Southwind

[Piper]

Getting bumped out of finals always hurts - trust me I know :P They'll be back.

[Orpheus]

A poorly designed / arranged show is what hur them. They have just as much talent as many of the other corps that placed above them but the show design was terrible.

Really? You think so? I'd argue just the opposite. I really liked their brass book and the drill is about what you'd expect from a mid-tier D1 corps. My opinion, both last night and earlier in the season when I saw 'em live, was that it was performance issues rather than design issues that are holding them back.

[84skyrydr]

I have to say in all my years I have never seen a more deserving corps and show get shafted like that. There was no way they should have placed outside of the semi cut. NO WAY. I was upset enough that I went out and donated 100.00 to Southwind. They can't hang their heads, they had a heck of a show and like everybody else your left to the mercy of the judging system. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This was a doesn't time. Good luck next year. And please do not take this as a disrespect of the Mandarins, they performed well and the judges liked them better.

[Tristan]

yuck

I hated the yellow bumble-bee uniforms / I hope its just a terrible rumor that they are bringing them back

I'm looking forward to seeing the yellow again, personally. It was always a hype wearing a color that no other corps in our division had.

[MiamiSun76]

I have to say in all my years I have never seen a more deserving corps and show get shafted like that. There was no way they should have placed outside of the semi cut. NO WAY. I was upset enough that I went out and donated 100.00 to Southwind. They can't hang their heads, they had a heck of a show and like everybody else your left to the mercy of the judging system. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This was a doesn't time. Good luck next year. And please do not take this as a disrespect of the Mandarins, they performed well and the judges liked them better.

I applaud your generosity. Hopefully SW has become organized enough to show their appreciation.

As for the show, to be objective, there were just that many good corps ahead of them. My own bias is that the re-hashed Southwest band shows haven't worked to their advantage. I truly hope they make a change in coordinators. They need to get back to pressing for finals, not semis. Mike is the only REAL drum corps designer there and he's doing other things. they need to get back to drum corps programming.

[Wanderer]

I have to say in all my years I have never seen a more deserving corps and show get shafted like that. There was no way they should have placed outside of the semi cut. NO WAY. I was upset enough that I went out and donated 100.00 to Southwind. They can't hang their heads, they had a heck of a show and like everybody else your left to the mercy of the judging system. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This was a doesn't time. Good luck next year. And please do not take this as a disrespect of the Mandarins, they performed well and the judges liked them better.

DCI judging is probably the worst, most political, "competitive" environment ever seen. Southwind lost to Mandarin's on GE. Now almost everyone (but the judges) was saying how boring the Mandarin's show was, so I can only assume the GE judges didn't show up to actually watch the shows.

A worse example was in finals. Whether you like Phantom or Cavies we all can see and hear, plain as day, that the Cavies had more Visual GE, but that Phantom's brass line was better. Unfortunately the DCI scores aren't based on evidence or facts. Therefore, the Cavies Visual GE finished 3rd, but they beat Phantoms brass line by .20. It's just plain embarrassing they continue to pretend the judges are actually paying attention.

Who cares about amps or no amps when the judges are so bad? Is their any way to fire the whole embarrassing group?

Edited August 13, 2006 by Wanderer