Friday, August 5th “DCI Eastern Classic” J Birney Crum Stadium Allentown, PENNSYLVANIA

[henry7184]

15 minutes ago, George Dixon said:

ketchup only goes on hot dogs if you're 7 years old or younger.

LOL. I have a friend who says that, but he always says when he sees my ketchup usage, "what are you five years old?"

[George Dixon]

3 minutes ago, henry7184 said:

Um, yeah. No offense, but I would trust the opinion of qualified judges over yours, or mine. Like I said, I'm with you with - I don't see it, but I do see that I'm not a judge.

I've agreed with the judging community almost entirely - I do find some things a bit odd, mostly they're just a one off. And very rarely do I disagree materially with the results. 2007 and 2011 are two such years. In a spectator "sport" ultimately everyone judges what they're seeing. I'm certain the judges do this with great intent - maybe my issue is more with the sheets. Never liked the GE1 GE2 thing, didn't like the original explanation of it & haven't been won over since. BUT wasn't that a GREAT night of drum corps?

[George Dixon]

6 minutes ago, henry7184 said:

LOL. I have a friend who says that, but he always says when he sees my ketchup usage, "what are you five years old?"

he's a keeper!

[Cappybara]

11 hours ago, Sideways said:

How the #### can dci have a judge missing from allentown…week before finals??

Covid still exists 

[henry7184]

6 minutes ago, George Dixon said:

Maybe my issue is more with the sheets. Never liked the GE1 GE2 thing, didn't like the original explanation of it & haven't been won over since. BUT wasn't that a GREAT night of drum corps?

That's a good point. My issue with the GE sheets is I just don't understand how the hell you can even judge GE. What speaks to one person is different than what speaks to another. How effective something is to one person is different than how effective something is to another. I edited my original comment after you quoted me, saying that I spent years being upset over scoring and placements, and when I realized I have no idea what I'm talking about with anything relating to judging, I found peace. It's true and it's freeing. 

Yes, we're all going to judge what we see. I think that is normal. I've just broken the mold with myself. In the late 80s, when I marched, our staff always said (paraphrasing here), "The only thing you can control is your performance, you can't control what the judges do. Stop focusing on the scores and worrying about them. It's out of your control." It only took 30+ years for that to penetrate my thick skull. Sure I'm disappointed with the results often, but I'll take disappointment over being mental any day.

Edited August 6, 2022 by henry7184

[Tim K]

I didn’t get a chance to comment last night.

Boston Crusaders and Blue Devils back to back was interesting. I did enjoy portions of BD’s show, but it didn’t have as a consistent “wow” element to it as BAC or Bloo for that matter. Boston Crusaders had what I thought was a very good show, but in the case of both BAC and BD, there seemed to be jitters. This surprised me a bit because I’ve never seen Blue Devils anything but confident, especially at this point of the season. With Boston Crusaders, I guess I thought at least some jitters was to be expected. This is the first time that most, if not all members of the corps competed with everyone’s eyes on them. San Antonio shocked people, Atlanta confirmed San Antonio, but Allentown had different pressures. As for a Bloo, while they will not be giving anything away, I think they may be realistic about what will happen in Indy, and seemed relaxed or at least appeared so in a good way.  They love the show and perform it to the hilt. BAC, BD, and Crown should beware, Bloo has made surprise surges into the top three in the past.  That being said, I thought BAC would squeeze by and place first. When I saw the scores, I was not totally shocked by the placement (though as a BAC fan a little disappointed) as much as the numbers. The spread between BAC and Bloo seemed somewhat on target but BD was not that much better. The recaps are even more interesting. 

Bloo, BAC, and BD were not the only competitors. I would have had Phantom over Mandarins, though I must say Mandarins’ precision with the prop rotation was amazing. I also would have had the young guitarist more front and center. I never thought I would be praising a guitarist in a drum corps show but he is talented. Phantom, especially the finale blew me away. I think we will see Colts in finals with BK and Crossmen battling it out. I enjoyed both Academy and Music City though I thought there would have been a bigger spread between them.

