Yeldar

Blue Devils will win. The last time the Friday winner did not win on Saturday was in 1983. Go to bed now. You already know the results.

Why, year after year after year does Pioneer always come in dead last or nearly so? Is their philosophy "we're just happy to have a corps," or what? Not that competition is everything, but you'd expect some kind of surge now and then - not just first on the field every Thursday quarter finals and that's all folks!

Spirit may have big loud brass and may march cleanly, but over the past few years their shows have been rather unsophisticated. And we all know that sophistication and complexity mean big GE which means high placement.

I'll say that Centerville High School Marching Band would beat them all!

You make a good point. But I do think corps evolve, of course. They grow and change - like the living organism that they are. And I think we have to accept that - even as the activity itself changes and evolves - that Madison will not always be "Madison" or that even great big brass jazz corps like Spirit will sometimes play Broadway. I do feel fortunate that the Crossmen are still around. I mean, hey - I marched in the day of Suncoast. 27th, Bridgemen, Freelancers, VK, Greater Boston Alliance, Sky Ryders, the Knights - and they're all gone. But Bones survives. And although we missed finals by .1 that year, I've heard from many alums of those other corps that they would gladly give up a performance in Finals to see their corps on the field now. Long life Bones! And Madison and everyone else!

I'm of the opinion that PEOPLE, not names or cities make a corps what it is. Thus, are the Crossmen still really the Crossmen? When I marched it was Robby Robinson and a bunch of tough Philly and Pennsylvania kids - a few still remaining from the merger. Now, past Hopkins and YEA and on to San Antonio, the only consistent things are the name and the colors of the uniforms. Are they still really "the Crossmen?" Same with Madison. Without Scott Stewart and Sal, are they really Madison? Yes, they have the name and they're still from Wisconsin, but... Likewise. Were the Bridgemen the Bridgemen after Bobby Hoffman went to VK? And was VK, VK after he left them? It's like when I visited my college campus a few years after graduation. The buildings were there, but it was very different. Different people, ideas, trends, fads, ideals. I was a stranger. And it was a stranger to me. Thus, are the drum corps that we know and love only transient, ephemeral entities that exist in their true form only as long as the people remain constant? Yeldar Crossmen '83 Contrabass

It confounds, stupefies, mystifies and perplexes me: A new year, probably 50% different kids, an entirely new staff, a stylistic switch. Yet the judging is the same as last year. They insist on keeping Spirit, Colts and the Crossmen bunched closely together. Surely there are no drum corps gods up there ordaining that year after year, no matter what, these corps will produce nearly the same scoring result on the field. Sounds more like a judging mindset to me. "We will bunch you together until you prove year after year that you are either significantly better or worse then your 'clump.' Then we will move you up or down. I mean Crossmen and Colts were fighting it out last year and the year before - along with Spirit. Same close scores. I am mystified on why this happens. (I'm an old guy and have been watching corps since '72 and marched in the early 80s. So I'm no kid griping about my corps. I'm an OLD guy griping about my corps!) :(

Silly me. It IS tomorrow! Go Bones!!

Scores from Elizabeth, PA?

Can someone give me a simple explanation of what exactly they did to get suspended for a year?

Can someone please tell me exactly what the Troopers did to get kicked out of DCI for a year?

1. Crossmen 2. Bluecoats 3. Cavies 4. Phantom 5. Blue Knights 6. Spirit 7. Madison 8. Cadets 9. Blue Devils 10. Seattle Cascades 11. Boston 12. Crown 13. Colts

