From: pae@blackcat.stortek.com (Phil Earnhardt)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.marching.drumcorps
Subject: Re: Bill Cook on competition
Date: 2 Jan 93 22:37:45 GMT
Organization: StorageTek, Louisville, CO

In article <1hqhjoINN89f@early-bird.think.com> fath@mbcrr.dfci.harvard.edu (Michael Fath) writes:
>(from Prodigy)
>In response to a letter by Ellis Mirsky on the evils of judging:
>
>One if our members came up to me the night we won our championship and said,
>"Mr. Cook, this is the first time I ever won anything and I will never forget
>it!"

There are some fascinating questions that arise from this story...

1. What did Star's marching member think that all of the other contest wins
   were during 1991? Did he really feel that DCI Championship Night was the
   first time that he had won anything?

2. What if this member had only marched in Star in 1992? Would he have felt
   that he hadn't won anything?

3. What if the member had marched in a corps that won no contests all year but
   his corps was a Finalist Corps. Would he have won anything then?

4. What if his corps had come in 13th place? What if he marched for two years
   and his corps placed 13th *both* of those years? Would he have considered
   himself a winner with such a corps?

>That young man will try again to achieve and he will lose time and again
>before another victory comes, but those judges helped to teach him that
>excellence can lead to achievement and recognition.

By this member's definition of winning, the majority of Drum Corps
participants do not ever "win" in Drum Corps. Indeed, I can even imagine
scenarios where members would not consider winning championship enough: the
Corps may not have swept all captions or beaten the best score of all time or,
heaven forbid, the corps didn't score 100.

My point is fairly simple: the recognition of achievement is in the eye of the
beholder. To say it another way: the recognition of achievement may be
exclusively an act of declaration. And it may be that the tabulation of scores
on the third week of August isn't what ultimately determines who has "won" and
"lost."

The most striking example I have seen of this in Drum Corps is the phenomena
of the 13th place corps. I remember a championship night in Madison where I
talked with members of a 13th place corps. They were bitter and angry after
their "loss" and the corps placement dropped the next year. On the other hand,
members of the Blue Knights on finals night in Buffalo in 1990 had no
bitterness or anger. They recognized their achievement for 1990 and came out
next year better than ever.

>There are too many people who have never subjected themselves to a judge in
>either life or in a sport such as drum corps becuase they feel that they
>might fail.

People know that they might fail. That's not what stops people.

People think that failure means something. For that matter, they think that
succeeding means something, too.

>(Michael speaking - I will relay messages to Bill Cook if people want me to.)

Please do. Bill: I'm not sure if I met you...it may have been your Evil Twin
in the sorcerer's garb at the Friends of DCI picnic in KC in 1989. What would
the world be like if all the CEOs were as demonstrative of their passions?

Philip A. Earnhardt
Newsgroups: rec.arts.marching.drumcorps