[ContraFart]

58 minutes ago, henry7184 said:

Your eyes are seeing what Flo wants you to see. Your ears are hearing what Flo wants you to hear. Being there in person is entirely different than seeing a performance streamed over the internet. Entirely.

Well its what I got since I am 800 miles away from the nearest live show. Just because I am not seeing live, does not invalidate the opinions I have. 

[henry7184]

5 minutes ago, ContraFart said:

Well its what I got since I am 800 miles away from the nearest live show. Just because I am not seeing live, does not invalidate the opinions I have. 

It does invalid opinions related to scoring. Flo often has technical problems, they control how the sound is being presented (what we hear), and they control how the visual is being presented (what we see and how we see it). Hearing and viewing a performance live is entirely different than seeing it over Flo. Not to mention, less than 1% of us on here are probably even qualified to judge. I'm not saying I'm anymore qualified or knowledgable than you in any way, I'm just saying none of us can really judge a performance even if we were there on the field, much less over Flo (especially from the musical side).

Edited August 6, 2022 by henry7184

[DWW11]

14 minutes ago, Tim K said:

I didn’t get a chance to comment last night.

Boston Crusaders and Blue Devils back to back was interesting. I did enjoy portions of BD’s show, but it didn’t have as a consistent “wow” element to it as BAC or Bloo for that matter. Boston Crusaders had what I thought was a very good show, but in the case of both BAC and BD, there seemed to be jitters. This surprised me a bit because I’ve never seen Blue Devils anything but confident, especially at this point of the season. With Boston Crusaders, I guess I thought at least some jitters was to be expected. This is the first time that most, if not all members of the corps competed with everyone’s eyes on them. San Antonio shocked people, Atlanta confirmed San Antonio, but Allentown had different pressures. As for a Bloo, while they will not be giving anything away, I think they may be realistic about what will happen in Indy, and seemed relaxed or at least appeared so in a good way.  They love the show and perform it to the hilt. BAC, BD, and Crown should beware, Bloo has made surprise surges into the top three in the past.  That being said, I thought BAC would squeeze by and place first. When I saw the scores, I was not totally shocked by the placement (though as a BAC fan a little disappointed) as much as the numbers. The spread between BAC and Bloo seemed somewhat on target but BD was not that much better. The recaps are even more interesting. 

Bloo, BAC, and BD were not the only competitors. I would have had Phantom over Mandarins, though I must say Mandarins’ precision with the prop rotation was amazing. I also would have had the young guitarist more front and center. I never thought I would be praising a guitarist in a drum corps show but he is talented. Phantom, especially the finale blew me away. I think we will see Colts in finals with BK and Crossmen battling it out. I enjoyed both Academy and Music City though I thought there would have been a bigger spread between them.

Devils are very young, and carry the weight of history on their shoulders. They are always EXPECTED to win, which is more pressure than they have likely faced to this point. BAC is “this” close, with all of the pressure of finally getting a real “shot”. Of course there would be jitters. Bloo isn’t really expected to win, so the pressure is so much less. 

Edited August 6, 2022 by DWW11

[ContraFart]

1 minute ago, henry7184 said:

It does invalid opinions related to scoring. Flo often has technical problems, they control how the sound is being presented (what we hear), and they control how the visual is being presented (what we see and how we see it). Hearing and viewing a performance live is entirely different than seeing it in person. Not to mention, less than 1% of us on here are probably even qualified to judge. I'm not saying I'm anymore qualified or knowledgable than you in any way, I'm just saying none of us can really judge a performance even if we were there on the field, much less over Flo.

I think I am smart enough, having seen live drum corps and compared to Flo in the past, to recognize the limitations of what I am seeing. I can still hear phasing and intonation on Flo. 

You put too much stock on the "qualifications" of judges.