No. Here's my point. Any of you who have performed know that you have good shows and bad shows. You know that Friday night was better than Saturday night. (Regardless of forum - corps, band, stage, music, a play, etc...) Do judges not note that as well?? In the days of tics, a corp's score could change dramatically - like five points - over the course of a day or two. Look at BOA - In Prelims a band will score 10th place - and then jump to fifth place with six more points that night. Same judges - different captions. But that doesn't happen in DCI. Also - look at Santa Clara last year. Typically a very good corps. They have good music, marching, percussion. But last year they fell down dramatically. Across the board. Every caption was down consistently to the same level. If their show design was bad, why didn't their brass or drums still score well? If the kids couldn't play well, why couldn't they still march well? Why wasn't SOME caption still in the top three placements? See - it all devolves to GE. Every caption eventually is a reflection of the overall show. RARELY will one caption be down.... for example - say the Cadets take 2nd place across the board - except for 9th place performance brass. It never happens. You never see a corps scoring tops in music but 12th in visual. And you never see "whoops, we got off the bus late, didn't warmed up, didn't have time to dress and - oops - screwed up on the field and our score dropped five points from last night.

I know the judges are supposedly trained, but how the heck do they manage to give scores night after night that essentially remain unchanged?? Think they're looking at what their caption gave out the night before and are just giving out the same number - rather than giving their unique, insightful and reasoned opinion??

Scores, scores, scores! Does no one in Allentown have a Blackberry?? :sshh:

One night I ate five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. everyone else had money to go to McDonald's across the street. I didn't, so I chowed down on corps PB&J. And don't forget cookie salad. The Oreos always go first! b**bs b**bs

And yes, Past the Point of No Return and Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again are about the best two numbers in the "real and complete" show.

The Phantom sits in the chair and pulls the cloth over him. He slips out the back of the chair (trapped door). Meg slips through the bars of the grid that had flown in (and down which other chorus members are climbing as they "track down this murderer") sees no one there, and goes to the chair. She pulls the cloth off the chair and finds the mask. As the cloth is pulled off, the spotlight hits the mask. Meg picks the mask up and holds it high, as the last five chords are played. Curtain falls. The Vegas production is cut due to the (supposedly) short attention span of the Vegas audience and the need to be able to do three shows a night (at $100+ a ticket). Other shortened shows have not made it - see the demise of Avenue Q and Hairspray. Althought the full-blown Mama Mia is a hit. They hope the Vegas audience will love the special effects, a la FX a few years back and help to fill in the void left by Sigfried and Roy. Do you really, really think Andy Lloyd Weber would have gotten any idea from a drum corps???

All the Crossmen have to do is get ahead of Spirit. First show jitters. We'll see.

As someone who marched when only Madison and Cavies had boys in the guards... I think it's hard to believe, and watch with a straight face: These dancing, dramatic, flamboyant guys in the guard with the raised finger tips and pointed toes... we see them through the show, fitting in with the girls - and then one comes out to be the man in the "dramatic love scene" and we're expected to believe that he is passionately in love with the girl/devastated when she leaves him. Nothing against gay men, but if you want a guy to perform a love scene with a girl, at least pick a guy who the audience can believe is straight.

Crossmen just have a weak visual show this year. A whole lot of marching around not going nowhere. Even with four uninterrupted practice days, they still lose points on everyone else. Look for 14th place. And, as my 80-year-old dad said, "The Crossmen's souvie stand sucks!" What the heck was that mess? 2/3 Cadet stuff and only four or five Crossmen shirts. We wanted to buy some stuff but there was nothing worthwhile to buy. Spirit starts out strong, but then fades quickly. But it's a very well designed and coordinate show - in the thematic/guard costume/prop mode. I still don't understand why the Spirit of BROADWAY lists "Her Majesty's Theater" for Phantom. That's the West End theater, not the B-way location They look good, sound OK but the design could be a lot better. Crown has some nice moments. Very good horn line and decent guard. I doubt they'll make it into the top six, but they're securely in finals. Troopers were better than expected. Not embarrassing - not bumbling around the filed as I've seen them do in the past. Serious contender for top 17.

Early in the year most shows don't even have a T&P judge - look at the recaps on dci.org and the position is usually N/A. DCI will start kicking in the penalties second half of the season.