Cadets Suspend for 2024

[Vuitton]

2 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

We Contras can be a bit thick-headed sometimes.  Comes from having all that power adjacent to our skulls.  

Lol. Contra is my favorite instrument but I don't know how you all carried those.

[lawdn]

I find the news about the Cadets not fielding a corps in 2024 devastating. For the MMs who planned to return, for the new Cadets-to-be, for the staff who was doing such a fine job, for the slums, and for the fans. The Cadets have been making me more and more a fan every year for a while and I will really miss them in '24. Meanwhile, another canary in coal mine goes down. Even as DCI has become fewer corps performing at amazingly high levels, the trend is toward contraction of the activity with few paths toward long term sustainability. I don't know what the solutions are but hopefully on DCP and elsewhere in the community someone does? 
 

Hoping for constructive discussion here with disagreements kept respectful. The activity we all love in survival mode, I think, whether or not all the threats are fully apparent. Peace to all. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by lawdn

[JimF-LowBari]

5 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

We Contras can be a bit thick-headed sometimes.  Comes from having all that power adjacent to our skulls.  

And guys who march in front of contras in parades end up with hearing issues.

Thinking of that as have hearing aid check tomorrow at Hershey Medical. Bleeping Menieres disease nailing left ear.

Edited October 15, 2023 by JimF-LowBari

[IllianaLancerContra]

35 minutes ago, Vuitton said:

They use them because they need to in order to score well - that's why they are necessary.

There is a disconnect between what is needed to score well, and what makes good fiscal sense.  Perhaps the two should somehow be more aligned.   But that would mean a change in the scoring sheets, which is another third-rail that cannot be touched. 

[ContraFart]

12 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

There is a disconnect between what is needed to score well, and what makes good fiscal sense.  Perhaps the two should somehow be more aligned.   But that would mean a change in the scoring sheets, which is another third-rail that cannot be touched. 

Are they a 3rd rail because people think they in infallible, or are they a 3rd rail because all of the arguments have already been heard? 

Where in the scoring sheets does it say you need props and electronics to score better? 

[TenHut]

3 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Watch out.  People will now say that the Second Deputy Assistant to the Director of Tire Wear Monitoring is a critical position that cannot possibly be eliminated. 

There are waaay to many people on staff. Frankly, it's ridiculous. 

[TenHut]

1 hour ago, cixelsyd said:

And since we apparently need a reminder, "the product" is a competitive league of 39 corps.  Or that is what it was last week... now, it is a competitive league of 37 corps.  Soon to be 36, if rumor proves out.

I contend that "the product" has already been bastardized.  It used to be "marching music's major league", a sampling from among hundreds of corps in local/regional/national circuits.  Now, there are too few corps (by your admission) to even modify any portion of the season to be more region-centric.  That was the real "thousand cuts".

All I am asking about is cost control.  Can we have a dozen little cuts?  Or maybe start with one?

For all of you youngsters out there, there were 1500+ D&B corps in the 1970s. There were about 50 in Illinois alone. 

We are now down to 37 drum corps. That, ladies and gentlemen is what leadership failure looks like. Thanks for nothing DCI...you have been asleep at the wheel for 40 years. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by TenHut

[cixelsyd]

29 minutes ago, ContraFart said:

Where in the scoring sheets does it say you need props and electronics to score better? 

Where the numbers get filled in.

[craiga]

12 minutes ago, TenHut said:

For all of you youngsters out there, there were 1500+ D&B corps in the 1970s. There were about 50 in Illinois alone. 

We are now down to 37 drum corps. That, ladies and gentlemen is what leadership failure looks like. Thanks for nothing DCI...you have been asleep at the wheel for 40 years. 

I don't dispute your figures. There were also more than 60 corps here in eastern Massachusetts.   

However, of the +1500  corps you accurately reference, +1400 never had anything to do with DCI, national tours, electronics, props, huge staffs, or having 15 unit convoys.  They simply went away because they DID NOT HAVE ADEQUATE REVENUE...even then.

Also, as many have noted, many fell victim to changes in society, just as Catholic churches, Grange halls, boy scouts, and most other neighborhood activities. 

Look, I'm now in my 60s, and there is nothing I would love more than to transport myself back to attending the World Open in Lynn, MA in 1979 and see 60 "local corps" over two days.  It's just not going to happen and DCI had nothing to do with it.

[hockeycaps]

Just wanted to post my 2-cents worth after viewing the last 50+ pages on this thread. I thought this thread was about the Cadets going inactive for the 2024 season?? 95% of what I read is people b****ing back and forth about props, uniforms, buses, touring, staff, etc and their effects on this activity. Nothing to do about the Cadets going inactive for 2024. We should be posting about how sad it is that we have lost another "family" member.  None of you, I assume, are on the Cadets Board or staff (or any corps for that matter) and have inside information to back up your "expertise" about the demise of the Cadets and the activity as a whole. In my opinion arguing and being nasty towards each other (and some of you have been quite nasty) here on DCP will not solve this problem. What I've read here is not healthy and not going to solve the issues facing this activity. Let's get back to talking about the Cadets!!