wesleyrp Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Ok, first I am not one of those everyone deserves a trophy or medal for participating kind of people. I believe that life is about working hard and earning what you get and accepting it when you don't. That said, at what point would the idea float that DCI finals should expand? Before lashing out, consider this- in the past 5 years could you think of at least two corps that you easily could've seen as finalists and others below that were very good. If prelims includes all Open Class and we've seen the surge there too, why not expand maybe two spots? This year esp it's going to be painful to see someone really good be left out on Saturday. To my first statement, that's part of learning to be a winner, accepting when it's not your turn. But, at what point does the parity become too much to ignore? Academy, Troop, Boston are all great drum corps but only 1 gets in when it's said and done.... Wes P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStainGlass Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 (edited) I would expand to 15 to match the WGI format. In some classes they go roughly 70-32-15 or 40-25-15. I don't think it will hurt especially getting more family butts into finals seating. Edited July 13, 2016 by BlueStainGlass 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappybara Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Ok, first I am not one of those everyone deserves a trophy or medal for participating kind of people. I believe that life is about working hard and earning what you get and accepting it when you don't. That said, at what point would the idea float that DCI finals should expand? Before lashing out, consider this- in the past 5 years could you think of at least two corps that you easily could've seen as finalists and others below that were very good. If prelims includes all Open Class and we've seen the surge there too, why not expand maybe two spots? This year esp it's going to be painful to see someone really good be left out on Saturday. To my first statement, that's part of learning to be a winner, accepting when it's not your turn. But, at what point does the parity become too much to ignore? Academy, Troop, Boston are all great drum corps but only 1 gets in when it's said and done.... Wes P I think there was a pretty intense discussion about this in the pre-season. I'll try to find it for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouooga Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I'm (respectfully) opposed. The Saturday show is huge, don't get me wrong, but this is why we have the Thursday and Friday shows. Each corps gets to go to Indy and put it all on the line, and the Saturday show is the prize. Family/friends/fans can come and watch the Friday show or even the Thursday show, and if the stars align then they'll get to see their favorites on Saturday too. If not, at least they got to see them once. As a fan, this means I just need to make Finals Week my priority rather than just Finals. As long as the season is based on competition (which I actually don't advocate, but that's a different story) then there has to be a reward and a cutoff, and what we have now works. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterA Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I am all for adding corps at finals since that means more corps for the $$, and much more enjoyment. However, some people consider even having 12 corps in finals kind of odd since there are only 22 corps in World Class. That means over half of the corps in WC are in finals. I agree it is tough to be 13th looking in, but then there would be that 16th place corps that was oh so close to that 15th place corps. To me personally quarterfinals/prelims on Thursday is the best day of the drum corps year. 38 of the best corps in the world, performing at their top level. This year, even the fight to make semi's is going to be great. All the corps this year have awesome programs, and many have improved over last year from what I can tell. As much as I would love to see more corps in finals, I think it starts to take away from the prestige of making finals if more and more corps make it, as we have lost more corps from World Class since the days when finals was established as 12 corps. I agree the fight to make finals will be interesting. Blue Stars, Crossmen, Boston Crusaders, Academy and Colts all have fantastic and well performed shows, but only 3 of these corps can make it. I can't wait to see who does. I have the feeling no one new from last year will get in, but I think Academy has the strongest case so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FanLib Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I don't so much have a problem with the top 12 being in finals, but the problem I have is with finals being on Saturday (although not opposed to some expansion). Many fans are dealing with band camps during the week and cannot get to prelims or semi's. Finals is their only option, so they can't see everyone or most everyone. Have they ever had a Friday through Sunday set up? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Holland Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I don't so much have a problem with the top 12 being in finals, but the problem I have is with finals being on Saturday (although not opposed to some expansion). Many fans are dealing with band camps during the week and cannot get to prelims or semi's. Finals is their only option, so they can't see everyone or most everyone. Have they ever had a Friday through Sunday set up? DCA handles that by having finals on labor day weekend. But pushing DCI another month would likely not be good for DCI, or DCA. DCI is already working with band schedules with corps getting on the road later in the season, and finals being where it is in the calendar. You need that sunday to get home to wherever you work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterA Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I don't so much have a problem with the top 12 being in finals, but the problem I have is with finals being on Saturday (although not opposed to some expansion). Many fans are dealing with band camps during the week and cannot get to prelims or semi's. Finals is their only option, so they can't see everyone or most everyone. Have they ever had a Friday through Sunday set up? i don't think there was ever a Friday through Sunday set up. I think it was more due to the fact the season ran a week or two later, and a lot of the college age kids had to be in class the following Monday. So Sunday didn't allow a lot of the college students time to get back. I am sure there is a lot more than this to the reasoning, but this is one that I remember hearing about in the late 70s and early 80s. But at that time, there were still several shows sometimes after finals and into Labor day, but most corps were more locally based at the time. I agree it could be cool if the lineup of finals week allowed more people to see all the lower placing amazing corps out there. I always thought it would be cool on Saturday to have a fan favorite internet/text vote, to allow one extra corps deemed fan favorite of non finalist corps an opportunity to perform in exhibition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortAndFast Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 You have to draw the line somewhere for the final show. If you make it 15, then there's a lot of drama for Corps #16. If you make it 10, then there's a lot of drama for Corps #11. I don't think anybody would disagree that DCI has much more compelling shows in the 13-17 group than BITD. But there's no number that will guarantee that every compelling show makes it to Saturday night. 12 corps fit on the field for an Olympic-style retreat, so I've always assumed that's why that number was originally picked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfrontz Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 12 is good. The competition to get into finals is almost as exciting as the competition to win. More than 12 and you lose quality among the lower finalists. It's traditional as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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