Judging gripes by corps directors

[Gentleman Marcher]

Can Hopkins do it? Yes, of course. He has every right to.

Should Hopkins do it? Probably not. It strikes me as being akin to complaining about a teacher or professor giving poor marks on a paper. Other students might agree with you, but the teacher and other staff will not be amused if they find out.

That said, I don't think it's that awful of a thing, and I personally am always interested to read what he has to say.

[SkyRyder_FMM]

I like George Hopkins and YEA!.

However, I dont think that he has a valid argument.

He's basically saying that because of precedent, Cadets should never be far from the top.

The judges should be scoring corps based on how they perform that night....not based on how they have performed for X amount of years.

Add in the fact that parity is growing each year, and their show's material is "different"...I dont think one has to stretch their imagination to believe the Cadets guard can be beaten.

Arguing that his corps has never been 1 point from the top so they shouldnt be this year doesnt seem too logical to me...unless he endorses politics and subconcious preferential treatment in corps placement.

Brilliant. I could not have said it better.

[shawn craig]

It is unprofessional for any director or corps staff member to publicly ridicule or complain about judging, especially to point out a specific judge. If a judge is truely out of line, there are proper professional methods to register a formal complaint.

Otherwise it comes off as intimidating the judging community.

I don't care who it is and whether they are associated with a championship corps, the last place div III coprs, or any organization in between.

What he and his staff say privatly to each other and the corps members is anther story and entirely their business.

Edited July 12, 2006 by shawn craig

[jwillis35]

A quote from George Hopkins' blog:

Notice how Hopkins seeks to single out and discredit certain caption scores that didn't work out in his corps' favor. I don't think that's unusual - except that he's doing it publicly. I don't see Dave Gibbs complaining about caption scores in a public forum, or Jeff Fiedler, Pat Seidling....or any other corps director in any division.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Stop looking for some conspiracy theory or some "he does it yet the others don't." A blog is NOT a public forum, it is a blog. They can be read by those who wish to go there, but he DID NOT post that topic on DCP or RAMD, and he did not try to publish it on the news or in DCW or DCI news. Someone else posted that blog on this forum, and I suspect they did it without his permission, which I frankly find wrong, just like all the illegal audio and video that gets posted here. People seem to want to start trouble by searching for it first, and then posting it to DCP.

Let's say you are contributing to a research blog or a small forum of researchers who are debating pros and cons of some subject, and that forum you posted to is not exactly a large public forum. In fact, that fourm is just for the other researchers, yet someone takes your post and puts it on a larger more viewed site and uses your words against you the way people here do to Hopkins. If this happened, how would you feel? Some things are not meant for everyone. A blog is just someone pondering and philosophizing, reacting and searching, and basically just jotting down whatever comes to their mind. Hence, the reason for the blog.

Even if the judges happen to read his blog, I highly doubt they could care about what changes the Cadets are going to make, or what GH feels, and they don't feel sorry for him. They are professional judges who have been trained rather well. They get paid to judge, and that is what they will do. The only thing that matters to them is what the Cadets do ON THE FIELD.

[Phantombari1]

Apparently George has double standards if you've read his blog.

All I can say is that George is the one that doesn't like change.

Especially when the score doesn't go in his favor!

[bass5]

"A blog is NOT a public forum"

Since when? If its available to the public, and you're as high profile as he is (should he be capitalized?), is IS public.

He's just another powerful person used to having things his way and feels intimidation in this form will work, not

unlike most people in politics.

Edited July 12, 2006 by bass5

[geluf]

Stop looking for some conspiracy theory or some "he does it yet the others don't." A blog is NOT a public forum, it is a blog. They can be read by those who wish to go there, but he DID NOT post that topic on DCP or RAMD, and he did not try to publish it on the news or in DCW or DCI news. Someone else posted that blog on this forum, and I suspect they did it without his permission, which I frankly find wrong, just like all the illegal audio and video that gets posted here. People seem to want to start trouble by searching for it first, and then posting it to DCP.

Except that George intentionally leaves his blog unlocked, and knows full well that lots of people look at it.

[rut-roh]

A blog is just someone pondering and philosophizing, reacting and searching, and basically just jotting down whatever comes to their mind. Hence, the reason for the blog.

The second that blog was linked to the official YEA site, I think all of that changed. Like it or not, it is way more "public" than you're saying it is. And he knows this.

[Kamarag]

It's funny, I was thinking Hopkins was sounding just like Mark Cuban. Personally, I think you distract your team (no matter what sport) when the leadership focuses on stuff like this openly.

Mark Cuban takes pressure off of his team by putting it on his own shoulders. He's a master at redirecting pressure.

By the way, Mark's blog is great.

I think Hopkins can and should talk about judges in his blog...but there's a right way and a wrong way. In this aprticular case, I don't see that he's done anything wrong. He's not calling them out, and he's not taking shots at thier credibility. He's simply mantioning that they don't "get" the show, and they aren't seeing it the way Hoppy himself sees it.

I've been a reader of Hop's blog since the beginning, and only once or twice did I feel he posted something he shouldn't have. Like him or not, and like Cadets program or not, I'd like to see more openness from other corps directors.

I'd *really* like to see a regularly updated blog by a corps' program coordinator, dealing with show design and performance issues starting at day one of the winter program.

Edited July 12, 2006 by Kamarag

[jwillis35]

From Hopkins' Blog:

"We have suddenly been pounded in ensemble visual for the use of the benches --- not by all judges but by two, and the guard --- well, one person on two different days has seen it in his mind to put one point spreads between

the Cadets and the top? Does anyone think the Cadets guard is one point from the top? Not for 15 years? and I would venture to say, not this year."

One other point: please read this carefully. No where is there ANY cut down of a judge. He is simply saying that all of a sudden they are getting beat up in some captions. He doesn't say the judge is stupid or call him unprofessional. He does ask the question about whether anyone can really believe that their guard is a point back, but again this is not a cut on any judge.

Folks, I am sorry but turning this into something it is NOT is just another way for many of you to cause trouble, to cry foul. Gosh, GH is such a horrible person I can hardly believe it. Hey, if you don't like the guy, fine, and if you don't like the direction he is going in, fine, but this is just trying to paint the picture a completely different color, and I am not buying it.