up top need to hear, and they need to see the comparison of both circuits. For you who don't want to read, the morale of the story is, I know what DCI is marketing and what it wants to be known as, but I don't know what DCA wants to be known as.

DCI has figured out what, and how to market itself. There was a period where it started to falter. Lets call DCIs dark years the early 2000 until 2012. Because they tried lots of different things. They had to combine Div 2 and 3 into one division because small (or new) corps were dying like they had the plague, and Div 1 wasn't expanding either. In fact they were losing groups that had been around for ten years and even twenty years plus. Attendance was starting to fall. So they added G7, and other terrible ideas that started to alienate corps, which eventually became the Tournament of Champions. Which is only slightly better for marketing and corps relationships. But after a period where DCI was becoming something many people didn't want to be a part of anymore, the ship has righted itself, and DCI's tickets sales have been growing, in a city that while easy for many to travel to, stinks. Indy stinks, and DCI is now locked in there for ten stinky years. Yes you attend for a week of drum corps, but if you've been there more than once, you want to see other stuff. And the same old same old gets really old. If you work with BOA bands, you get the joys of attending that stinky city twice within four months. groosssss. BUT... DCI found a way to market its product. Not just to ticket buyers, but to future marching members. And it found a way to help jumpstart new corps. Soundsport. Thanks to soundsport (a mini corps like pseudo competition) it now costs VERY LITTLE to get a group up and running, and performing at shows. Heck, you can use any instrumentation you want in it. Star United plays in it to get their practice runs in for Mini Corps competition. There's no maximum performer numbers. Only space constraints. Its the perfect opener to help get butts in seats for other events, and to get other musicians interested in the activity. As for programming, DCI has found a way to market weird, arty shows, stiff competition, and the most elite of elite performers under age 22 on the fields. And its not only feeding ticket sales, its feeding corps auditioning members. Now the host city, is as white bread 'mericuh as they come. But it has a mall downtown and lots of restaurants near the stadium so that when I'm tired of sitting in quarters, I can go walk down the block and get a real meal. And every place we went, the staff of the restaurants knew why we were there. Asking us how we liked visiting. They saw our badges and chatted with us a bit. I didnt have that experience in Rochester. Seemed like no one at any bar or restaurant I went to knew there was a "major event" going on in their city. This is something DCA needs to fix. They need to make relationships with the local businesses, and find a way to get butts not only in DCA's seats, but encourage DCA attendees to go to places. Heck, work out a deal. "show your ticket stub and get 10% off your bill". But this takes work. Even corps in DCI work with local restaurants to host alumni events during finals week. Does the groups in DCA do this? It gives former marching members additional incentive to show up and hang out with old friends.

Now lets look at DCA. What is it REALLY supposed to be. Is it trying to be "Marching Music's Other Major League"? Is it trying to be "America's Entertainment"? yeah, i stole that from the Statesmen. I never saw them except on Youtube, but hey, that's something to market. Is it trying to be "The NEXT Best Thing to Marching Music's Major League", or a cheap alternative. I can't answer that, and I'm going to bet that neither can anyone in the DCA offices. How do you get butts in seats for an organization's biggest event when you can't find a way to hook people? If corps are dying, its because funding isn't coming in to cover expenses, or members arent showing up to audition. (or a combo of both) Now I see the young faces of DCA and it feels to me like it wants to be an alternative to DCI. Maybe its the whole "march here, its cheaper/less time consuming". But really, do you want that on DCA's website? I think I've stated this before about DCA being at a crossroads, and I still think its there. Its not sure which direction to go. It has to keep butts in the seats, and members auditioning overall. And if it doesn't evolve to keep new faces and minds interested, it will die off as the current ticket buyers get old and stop attending. If the corps don't find a way to grab faces and bring them in, they too will die off as members get older and find its no longer good for their body to march anymore. I think some of the older faces seem alienated already by shows that don't feel like DCA shows. And while I'm the first to tell the "this isn't drum corps" dinosaurs to go Eff themselves, I do realize that you do need to find a way to market this activity to those who, though may be hesitant about the evolution, still love it enough to buy tickets and bring friends. Its those who just complain and scare off business that can still go Eff themselves.

Yknow, in DCI, you can get the whole week in one ticket package. You can also buy an Open Class only package, or a Super 3 which is quarters, semis, and finals. You cannot get a package in DCA. Call me crazy, but if you can get people a discount by buying all the events at once, you'll get more tickets sold to all the events. People enjoy the idea that they are saving money, even when they are spending more.

So to be honest, I dont know the answer, but I do know, that whatever the old regime did, wasn't working that well. And I love this activity, I'm new to DCA, but it doesnt feel like the governing organization gives two sh*ts about anything. Its just... eh. At least in DCI the governing body knows its job is to sell, and treat the activity like a business. In DCA, i'm not sure what its MO is. That could be a problem.

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