bd5times Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 (edited) It's all good...no worries....no animosity....just spirited discussion. From my perspective, being in a corps fighting for the top spot when you're not yet on top, you work much harder to overtake your competitors. It's hard work to improve to overtake that corps that's above you. Being a bit down in the ranks provides that extra drive to push hard. I know from my experiences during the years I marched where we were over taken, we did not fade or slow down. To the contrary, we worked our butts off during those seasons (81, 84). Our competitors beat us, plain and simple (well, I'll change my story over a beer, but for the sake of argument and trying to make my point :)). Having taken second place at DCI several times, two of which were to corps we beat at our last competition prior to Nationals. I know from experience that our inability to win was not due to us peaking in any way or "fading". We had stellar performances and put up a fight for that win. Our competitors, knowing that we were able to beat them, also wanted the win and worked their way to the win. They got it (81 SCV, 84 Garfield), we didn't. You play the game to win. Sometimes you win, other times you don't. You don't make excuses for the outcome. Having re-read the thread after sitting at home. I may have jumped the gun on my response. I quickly scan posts at work while I'm coding or compiling stuff and don't always think about the intention of the post I'm responding too. So.....that's my bad. I mis-interpreted the term "fade" and ran with it. It was used in the context of placement versus performance and drive which was the side I was arguing on. Regardless. If there is a corps that is overtaken the most at the end of the season, that implies that's the corps that's on top most of the season and others are trying to knock them down. That's the corps I was in and that's the corps I would want to be in. Play the odds. It won't be every time you get knocked off. You might get lucky and get that dream spot. It's a lot of fun. Edited November 3, 2005 by bd5times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liebot Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 (edited) ok... i'm just going to post one more time in this thread... i'm not trying to say that BD, when they got into first place immediately had the mindset of "well, we're in first... we don't have to try anymore"... i understand corps in first place still are working their ##### off... but i think when you're in first place everyone is gunning for you, you're everyone's target... but at the same time, you really don't have anyone to aim for, anyone to try and catch - maybe that sort of motivation is what makes the difference. as well, i understand that 2 of the ties BD were involved with were for first place... when i say BD faded, i'm not saying that they were winning every show at the beginning of the season and then ended up not making finals... i'm just saying that after consistently beating corps all season they lost or tied (for some reason) those same corps at finals... while that certainly doesn't mean that they stopped performing at their peak, it just means that the other corps that they were caught by improved more than BD did... i guess that's all i was trying to say. it wasn't meant as a poor reflection on Blue Devils as a corps... simply an observation that they (more than any other corps) have been caught late in the season.... maybe that's because they're on top all the time and are in a position to be caught so often... that would certainly make sense. oh, and for the record... of the two ties that BD was involved with for first place... i thought they deserved to win both... yes, even 96... call me crazy, but i like their show better than phantom's. edit: and yes, i know that i'm young... if i could make myself older so my opinion would be more credible, i would... maybe i should just delete my signature (which i just changed recently) so that there is no indication of when i marched or how old i am... but i would like to think that (regardless of my age) my posts still have some validity... can we try to analyze people's posts by the information that they present and not by how old the person writing is? and i'm not accusing everyone of doing this... some of you just disagreed with me because you thought i was wrong... and that is definitely fair. Edited November 3, 2005 by TTitans909 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elphaba01 Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 I'm not trying to pull a "you whipersnappers don't know anything" card here, really, but I guess I'd feel better about your stance if you were old enough to experience a drum corps like the 1988 Blue Devils live. I would love to have a time machine, have you and I sit in the stands, watch them, then have you turn to me and say (besides the grey pants :) ) how faded the Blue Devils seemed to be. I'd be willing to bet the first few words out of your mouth would be "Power..Precision..Excellence", and then after you were done, you'd wonder when the next oppurtunity to change your shorts was going to be. "Upsets": This was before "Divisions" but the biggest "Upset" in DCI "Open Class" Finals my pretties happened in 1974, with Santa Clara Vanguards "Come from behind" win, going past the Madison Scouts and Anahiem Kingsmen, both of whom had topped Santa Clara in Prelims. Santa Clara had the option of performing "Last" as defending champion, but declined and performed prior to the Kingsmen and Scouts. Elphaba WWW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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