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Slotting


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OK so you've outlined the groupings that have occured in the placements, and you've claimed this is due to slotting.  But i say isn't slotting just the natural groupings occuring based on the corps performances?

Can anyone who was at the murph and indy honestly tell me there wasn't an obvious performance gap between 1,2 & 3-6?  Can anyone tell me there wasn't an obvious performance gap between 6 & 7-9?

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Yes Slotting happens, but the question is this.  Is slotting a conspiracy by the judges to place corps in an order and leave them there? or is slotting a natural grouping of competitors with other corps they are competitive with and reflecting obvious gaps between competitive groups?

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just my 2 pesos

THANK YOU! Couldn't have said it better myself. This is not a conspiracy theory, folks. Give it a break. I believe that the corps deserve the placements and the scores they're receiving right now in the season.

And to respond to someone above... Do you think the Colts should be placed into the top twelve just because they haven't for a couple years? Rankings and scores are earned. The corps with a combination of the better show designs, performers, staff, organization, etc will produce better shows, score higher, and win titles. It's as simple as that, folks.

Do the Cavies and Cadets deserve to be a couple points higher than 3-6 right now? If you've seen their shows and look at them with an unbiased view, I'd hope you'd agree that they do (because they do). Is there that big of a gap between 3-6 and 7-9? Yes. There is. Plain and simple. Slotting happens, but it's a natural process...

Do you think that Cavies, Cadets, BD, SCV (and Phantom in 2003) haven't deserved to be the top 4 every year since 98? Put your emotions away and answer honestly... If you loved Glassmen in 2001 and thought they should have been in the top 3 because they never have... well, that's just silly. Kudos for them for having a great year that year, but... they didn't deserve to crack the elite of the elite that year.

I'm sorry. I get so sick of all this talk that goes on around here that DCI is keeping everyone out of the top 5 or 6 down. I know it's easy for me to say, but if any other corps want to get up there, they have to earn it. Ask any staff... I'm sure they'll tell you the same.

Edited by zmalsom
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Seriously, you REALLY think DCI is going to put the Colts over SCV (regardless of performance)??? It won't happen this year. You are naive to think that slotting is NOT an integral part of DCI.

1-2 will only be between Cadets and Cavies

3-6 will only be among BD, PR, Madison, Bluecoats

7-9 will only be among BAC, SCV, Crown

10-12 MAY actually have 5 corps fighting for 3 spots, GMen, BK, Spirit, Xmen, Colts

To add a little 'excitement', on finals night you may actual see a 'fringe swap (ie. 9/10 flip flop) or a tie.

We can hope for something different but you can already see it in the way spreads are allotted.

PS. Top 8 is where a corps REALLY wants to be as that effects how much they get paid for shows next year.

I recently had a conversation with a director of a top corps and learned some interesting things.

1. The percussion staff are very much in favor of the amps. Some top directors that don't really want to use them are so the percussion staff won't leave.

2. At least some percussion judges have and are making comments to corps that do not use amps, putting pressure on them to do so.

However, I get the impression that at least some percussion staff are starting to realize that using amps is a double edged sword, causing as many problems as they solve.

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Slotting is in the eye of the beholder. If your favorite is down or your least favorite is up, then slotting or judging bias is the accusation. The other way is attributed to hard work and deserved recognition. That is too broad of a generalization, but not totally off.

We are seeing gradual moves. The Cadets climbing slowly to the Cavaliers and overtaking them, PR catching BD. Based on the polls and comments made in reviews, this was obvious to many before the scores really began to reflect it. If that is not a clear rejection of slotting I don't know what it could be.

In this modern era of drum corps, the talent level is very high and the product is honed at a level that was not seen in the decades-old past. (Please, please do not think that I am saying this is a better product, just how it is placed on the field.) Less is left to performance variance than in times past. Yes there may be an energy loss from one night to the next, but the output is very consistent. That gives additional impression of slotting. So if you see groupings, that is because the corps are forming those groups and the judges are seeing it, not because it has been determined that this is the way that it will be this year.

Finally, on the topic of amps in the pits, I am for it! I was not sure last year, but I am sold this year. An example of what it can do is the second movement in the Cavaliers show (baseball). The texture of sound produced is amazing. I am sold. I heard PR in Murfreesboro and did not know they were amped. I could not figure out how they got that level of sound, now I know. I just wish that this fad of using it for voices will die out.

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Well, Strutta, if slotting is so obvious and so integral, please tell me the last time we had a top twelve that looked anything like this one?  Or even a top six?  Yes, there are the distinct tiers that you mentioned, but since these tiers are not in any way based on anything other than this season, doesn't it seem more reasonable to suppose that these corps are actually being placed on the level that they are performing?  It's amazing to see SCV in 9th, with 'Coats, Scouts, and Regiment nearly catching Blue Devils, and yet people still cry slotting.

Slotting happens within the season, Matt. I'm not that jaded to think that the DCI member corps have conspired to keep their own corps in the hierarchy if it is apparent a given corps sucks by comparison.

Let's not lose sight of three immutable FACTS: 1) DCI is directed by the 12 member corps. 2) DCI picks the judges and they like to work and be treated like rock stars with limos, etc. (Who wouldn't?) 3)There has already been proof that corps get slotted within a season, most recently proven by the 'yellow paper' incident several years ago.

What judge is going to bite the hand that feeds him or her? If the 'trend' dictates that certain corps are performing within a certain group, it WILL be continued. There is NO incentive not to coninue scoring corps within a certain 'slotting'. Just watch one critique after a judge has the balls to tank a corps that comparatively sucked that night. You'd think he was raping nuns on the way to a bay eating festival by the sounds of some staff members...whose job DEPENDS on certain placement.

Grow up, people...like my sig says, 'Follow the Money!'

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Sure, that caveat gives you just enough room to make your slotting comment.  However, if your slots prove inaccurate it will simply because 'they' wanted to add some excitement.

Horse ####.

Show me where there has been a dramatic shift in positioning EVEN when a corps killed it on Finals night and another tanked?!?! 1996 PR comes to mind but they were 'surging' all week coming into finals yet DCI still could not see it's way clear to dump BD as Devils were great in Finals.

Look. delude yourselves all you like but do not lose sight of the fact that for better or worse, this isn't just drum corps, it's SHOW BUSINESS!

(I know it's sacrilege to say such things but who has time to worry about repercussions of speaking truth? If you don't agree, groovy...let's play cards, together...)

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Guest DrumCorpFan
2. At least some percussion judges have and are making comments to corps that do not use amps, putting pressure on them to do so.

Corps being pressured, by DCI judges, to use amps. :huh::worthy:

So much for amps being a choice huh? :ramd: :huh:

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Seriously, you REALLY think DCI is going to put the Colts over SCV (regardless of performance)??? It won't happen this year. You are naive to think that slotting is NOT an integral part of DCI.

1-2 will only be between Cadets and Cavies

3-6 will only be among BD, PR, Madison, Bluecoats

7-9 will only be among BAC, SCV, Crown

10-12 MAY actually have 5 corps fighting for 3 spots, GMen, BK, Spirit, Xmen, Colts

To add a little 'excitement', on finals night you may actual see a 'fringe swap (ie. 9/10 flip flop) or a tie.

We can hope for something different but you can already see it in the way spreads are allotted.

PS. Top 8 is where a corps REALLY wants to be as that effects how much they get paid for shows next year.

:worthy: NO. I don't think Colts are going to move over SCV...but I do think they have a shot at JSU, Glassmen and Crossmen, and I can't help but think that their order of performance is affecting their scores. JMHO

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