Why aren't The Cavaliers hated?

[Jazzycat1]

(Preface: This is NOT a Cavvie-bashing thread. I feel their placement this year and the past several were well-deserved.)

In any given sport when one team dominates for an extended period of time, they tend to turn into the "bad guy" and the fans want to see them go down. We've seen this in Drum Corps with Star in the early 90s and (IIRC) BD in the mid/late 90s.

So why are The Cavaliers immune? They have dominated the activity in the past 7 years in a way no one has ever done before. But the crowd still LOVES them.

Judging from crowd response, the favorites yesterday were Carolina Crown, SCV, Phantom, and Cavvies. In any other activity, the scrappy underdog not being able to muster enough to overtake the dominant force would have been met with a resounding chorous of BOOS. But the crowd ate it up. In fact, I would almost venture to guess that if Phantom had prevailed, THEN the boos would have come.

Why is that? How can the Cavaliers be so utterly dominant, and still be the fan favorite?

In my opinion it is because their victories have come the right way - from near perfection in all captions. Powerful, innovative drill - and all of that without resorting to silly props, singing, and the other stuff. They have earned their victories the hard way!

[mello4life]

I wasn't a Cavies fan until I marched and understood how they're organization combines class and boundary-pushing performance. They are truly a remarkable organization worthy of all the praise they recieve now.

Actually, when I marched is when I became an anti-fan of the Blue Devils. Not a very humble or friendly group, at least from what I saw.

[Long Time Fan]

I can speak for myself and no other fans. Some of my reasons are shared, some are not.

First, I am assured of being a Cavaliers fan because my son marched there for three years. However, he also marched for two years with the Magic of Orlando, and I am only their fan because the original corps administration folded. The corps was badly run and the marchers paid the price. So I do not just routinely give my loyalty to the Cavaliers because of our son's association alone.

Our first encounter with the corps close up was at a rehearsal site in 2000. My wife and I saw a man picking up trash in the area as they were moving. We aksed the man to direct us to Jeff Fiedler. He said, "I am Jeff Fiedler." Since then, my experience is that this is typical of Jeff. He is modest, a team-builder, highly interested in what is best for his corps, and has no interest in being the center of attention. The marching members have the highest regard for him, the FMMs feel the same. Jeff models what he expects and demands out of his corps. His corps responds. Many people who really know drum corps know Jeff and respect his corps for that reason among others.

Like others I can site good acts and poors acts by individual corps members from most corps, so I will not use that as a reason.

The Cavaliers do not flaunt themselves or their accomplishments. One example of doing this is the tradition that BD has of wearing their rings on the outside of their gloves while in uniform. This has been a very "in your face" BD tradition. I know that they would click their rings on their instruments during retreat (remember those?) to remind other corps of their accomplishments. My son has three rings, but he never would have been allowed to wear the ring during marching season at any time. In the Cavaliers rings are for personal use during the off-season, or after you are an FMM.

If you are to be part of the Cavaliers design team, them your ego will be put in your pocket. All members of the design team comment on all aspects of the design, not just their caption. This makes their product better, but requires them to seek the best for the corps regardless of whose idea it was.

Tradition. Many corps emphasize thier past. I think that there are few that do this as effectively as the Cavaliers. Current members regularly learn about previous members and will make an effort to contact them. I know this because my son has been contacted this year by current marching members and he has been out for four years. When you are an FMM and you attend pratice, you are an honored guest and it is clear by your treatment.

Some of those reasons translate to their popularity, some do not. But that is just a few of the reasons they are my favorite. These may help to reduce the anger and envy that some feel with their success.

[greggmanX-Kingsmen]

....is it because they're a bunch of talented 18 to 21 year olds kids giving their all for the sake of the activity of drum corps?

[uncle z]

Our first encounter with the corps close up was at a rehearsal site in 2000. My wife and I saw a man picking up trash in the area as they were moving. We aksed the man to direct us to Jeff Fiedler. He said, "I am Jeff Fiedler." Since then, my experience is that this is typical of Jeff. He is modest, a team-builder, highly interested in what is best for his corps, and has no interest in being the center of attention.

That is, unless the "center of attention" is the vein and the finger (FMMs and CMMs know what I'm writing about... B) )

When you are an FMM and you attend pratice, you are an honored guest and it is clear by your treatment.

I will personally attest to this as well!!! ^OO^

[jake_the_hydra]

....is it because they're a bunch of talented 18 to 21 year olds kids giving their all for the sake of the activity of drum corps?

17 to 21!

That would probably have something to do with it.

[BDContraBlaine]

to BDContraBlaine:

Everyone loves to play the "well my corps doesn't do that... they aren't tactless" or the "I can't believe they acted that way" game. It's easy to point a finger of blame at a kid wearing a Cavies shirt and say it was the Cavaliers fault for making them only like the Cavaliers. Or the one CMM of the Cavies who made a 'comment' on finals night, but there is so much more to everything in life.

