prodigal bari

I brought this up in another topic; and especially with the success of the Fan Network and with both its accessibility and the adjudicational communities' need to learn about the shows they are asked to judges on a nightly basis I am wondering: (a run-on sentence break here...) Is the FN a legitimate tool for a judge's need to know about the shows they are about to adjudicate? (As an expansion of the post-show critique and the long-standing practice of staff/adjudicator communication and education on the various products on the field) Is it being used by judges as such (or is it ethical or even recommended/frowned upon) to better guide each adjudicator's attempt to accurately rank each performance.....OR can it skew the results?

Besides another fact that the DCI judges can use the FAN NETWORK to study the shows and become familiar enough with them to know what to look for in the live performance... ...which leads to another question...Is this being done by the adjudication community and what value is it (either good or bad) as well as the professional ethics of said practice?

I disagree...every corps is doing '09 recruitment right now; in some fashion. Those who do not will find themselves in a deep hole come May...and there is no better recruitment tool for '09 than a '08 live performance!

THANK GOD.

I second this motion...although I wonder whether ESPN may have tied DCI's hands on this (since the cancellation of the Final contract..)

Did you hear the crowd, though? I bet it was hazardous walking the rest of the night...

This is starting to rival 1980... AND...you can actually tell the stylistic difference between the corps again! Almost all the corps are unique in some major way...and I have not seen that since the 80's! This next week may be epic in the history of this activity... (and this is coming from an old phart... )

Actually, that may have been the 'la petite morte'!!!!! (At least that is what I had... )

Maybe they will throw down with some Gregorian Chant.... ($1 from George Hopkins... )

It is silly, I agree. The problem is; not everyone...and especially some trial lawyers, will agree...and there will be someone who will try at some point in time to 'recover damages' from this voluntary activity. (Especially since the participants pay fairly high fees to participate.) Therefore, the corps should...and IMO have to, protect both the participants AND the organization; with both information, training, on-hand trainers and medical care, and legal protections from frivilous and/or malicious lawsuits. Even then, injuries will occur...especially with the extreme physical demands today's visual programs require.

And you did not even post any nekkid pics!!!! Good luck in the ivory tower, Tsar

So I guess it is not whining when YOU complain about PC's placement???? You just got caught.

I had an op to talk to some of them. They are; believe me.

Actually, they caught them blood-doping. Just a bad TourdeFrance joke...

I had a chance to talk with people connected with the corps this week; and I brought this up. Here is what I found out: The guard problem was addressed with a change of instuctors in April...there had been no recruiting...NONE...by the previous guard staff; and the new staff had to literally miracle up all the members it now has from April on. They had an almost impossible task; and they did as well as could possibly be hoped for. The quality is there; it was just tough to start from scratch in April to build a large guard from scratch. They are planning to change recruitment to an aggressive all-year style similar to what has created the results in the horns and percussion. This will fix this problem, once and for all.

With this being the last time before Finals that all WC corps meet at the same time this is a critical positioning event...not only for the top corps; but the 8-12-17 groupings. I do not recall scores being this close...particularly in the semi-to-12th pack.

I disagree to a point....these three corps you mention have at times sacrificed music for visual; and I think that is a problem with the activity. When the emphasis is on visual, you lose a lot of the emotion and impact that can be created with the hornline/percussion ensembles (for there are human limits as to what can be done on the move). I do agree that there are a lot of visual packages lacking; but I also think that visual has been overempahsized due to the fact that there are Visual and GE judges in DC that have NO musical experience. I see this as a conumdrum in the activity; for without that background the judges cannot evaluate the appropriateness or difficulty of a horn/battery move from their own experience. (In turn; a brass specialist cannot fully judge a guard unless they also have experience in equipment as well.) Right now, I honestly think (as opposed to I believe.. ) that way, way too much emphasis is given on visual in the jusging ranks; and it takes away from the musical packages from a lot of these groups. After all; isn't it ironic that two of the most storied hornlines (BD and Cadets) are making hay off of VISUAL????...at the expense of horns?

The scores are either going to compress or spread....and I will predict compression; since it is hard to jutify dropping scores without reason. (After all, these judges are fully aware of score histories...) And with compression, comes the increased potential for upsets....

Ohhhhh, the Slick Pig...it is so good you will lick your fingers clean to the bone with the flavor! Try the smoked chicken wings; they are different and to die for. (If you are a chicken, that is... )

Actually, I was referring to the humbling ULA gave Alabama recently. That Tide really ran Crimson that day. (Of course, how can I cry about THAT as being from TN....)

Don't tell Alabama that.....

GOOD GRIEF!!!! What is the capacity of that stadium...with the short visitors stands (and Monroe playing D1 football and requiring 30,000+ for NCAA) it could approach Finals seating capacity... That might be the best DC stadium I have ever seen.

They play and move sooo well...it's inhuman. I just can't see it.

Actually, it was 25 or so years ago...and the back sidelines that are being mentioned here are for the major shows at the large NFL/college stadiums; not the smaller stadiums. And yes, the attendance was a LOT larger back then (as I personally witnessed at Legion Field, Montreal, Grant Field, and Madison in the 80's.) However, fuel prices are a mitigating factor this year.

Come on now everyone....I see no carbon-copying of a show here...and if you use as a standard that you cannot borrow drill moves; then that cuts out every block, line, arc, and scatter drill in existence (no matter differences in context); for that matter, you could not use HUMANS to march. Imagine how difficult it would be for a duck to buzz a mouthpiece.... (Besides, tha context of the 'carbon copy' comes from the trend about a decade or so ago of all corps looking and sounding a lot alike in order to be competitive. Relax, have a beer....or whatever Tom Brace used to prescribe... )