I Marched Before

Still there, marched brass. Not in the music department though.

To those of you talking about Scott Rankin - I'm very good friends with the guy. One of the nicest, most selfless people I have ever met. He was recently teaching as a Band Director for a private school in the D/FW metroplex, but has since moved down south to pursue other aspirations with his beautiful wife and kids. I'll have to send this thread to him, I'm sure he'll turn 10 different shades of red if he saw all of the nice comments of his drum corps days.

The arch in your foot has no affect on your dorsi/plantarflexion.

I gave up cokes (or sodas) before my first summer to try and get "attuned" to the new life I was about to live. Half a decade later, I still don't drink them :)

I don't have a caption, but nothin' says creepy like that guy in blue.

They are playing better than the lines of the 70's and 80's.

Fact is that she is a girl. Fact is that she marches (wait...performs) with The Cadets. Fact is that there is a Semi-Finals performance tonight. You stating she is a very good singer is an opinion (whether it be right or wrong).

You quoted my reply (all two sentences) and you were confused about what I meant? Could you show me where in my reply I mentioned the talent level of the singer? How about what corps we were talking about? Which show was it again - I'm not seeing it in my reply. Get the point? The reply had NOTHING to do with any singer of any corps - it was a reply to a direct attack from one person to another. I love how righteous someone is when making a false statement (i.e. what I quoted "that singer is wonderful (that is a FACT)." No, that's an opinion. I never stated if it was wrong or right (IMO), I just corrected someone trying to "correct" someone. **EDIT: mis-spelled quote. whoops.

Then purchase tickets to Phantom's home show..?

Actually, that's an opinion. Thanks for playing.

I read nothing above, but I'm giving my 2 cents from marching a top 3 div 1 corps 3 summers and being a Kinesiology major. First of all, let's look at what "sport" by definition is. www.dictionary.com says : 1. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. So from that, lets pull the main points. Sport is: -Physical -Institutionalized -Competitive So, in order for something to be a sport, there has to be a certain level of physical exertion, it must be institutionalized, and it has to be competitive. Simple enough, right? Judging by dictionary.com's standards, I would say drum corps is a sport. BUT it gets better.. Coming from my background, I think there is one thing that is missing from the defition provided above: motivation. Whether it be enjoyment of participation, rewards (trophies, losing weight, gaining muscle, etc), or the challenges that are part of it, I think in order for something to be a sport, there must be motivation behind the participants to play. But that's off topic... Here's where the gray area is for a lot of folks, and will be for quite some time. One of the key components of sport is the physicality of it. How physical do you have to be in order to be "playing" a sport? Where do we as a society draw a line of what is or isn't physical enough to be constituted as a sport? Who knows. You know why? Because we made sport up. It isn't possible to have a set definition of what sport is, because sports are social practices. What we consider "sport" changes over time and across different cultures. So, do I think drum corps is a sport? Based off of the drill I marched, the weight I lost, the medals I won, the way each contest was judged - #### yes I think drum corps is a sport. Or at least according to "today's" definition of the word.

So, if you had to rate 5th place through 9th place (out of 1-12) where would it fall...more on the HIGHER end, or the LOWER end?? And if that doesn't do justice to what you haven't belittled of what I thought was going to be an inspirational, complimentary discussion: Stop putting words in my mouth. I never said I didn't like the corps that aren't in the top 12 - ever. I said I just don't listen to them. Matter of factly, I even mentioned that one of my more favorite corps are the Cascades, who if I'm correct, did not place in the top 12 this summer. I used the term "lower" (STILL referring to only top 12 - as mentioned) only for readers to perceive where in the top 12 I'm referring to. In no way, shape, or form, was I referring to their talent level, staff's ability to teach, quality of food, or bus height from the ground. It's pretty ridiculous that I had to defend myself in a thread that I started to compliment corps' achievments this summer. If I had known that I had to defend myself everytime I post....oh wait, that's why I never post on here. NOW I'm off my "soap box." Swing away.

I had an original post, but deleted everything and started from scratch. I forgot to include the following: I'm only talking about the top 12 because that's all that I listen to (not that I don't appreciate what is being offered outside of the top 12 {and the cascades, just because those are some really great kids}, it's just that I know only the top 12 corps, and I'm only going to talk about what I know). Thanks for quickly jumping on a flaw in my post instead of praising the activity - which was the original intent of this thread. <**>

I just thought about this as I was posting in another thread. This year, I seem to be more impressed with the 5th-9th range than the typical 1st-4th place corps. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't not like 1-4 at all (especially since I'm biased towards my alumni that's in that category), it's just that I feel that 5th-9th really stepped up this summer. Major kudos to the Bluecoats this summer - I love seeing them succeed. They really are incredible people. Anyone else feel the same way?

I think it's a mix actually. I agree with cardman that PR has stepped up their visual package - looks like they might actually have more than 100 sets on the field now ^0^ Granted I'm not a fan of the regiment, I do respect them, and I was very impressed with their show this summer. There isn't a part of me whatsoever that liked 2003 (the summer that so many talk about for phantom), but boy was I impressed with this year. Seemed like a totally different corps in the white and black. The Blue Team on the other hand - design was a major problem. It just wasn't a good idea - the hornline wasn't too hot IMO either. They always have a great line, but I just wasn't feeling it this year. However, this could be b/c of what they were playing, not just how they played it. As far as phantom staying in the top 3 - I really don't see it happening. Great run this summer, but man some of the lower end of the top 6 are improving QUICK. I think phantom needs to keep stepping up their visual program and definitely work on their hornline's sound...(yes, I'm not a phan of their hornline). There's my 2 cents.