Imagine for a second that the kids in the stands just wanted to be ###### because they are just that... Kids. Can anyone honestly say they were the most mature or the most considerate person when they were in high school? If there was such a problem with their behavior back on finals night, then why didn't anyone act the role of a proper adult and kindly tell them to pipe down or correct them in their innacurate assumption that BD and Phantom are talentless?

Concerning the CMM on finals night, he and the rest of his corps had just won a World Championship. Emotions are running high, and sometimes things just come out of your mouth before other elations are even dealt with.

Basically the moral of the story is just take things in stride, kids will still be kids unless they learn something. It goes along the whole basis of until they experience it or come close enough to experience drum corps they probably aren't appreciating all of the hard work in it. Heck, I didn't begin appreciating my own mother until I had to start washing my own socks. It's just life...

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. You're basically restating my point. I know they're just kids and sometimes kids can be jerks. But I would never say that the Cavaliers are a classless organization just because of my experiences with a few people. That's why it offends me to hear people say that the Devs are classless because of a few bad experiences. There are a lot of amazing people involved with the Blue Devils that I have the utmost respect for; including staff, members, volunteers, and everyone in between. I apologize if any of you have ever been offended by a BD FMM or a fan, but please do not condemn our entire organization because of the mistakes of the few.

[BD020304]

My other example of classless behavior comes from an actual marching member of the Cavies. In 2002, immediately after the awards ceremony, a friend of mine and I went over to congratulate a Cavie standing nearby. His response was "Thanks. You know we only have a few age-outs so we're going to be even better next year!"

Definitely remember that, i remember an incident in 2004 where Scott Dean congratulated someone in the cavaliers and whoever it was smarted back to him cause he thought Scott was being sarcastic. Those of you that have ever met Scott will know that he is the definition of "Class Act." That being said, I believe Scott went and found the Cavaliers horn sergeant and told him that one of their members totally disrespected him after he congratulated them, and the Cav horn sergeant made the guy apologize to Scott. I think it was a rookie in the cavaliers.

And don't forget about the 2003 incident after the Indianapolis win. So, we're done performing the victory gig, which was ON FIRE that night btw, and for everyone that has performed at Indy, there is a place where corps gather in what is called the Air Lock room, and so we're waiting there to go outside and watching the big mechanical door rise up, and there in front of us was every last cavalier looking right at us, we were like... umm.. ok... and as we walking past them they were saying stuff like, "Hey Thanks for beating us, now we're REALLY going to try to win." Most of us just walked right past them and didn't give them the satisfaction of trying to #### us off.

but whatever.

[Tony L.]

While I am personally bored by the Cavies programs recently (especially this year), I think that they still generally command respect because of the fact that they're success is still relatively recent and only came after years of working their way to their first title in 1992. However, it is becoming more evident that the fans of the Cavaliers (especially those who skip the entire contest and show up just to watch the Cavies) and even the Cavaliers themselves have a sense of entitlement to the championship which I find more than a little off-putting. I think we've all witnessed Cavies fans (especially those Newbies who only know the Cavies as perenial champions) being a little obnoxious, but the only corps that I can say that I've never witnessed that from is SCV. But, in the interview with Mr. Fiedler during Quarters or Semis, he made the following comment which struck me a being just a bit conceited: when asked how it feels to be in the middle of such a strong run since 2000, he says (and I paraphrase) "Well, we've been lucky since 2000 to always be in the running for the title. Sometimes we win and sometimes we just get second, but it's still great to be where we are . . ." WOW, sometimes they just get second! After hearing that, I think that it is time to maybe treat the Cavies as the evil empire (let's give the Cadets and Blue Devils a season off).

[siuehist]

Definitely remember that, i remember an incident in 2004 where Scott Dean congratulated someone in the cavaliers and whoever it was smarted back to him cause he thought Scott was being sarcastic. Those of you that have ever met Scott will know that he is the definition of "Class Act." That being said, I believe Scott went and found the Cavaliers horn sergeant and told him that one of their members totally disrespected him after he congratulated them, and the Cav horn sergeant made the guy apologize to Scott. I think it was a rookie in the cavaliers.

And don't forget about the 2003 incident after the Indianapolis win. So, we're done performing the victory gig, which was ON FIRE that night btw, and for everyone that has performed at Indy, there is a place where corps gather in what is called the Air Lock room, and so we're waiting there to go outside and watching the big mechanical door rise up, and there in front of us was every last cavalier looking right at us, we were like... umm.. ok... and as we walking past them they were saying stuff like, "Hey Thanks for beating us, now we're REALLY going to try to win." Most of us just walked right past them and didn't give them the satisfaction of trying to #### us off.

but whatever.

Since you started...

A Blue Devil commenting on poor sportsmenship!! That's nice! You guys wrote the book on whining, crying, and your win or fail mentality. This is the same as OJ Simpson giving siminar on the horrors domestic violence. Give me a break! 135 Cavaliers giving you an intimidating glare? lol

And since your memories are so finely-tuned, please let the good people know about the confrontation after 2001 finals. You guys are a class act indeed!

How hypocritical is this!!!

Edited August 14, 2006 by siuehist