From: dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn)
Subject: Re: My comments on Finals and PBS broadcast
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 00:07:36 GMT


In article <1992Sep8.175220.1@vax1.umkc.edu> cputnam@vax1.umkc.edu writes:
>In article <1992Sep8.171946.16340@beaver.cs.washington.edu>, dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn) writes:
>> In article <1992Sep8.003017.1@vax1.umkc.edu> cputnam@vax1.umkc.edu writes:

>>>Let's take this last part a bit at a time:
>>>
>>>I was told that Brubaker only wrote the Cornish/English Dances section of their
>>>show.  It shows.  This was not at all a Brubaker style show.  No parallelagrams
>>>or triangles or the like.  In my opinion, their drill was worse than the
>>>Devils'.  I'd have put their drill about 5th or 6th.  Definetely not what I am
>>>used to expecting out of the Cavies.
>> 
>> I am inferring that because Brubaker did not write the whole show that
>> this makes the show somehow a little more inferior.  Did you imply this?
>
>What I am trying to say is 1) They had one of, if not the, best drill writers
>in the country.  Why not use his writings as long as he can still write?  2) 
>Their drill was no where near as good as it has been.  I  always felt that the
>Cavies drill was one of the best out there, not anymore.  It was just very
>disappointing.
> 

Now I'm a little confused.  Do you believe that their drill was 5th or 6th
because it did not live up to your expectations, or because it was 5th
or 6th relative to the other drills this year?  There's a big difference,
I think.  It sounds like you believe the former.

>>>I remember seeing the dropped flag on a fairly easy exchange on the 45 yard
>>>line, side 1.  That type of drop is the type of mistake a much younger and much
>>>less capable corps makes.  Not a world champion.

>> True, blown solos and dropped flags are indications of a systematically
>> lower overall performance level, but they are only indications.  I would
>> never believe that a blown solo, for example, could knock a corps down
>> a couple places at DCI.  There's just too much other stuff going on.
>> 
>> In short, there's a lot more to a drum corps show than the highly
>> visible/audible stuff.  (What?!  Subtlety in drum corps?!)
>> 
>> -- Donald
>
>True, there is more to drum corps than the highly visible stuff.  But... these
>blown solos and dropped flags and such are not indicative of a world champion. 
>It just seems that if you're going to have a world champion, you don't have
>mistakes like that.  It wasn't to hard to catch that flag, or play that solo. 
>Especially after 3-8 months of playing or catching.  I'm just saying that these
>mistakes ARE indicative of a 4th or 5th place finisher, where I feel the Cavies
>belonged.
>

It looks like we more or less agree here.  I was just objecting to the
suggested implication that (dropped flags, blown solos) implies (low
ranking).  I would be more willing to say the following (phrased the
way you phrased it above):
That type of drop is the type of mistake a much younger and much
less capable corps is more likely to make.

Even the best corps can have equipment drops, etc., including world
champions.
If this is what you meant, then we are in 100% agreement.

-- Donald