A quick point on the drum major elections. Well, all right, a couple of quick points. One, I agree with Patty that the LiveJournal should have been kept out of the whole discussion. It's a low down dirty shame that it was brought up at all. Now, I missed the discussion section of what is truly a long and arduous process, as I knew I had lost the pool and couldn't vote. But even in the question session, I don't see why what Chips (or anyone else, to be fair) writes in this forum has to bear on his capability to function as drum major of the Big Red Marching Band. He didn't publicly rip any of the other candidates there, and he keeps it real (pardon the cliché), something I respect. The other thing is this attendance requirement. Yeah, I know it's my own fault that I stopped going to rehearsal on Tuesdays and Fridays, and scheduled my Thursday shift to conflict with band (hey, at least I don't have to deal with Dave Conn), but I still think two-thirds of rehearsals is too high a threshold. There should be a limit in place, because otherwise any old schmo could come in off the street and vote in the election (much as I did as a pre-frosh). I think one-half of rehearsals is appropriate. While I think Tom Tone's e-mail to band-l was motivated primarily by bitterness, he does have a valid point. The fact that some people can't make the level of commitment required to vote odes not mean those people care any less about the band. One last thing. I'm wary of any candidate that says that band is their first priority here. Athletes, in my opinion, should not overlook their academic responsibilities, and I don't think bandies should either. This would not necessarily be a disqualifying factor in any decision I made, but it would be important.
Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.