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I was born, raised, and currently still live in an area which can commonly be referred to as being "cow country." Though not being a farm boy in my youth, a large majority of my friends in my formative years were exactly that -- farm boys. I happened to watch yesterday's game with a number of my past and current friends -- many of which were either farm boys in their youth or currently farm as an occupation. Let me assure you -- there was no greater amount of laughter than that which came from those farm-associated mouths. They saw it for what it was...a gentle, harmless needling relating to an opponent. I would suggest that there very well could have been far more offensive and egregious things said on the field of play by some of the players than what was exhibited at halftime. But in a heavily sports-addicted society, things such as trash talking, posturing, taunting, and other forms of "unsportsmanlike" behavior on the parts of the athlete have not only become somewhat the norm, but socially accepted as well, all without broad-based societal outcries for the offenders to be "fired." Hypocrisy reigneth.

Here's my verdict: I respect the Stanford Band and its members; however, I'm just not a fan of scramble/scatter bands in general. IMO, they just come off as tacky at many of their appearances. Consider the fact that the Stanford Band has played in 3 of the past 4 Rose Bowl Parades. They bewilder TV announcers every time. And the Stanford Band has no director, per se. It is entirely student-run. So if the students are under fire, there won't be any pressure placed on the director because there simply is no director. I do have one question: Why do we criticize the Stanford Band members for being classless and disrespectful when we see halftime shows that make fun of their rivals time and time again? (For example, Ohio State's antics against Michigan among others, and Michigan's "Script Ohno").

Eh I think people are making too big of a deal about it. Gotta have fun sometimes. Military style bands can get boring. I think of drum corps as a serious affair while college marching bands to be more of a fun thing.

Yes, but... much like Stanford's marching band, etc., there were plenty of hard-core drum corps fans back in the day who did not get VK or Bridgemen and thought they were inappropriate to the military traditions of drum & bugle corps. During finale one year, DCI's championships show director went out on the field and yanked away VK's beach chairs, to crowd boos. Which is my point: humor is personal. If you don't get it, that's fine, but making a scene is the reaction some artists want. Their attitude: much better to annoy than to bore.

Psssst... Highwaydude... there's something you should know about performers like Stanford's MB... Kanye... etc. etc... like the Dark Side, they only grow stronger/thrive on hate. The best response if you don't like them... ignore them rather than post/rant/rave. They think people who don't get their sense of humor are absolutely hilarious. Come to think of it, the same could be said for Bridgemen and Velvet Knights.

Corporate sponsorship is the next step. "Remember the days when there was a Fan Network? Pepperidge Farms remembers."

I was very pleased with how the cuts were handled. End product does play through in a seamless matter. If you didn't know the original well, most shows still retain original feel and don't feel chopped up. Very professionally done by Tom and his crew working within the constraints provided. Still sorry the shows are not complete and that material is forced to be missing from an historical standpoint given the licencing mess, and really disappointed with no DVD's yet.....and that only Top-12 will be available someday and not Top-25 as has been the case most recently......really missing the archives and Fan Network that appear to be lost to us forever, and am most bothered moving forward by the loss of the DVR feature on the LIVE broadcasts, as that has been THE tool that kept me a much more involved DCI fan throughout the entire summer and not just one that takes in what can be seen at the 2-3 shows I can realistically expect to see over the course of the season........ but can't complain about the CD's.

At least stop using the same update ("The Fan Network is currently being refreshed for reintroduction later this year.") covering two years.

oh sure a show closeish to home, and it's DCI Finals night.

...and tell me, what drum corps on the planet announces the individuals that are under contract on an ongoing basis on a public website? Why do you need to know? I would think that personal privacy issues would be one thing keeping anyone from doing it. I will tell you this, my son is one of those that are under contract and he, as well as his mother and father, couldn't be more happy and proud. Speaking from a family that has intimate knowledge of the corps in the 80's and 90's as marching members and staff members as well as being life long friends with a great many of the current staff, board and administration I can, with all honesty and sincerity, say that we feel he couldn't be in better hands. That should be enough. The general public and outside nay sayers can and will say and feel what they want regardless of the actual facts...soooooooo... ...I say again, why do you care? Dan

Uhhh...1990 BD? That worked pretty well, as I recall.

In my observations, Corps tend to prefer to lug heavy metal onto the field, instead of playing it. So in that sense anyway, I do see some metallica out there in performances most seasons now.

yeah, it sucks to see kids having a good time while performing ( insert sarcasm). it's considered a way to keep time within the ensemble without having to vocalize like a battery or even brass does with dhuts. Some surely overdo it with the smiles, and some kids emote, but I can think of maybe once I've ever heard it mentioned on a visual tape. since the FE derives time by listening back, usually one member is considered "the center" and will pulse/bob/emote/groove, and the rest will follow

Best to go for the 3 days and move around, every seat is a comprise Too close, the amps are in your face, too high sound is lost, visuals don’t pop anywhere under the 400 sections. Even the 200 section has issues as everything is comprised (sound and vision) and then there are the glass dividers on the rails I tend to pick visual days and sound days

To hopefully help clear this up, as a member of a drum corps front ensemble I as an individual and the front ensemble have more of a job today than say 10 years ago to contribute to the overall package of a drum corps show. We don't just stand there and play because... that would be pretty boring, in all honesty, but we definitely do not dance to the music we are working with. We "pulse" which is used as a timing mechanism as well as a way to show the crowd that we are actually enjoying what we are doing. Because light travels faster than sound, we use pulsing and prepping (the up and down motion of the mallets dictated by the center marimba to tell the members of the pit when to play their assigned parts) as tools to keep time in the crazy listening environment that is modern drum corps. In my teaching, the center marimba watches the drum major, dictates the tempo and the rest of the ensemble watches to keep time, while everyone is also listening back to the drum line. In addition to pulsing, some front ensembles (see Cavies or Bluecoats) also add visuals into the playing to add to the effect of the show and some even go as far as almost acting (Phantom 2014/13) however that is not how I was taught so I do not know much about how all that works. Long story short, we pulse in order to keep time as an ensemble as well as to not look bland in front of all the movement and color that is happening behind us. Just a comment from someone who fell in love with that section of a drum corps and eventually was a member of that section!

Back in my day we wore insulated wool uniforms, our shoes had soles with 25 pounds of lead in them, and our hats were filled with glowing embers we had to save to start the next campfire because we didn't have fancy schmancy food trucks we had to set snares for rabbits before ensemble rehearsal. And we liked it, we liked it fine.

people still use cd's?